Old man Oglivie
- Jeremiah Edwards
- May 24, 2017
- 3 min read
Name: Ben Oglivie
Card Company: Topps
Year: 1985
Team: Milwaukee Brewers
Bats/Throws: L
Ht: 6'2
Ben Oglivie took a long time to reach his prime, but once he did he was a great player. The bad thing is that it took half that time for him to fall off his prime. But when he did reach his prime he was a menacing power hitter in the middle of the Milwaukee Brewers line-up. With that being said, let’s begin the analysis of Ben Oglivie’s up and down career.
Ben Oglivie was selected by Boston Red Sox in the 11th round of the free-agent draft in 1968. He would spend the next four years in the minors, developing into what Boston thought to be a dangerous power-hitter. He debuted late in the 1971 season, but got his chance to play regularly in 1972. However, the power-hitter Boston thought they were getting floundered in Boston never playing more than 94 games in a season. Eventually. Boston traded him to Detroit in exchange for Dick McAuliffe.
Whilst in Detroit Oglivie would start to develop the power that he showed in the minor, gradually improving his home run total every year he was in Detroit. His last two years in Detroit he hit 15 and 21 home runs respectively, and it appeared like Oglivie would be a fixture in Detroit for a long time. However, Detroit was desperate for pitching and after the 1977 season he was traded to the Brewers for Jim Slaton and Rich Folkers. When the dust settled from this trade the Brewers made out like bandits. Folkers never appeared in a big-league game with the Tigers, and Slaton only pitched one year for the Tigers before returning to Milwaukee in free agency. And Oglivie would finally develop into the feared hitter he was supposed to be when he originally debuted with the Red Sox in 1971.
Oglivie in his first season with the Brewers knocked in a career high 72 RBI’s while batting .303. The next year he would set new career highs in both home runs (29) and RBI’s (81), all while batting a respectable .282. But in 1980 it would all come together, and Ben Oglivie would go from an afterthought by the Red Sox and Tigers to an AL All-Star. 1980 would be Oglivie’s best year by far as he once
again set new career highs in batting average (.304), home runs (41) and RBI’s (118). Oglivie would go on to win the Silver Slugger that year, also becoming the first foreign born player ever to lead the American League in home runs. Oglivie would have a little bit of trouble in 1981, only playing 107 games but still managed to knock in 72 RBI’s. Oglivie would have one last great year with the Brewers helping guide them to the 1982 AL Pennant, mashing 34 home runs while driving in 102 RBI’s. The Brewers would lose in 7 games to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, this would be Oglivie’s last time in the post season. He would make his third and final all-star team in 1983, before eventually falling off and ending his 16-year MLB career with the Brewers 1986.
I would say he retired but he didn’t, determined to stay in baseball he played two seasons in Japan hitting 46 home runs while playing overseas. He would try and make a comeback after that, but it failed which lead to his retirement. Ben Oglivie finished with a .273 batting average with 235 home runs and 901 RBIs in 1754 games. Oglivie, if he had hit his prime sooner could’ve had a more memorable career. But alas his prime came late in his career meaning that we only got to witness what could’ve been for a short time.
Remember everyone, father time is and will always be undefeated.
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