If no longer for the botched Bay of Pigs invasion, Minnesota may possibly by no means have recognized one in every of its most well-liked baseball avid gamers, Twins three-time batting champion and eight-time All-Star Tony Oliva. In April 1961, the twenty-two-year-old Cuban prospect didn't galvanize the Twins in a tryout, however the surprising rupture in U.S.–Cuba kinfolk made a go back visa all yet most unlikely. the tale of the way Oliva’s unforeseen remain resulted in a moment probability and good fortune with the Twins—as good as a long time of non-public and cultural isolation—is informed for the 1st time during this full-scale biography of the fellow the enthusiasts affectionately name “Tony O.”

With unparalleled entry to the very deepest Oliva, baseball author Thom Henninger captures what lifestyles was once like for the Cuban newcomer as he adjusted to significant league play and American culture—and even as controlled to earn Rookie of the yr honors and win the yankee League batting name in his first seasons, all whereas fiddling with a knuckle damage. jam-packed with never-before-published photos, the ebook follows Oliva during the 1965 season, the entire option to the area sequence, after which, with repaired knuckle and knee, into some of the most dramatic pennant races in baseball historical past in 1967. during the voices of Oliva, his relations, and his teammates—including the Cuban gamers who shared his cultural demanding situations and the long run corridor of Famers he mentored, Rod Carew and Kirby Puckett—the own highs and lows of the years come alive: the Gold Glove Award in 1966, a 3rd batting identify in 1971, the devastating damage that curtailed his profession, and, via all of it, the fight to construct a kinfolk and get better the big and close-knit one he had left at the back of in Cuba.

Nearly 40 years after Oliva’s retirement, the controversy maintains over no matter if his injury-shortened occupation was once corridor of status caliber—a query that will get a measured and resounding resolution the following.