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Al Oliver

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Albert Oliver, Jr. (born October 14, 1946 in Portsmouth, Ohio) is a former Major League Baseball player who amassed an 18-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1968-77), Texas Rangers (1978-81), Montreal Expos (1982-83), San Francisco Giants (1984), Philadelphia Phillies (1984), Los Angeles Dodgers (1985) and Toronto Blue Jays (1985). He batted and threw left-handed.

Oliver was a durable hard-hitter and a fine center fielder who also played left and right as well as first base. He was signed by the Pirates as an amateur free agent in 1964.

In his rookie season Oliver hit .285 with 17 home runs, ending second in the 1969 National League Rookie of the Year voting. From 1970-76 he played on five Pirates division champions, including the team that defeated the Orioles in the 1971 World Series.

In 1976 Oliver hit .323, this was his first of nine straight .300+ seasons. On December 8, 1977, he was traded as part of a 4-team trade by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Nelson Norman to the Texas Rangers. The Atlanta Braves sent Willie Montanez to the New York Mets. The Texas Rangers sent Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller to the Atlanta Braves. The Texas Rangers sent a player to be named later and Tom Grieve to the New York Mets. The Texas Rangers sent Bert Blyleven to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The New York Mets sent Jon Matlack to the Texas Rangers. The New York Mets sent John Milner to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Texas Rangers sent Ken Henderson (March 15, 1978) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.

Wearing the number 0 on his uniform, Oliver played in all of Texas's 163 games in 1980, and reached career highs in hits (209) and RBI (117). On August 17 at Tiger Stadium, he established an American League record with 21 total bases in a doubleheader (four home runs, a double and a triple). On March 31 1982, after he became the Rangers' all-time leading hitter (.319) and reached the club's top ten in virtually every offensive category he was traded to the Montreal Expos for Larry Parrish and Dave Hostetler.

In 1982 with the Expos, Oliver hit a career-high .331 batting average to win the National League batting crown. He also led the NL in hits (204), doubles (43), extra bases (67), total bases (317), and tied with Dale Murphy for the RBI lead with (109).

After stints with the Giants, Phillies and Dodgers, Oliver returned to the American League in 1985 with the Blue Jays, for whom he hit a pair of game-winning singles against the Royals in the 1985 ALCS.

Oliver was selected for 7 All-Star games, starting at 1b in the 1983 Classic. Al was named as an OF on The Sporting News 1975 NL All-Star Team and also as the 1b on The Sporting News 1982 NL All-Star Team. Oliver was the OF on The Sporting News 1980 AL Silver Slugger Team, DH on The Sporting News 1981 AL Silver Slugger Team and 1b on The Sporting News 1982 NL Silver Slugger Team.

Al Oliver was a career .303 hitter with 219 home runs and 1326 RBI in 2368 games. He batted .300 or more ten times and retired with 2,743 hits (45th in the all-time list). He also ranks among all-time top-50 in games played (2368), total bases (4083), RBI (1326) and extra-base hits (825).

Contents

[edit] Highlights

  • 7-time All-Star (1972, 1975-76, 1980-83)
  • NL batting champion (1982)
  • Led NL in Hits, Total Bases, Doubles, RBI, Runs Created and Extra-Base Hits (1982)
  • Led AL in games played (1980)
  • Twice led NL in doubles (1982-83)
  • 3-time Top 10 MVP (7th, 1972; 7th. 1974; 3rd, 1982)
  • Won Silver Slugger Award for three straight years, at three different positions:
    • 1980, left field, AL
    • 1981, designated hitter, AL
    • 1982, first base, NL
  • Texas Rangers Career Batting Average Leader (.319).
  • Holds Rangers' record for most games played in a season (163 in 1980).
  • Ranks 79th on MLB All-Time Games List (2,368).
  • Ranks 57th on MLB All-Time At Bats List (9,049).
  • Ranks 47th on MLB All-Time Hits List (2,743).
  • Ranks 63rd on MLB All-Time Total Bases List (4,083).
  • Ranks 28th on MLB All-Time Doubles List (529).
  • Ranks 78th on MLB All-Time RBI List (1,326)
  • Ranks 57th on MLB All-Time Singles List (1,918).
  • Ranks 86th on MLB All-Time Runs Created List (1,401).
  • Ranks 74th on MLB All-Time Extra-Base Hits List (825).
  • Ranks 39th on MLB All-Time Sacrifice Flies List (95).
  • Ranks 73rd on MLB All-Time Intentional Walks List (119).
  • Ranks 23rd on MLB All-Time Grounded into Double Plays List (254).

[edit] Trivia

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
George Foster 		National League Player of the Month
June, 1976 		Succeeded by:
George Foster
Preceded by:
Tim Wallach 		National League Player of the Month
June, 1982 		Succeeded by:
Mike Schmidt
Preceded by:
Bill Madlock 		National League Batting Champion
1982 		Succeeded by:
Bill Madlock
Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Al_Oliver"
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