Minnesota Twins legend Tony Oliva will be joined at his National Baseball Hall of Fame induction by his younger brother, who has been given permission to leave communist Cuba to attend the ceremony July 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Tony Oliva's little brother gets OK to leave Cuba, attend Hall of Fame induction
"When they gave him the visa, man, he jumped," Tony Oliva said of his brother. "He called me right away. 'Hey, bingo! We've got it.' "
July 11, 2022 at 8:24PM
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., announced that she helped arrange for Juan Carlos Oliva to secure a visa to arrive in Minnesota on Monday.
Klobuchar said at a news conference Sunday that while the 83-year-old Tony Oliva's many accomplishments as a Twins outfielder in the 1960s and 1970s are worthy of Hall of Fame recognition, "I think what will be a moment that I know Tony will never forget is being there with his whole family, including his cherished brother, when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame."
Tony Oliva recalled the joy his brother felt when the visa was secured, with the Dominican Republic acting as a procedural go-between.
"He was very happy," he said. "When they gave him the visa, man, he jumped. He called me right away. 'Hey, bingo! We've got it.' Oh, yeah. Those Cubans never stop jumping."
"I think for most families, that would seem kind of like a no-brainer that you'd be able to have your family member there," Klobuchar said while sitting next to one of the few Twins who has a statue erected outside Target Field. "But as you know, there's all kinds of issues between the United States and Cuba."
Klobuchar added that "I think that [Juan Carlos Oliva] told your family that he could get the appointment to get the visa in the Dominican Republic to allow him to come here in the year 2024," she said. "The Hall of Fame wasn't going to wait until 2024, and we decided we needed to get to work and expedite this."
Tony Oliva, who's been able to visit family in Cuba over the years, thanked the staffers who "worked so hard" to bring his brother to the United States, and he noted that his brother was also a talented ballplayer, traveling the world while representing Cuba as a pitcher. Oliva last saw Juan Carlos in the U.S. in 2009.
The Oliva contingent making arrangements to travel to Cooperstown includes his wife, Gordette, and a brother who lives in the United States.
Tony Oliva was raised on a farm in a family of 10 children, six boys and four girls. He left Cuba in 1961 at age 22 for baseball glory in the United States and in 1964 earned American League Rookie of the Year honors with a league-leading .323 batting average. The very next year, he was playing in the World Series.
Hobbled by knee injuries, Tony Oliva retired in 1976 after 15 seasons. His parents, Pedro and Anita, were prevented from ever attending any of his games because of the decades of travel restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba.
"It was very hard," he said in an interview with the Cuban media outlet On Cuba News in December, soon after he was voted into the Hall of Fame. "Many people don't know what one went through, what it means to be alone.
"Even if you have all the success in the world, the family is very much needed, especially when you finish a game, and you have no one to share with. That feeling of triumph sometimes turns into sadness, because you want to be with your parents, enjoy it with those close to you."
