Benjamin Ambrosio Oglivie Palmer (born February 11, 1949) is a

Panamanian Panamanians (Spanish: ''Panameños'') are people identified with Panama, a transcontinental country in Central America (a region within North America) and South America, whose connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For m ...

former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

, who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(1971–1973), Detroit Tigers (1974–1977), and Milwaukee Brewers (1978–1986). He also played two seasons in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB) for the

Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stadiu ...

(1987–1988). Oglivie batted and threw left-handed. Oglivie made his MLB debut on September 4, 1971, for the Red Sox and played his final big league game on October 5, 1986, for the Brewers. He hit for power fairly well, breaking the 40-

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

mark in 1980 with 41, which was good for a tie (with Reggie Jackson) for the American League (AL) lead. Oglivie hit three home runs in a game three times. In the process, he became the first non-U.S. born player to lead the AL in home runs. He also finished second in the AL with 118 RBIs and 333 total bases. Oglivie batted .241 with eight homers and 30

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(RBI) and led the Red Sox in pinch hitting with a .375

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

in his first full MLB season in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

. After slumping to .218 with two homers in 58 games, he was traded from the Red Sox to the Tigers for

Dick McAuliffe Richard John McAuliffe (November 29, 1939 – May 13, 2016) was an American professional baseball shortstop / second baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers (1960–73) and Boston Red Sox (1974–75). He was a ...

on October 23, 1973. Oglivie was acquired by the Brewers from the Tigers for

Jim Slaton James Michael Slaton (born June 19, 1950) is a former pitcher with a 16-year career from 1971-1986. He played in the American League with the Milwaukee Brewers from 1971–1977 and 1979–1983, the Detroit Tigers in 1978 and 1986, and the Cal ...

and

Rich Folkers Richard Nevin Folkers (born October 17, 1946) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from to for the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and M ...

at the

Winter Meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...

on December 9, 1977.Durso, Joseph. "Yanks Sign Eastwick to 5‐Year Pact," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, December 10, 1977.
Retrieved October 22, 2020 In a 16-year Major League career, Oglivie posted a .273

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, with 277 doubles, 560 bases on balls, 235 home runs and 901

(RBI), in 1,754 games. He had 87 career stolen bases and 784 runs scored. Oglivie picked up 1,615 hits in 5,913 at bats. Continuing his pro career in Japanese baseball (NPB), Oglivie played for the Kintetsu Buffaloes, powering 46 home runs in two seasons. He then returned to attempt a comeback in American minor league baseball (MiLB); although Oglivie posted great offensive numbers in only two Double-A games, it proved to be the end of his pro baseball playing journey. Oglivie has coached at various levels for a number of different organizations, including Milwaukee,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

, and Detroit. In 2000, he joined the Padres’ MLB staff for one season. The Colón, Panama, native was one of six post-1959 players selected as part of the 2012 class inducted in the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame. Each Latin-American country (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela) had one player chosen for enshrinement, which took place in February 2012.

References

External links

Ben Oglivie
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Ben Oglivie
at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League) {{DEFAULTSORT:Oglivie, Ben 1949 births Living people Águilas del Zulia players Panamanian expatriate baseball players in Venezuela American League All-Stars American League home run champions Boston Red Sox players Detroit Tigers players Kintetsu Buffaloes players Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball players from Panama Milwaukee Brewers players Panamanian expatriate baseball players in Japan Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the United States Sportspeople from Colón, Panama Silver Slugger Award winners Winter Haven Red Sox players El Paso Diablos players Florida Instructional League Red Sox players Greenville Red Sox players Jamestown Falcons players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Pawtucket Red Sox players

See also

References

External links