50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
That is a great list. Watched a lot of Kaat and Oliva up here in Minnesota as a kid. Tony Oliva had a distinctive batting style which a lot of us mimicked playing whiffleball. He was having a great career until his knees went prematurely and if it wouldn't have been for the DH, he'd have been done three years sooner (and his years as a DH were nothing to write home about). Guy could barely walk, much less play. Great ambassador of the game. He'd come up in the stands pre-game and chat up the fans.
Kaat's numbers are largely the result of longevity, but he was a great ambassador of the game in Minnesota as well. Spoke to a lot of church and youth groups. Really approachable guy and a tremendous fielder. He could go into the Hall of Fame as a broadcaster as well as far as I'm concerned. He's one of the best I've heard. Can't believe they do't use him nationally much anymore.
Tiant played a bit for the Twins as well. Couldn't come back from an injury and Twins released him after one season. He was then signed by the Braves, who let him go after a month. Tiant then proceeded to resurrect his career in Boston after a slow crawl back to health. Tiant was another guy with a very unorthodox approach that we copied on the whiffleball diamond.
Of all the guys on the list, Minnie Minoso probably had the best career (Ken Boyer a close second). The White Sox signed Minoso for a couple of games in the mid-1970s and early-1980s as a gimmick so Minnie could play in extra decades. St. Paul Saints continued the tradition and signed Minnie for a game in the 1990s and 2000s. Undoubtedly due to Saints owner Mike Veeck, whose father was owner of the White Sox when Minoso starred for them. Minoso drew a walk as a 78-year-old for the Saints in 2003.
