Tony Oliva on Joe Mauer’s Baseball Hall of Fame chances: ‘No reason to have him wait’

There were times in decades past when Tony and Gordette Oliva would attempt to make phone calls to Tony O’s relatives in Cuba, and it would take several days to make the connection.

There are still great shortages in America’s island neighbor, and the Olivas remain generous in sending goods and providing financial assistance to their family members, and even families that lived in close proximity to Pedro Sr., Anita and their 10 children in the tobacco fields of western Cuba.

You will not hear this from Tony and Gordette, but rather from others who know fully of their generosity — and remember, Oliva did not play at a time when great ballplayers were making great amounts of money.

As for making contact, the miracle of modern communication can overcome even the limitations that still exist in Cuba, as long as both parties have a reasonably current cell phone and it’s a Cuban city with cell towers.

That was the case last week. I had made a few calls to Tony to get his thoughts on the strong chance that Joe Mauer will become a first-ballot Hall of Famer when results of the latest election are announced Tuesday. No response, so I gave a try to daughter Anita Oliva, and this was discovered:

The Olivas arrived in Cuba on Jan. 4, Anita and other family members returned last week, but Tony and Gordette pushed back their return to Jan. 24 right before Tony fulfills the obligation to make appearances at Twins Fest.

“Dang, I wanted to talk to him about Joe and the Hall of Fame,” I said.

To which Anita replied: “We can do that. I’ll set it up for a time when we can get Dad on our cell phones with WhatsApp.”

And so it occurred:

The son of an undertaker in Fulda, Minn., who can recall from a very young age when the home phone was a party line, talking clearly to a Hall of Famer with memories not nearly as distant of waiting three days to hear that a connection had been made by an operator to a brother or a sister on the island of his birth.

The Olivas were at the home of Tony’s youngest brother, Juan Carlos, a famed pitcher and then coach in Cuba, in Consolacion del Sur, a town of 117,000 in the province Pinar del Rio, where Pedro Sr. was known as the greatest wrapper of cigars to be found, and where home plate was marked off in front a tree in the field for Tony and others to swing at homemade baseballs.

Tony O’s face appeared on his daughter’s cell phone, looking refreshed and happy in a white T-shirt, and talking about the celebrations that had taken place as the Baseball Federation of Cuba joined in honoring him as a returning Hall of Famer.

Asked about Mauer’s probable election to the Hall of Fame, Oliva said: “Joe Mauer belongs in Cooperstown. There is no reason to have him wait for that.”

If he makes it in Year 1, is there any way Joe can be as appreciative of it as you were in making it 40 years after being first eligible?

Instantly, Oliva said: “Yes, he will appreciate it, because few players are Hall of Famers, and also because of all the people who will come up to him and say how happy it makes them because Joe was their favorite player, or their kids’ favorite player.

“That is what happened for me … in Minnesota, of course, but also in Cuba on this trip. I have had old men who played with me as a kid out in the country come up and tell me how happy they were when I made the Hall of Fame.”

So when did you first see Mauer? “He played in the rookie league and then he came to spring training the next year (2002),” Oliva said. “He was catching, soft hands, big target, good arm, and then he came to bat against a veteran pitcher.

“They went to a 3-2 count, and then the veteran threw him a hook, threw this kid a hook on 3-2, and Joe just smoked the ball to left-center field. And I said, ‘Why wait? He’s ready.’ ”

The Twins didn’t wait long. Mauer was the Opening Day catcher before his 21st birthday in 2004. He tweaked a knee nearly instantly, but it was only a brief derailment before winning the only three batting titles earned in the American League by a catcher.

If Mauer’s LF-targeted swing reminded us Twins’ lifers of anyone, it was Oliva. Tony turned more often with power to right field as his career progressed, but when Mauer smacked one to left-center, he was the reincarnation of Oliva.

“The double you hit to left-center in the 1965 All-Star Game at Met Stadium,” I said. “That was a Mauer rip at his best.”

Oliva’s smile grew wide on the cell phone and he said: “Off the big man from St. Louis, (Bob) Gibson. I hit that ball so hard … it almost put a hole in the fence in left-center.”

And then two old guys, looking at each other and talking from a distance of 1,638 miles between the frozen north and an island of green, had a robust laugh over an unforgettable double from six decades earlier off one of the greatest pitchers who ever lived.