Ben Oglivie

Position: Leftfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Left
6-2, 160lb (188cm, 72kg)
Born: February 11, 1949 in Colon, Panama pa
Draft: Drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 11th round of the 1968 MLB June Amateur Draft from Theodore Roosevelt HS (Bronx, NY).
High School: Theodore Roosevelt HS (Bronx, NY)
School: Wayne State University (Detroit, MI)
Debut: September 4, 1971 (13,177th in major league history)
vs. CLE 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: October 5, 1986
vs. TOR 3 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB

Full Name: Benjamin Ambrosio Oglivie

View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen

View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject

Nine Players Who Debuted in 1971

Chris Speier
Chris Chambliss
Ron Cey
George Hendrick
Dave Kingman
Jon Matlack
Doyle Alexander
Cecil Cooper
Darrell Porter

All-Time Teammate Team

Coming Soon

Notable Events and Chronology

October 3, 1972

Tigers clinch the division 1972 in shortened season

October 23, 1973

Boston trades first baseman Ben Ogilvie to the Tigers in exchange for Dick McAuliffe

June 5, 1982

1982 – “The Brew Crew” connect for three consecutive home runs, by Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie in the 7th inning, as Milwaukee pounds Oakland, 11 – 3. Ted Simmons and Gorman Thomas also homer to back Bob McClure’s third victory. It is the second time in a week that Milwaukee sluggers have hit three consecutive homers.

October 3, 1982

Don Sutton defeats Jim Palmer and Orioles to put Milwaukee in ALCS

October 8, 1982

Don Sutton watches the rain come down during Game 6 of the 1982 World Series

Don Sutton and Paul Molitor help Brewers stave off elimination in ALCS

July 10, 1983

Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers play the longest nine-inning game in major league history

Biography

Tall and slender with a strong-wristed lefthanded stroke, Oglivie spent 16 ML seasons in the AL’s Eastern Division, but didn’t blossom as a power hitter until the latter half of his career. He hit three home runs in a game for the Brewers three times, all after turning 30, and he lead the AL with 41 HR in 1980. The native Panamanian was a free-swinger who disdained bases on balls, yet he rarely flailed wildly, striking out 80 times in a season only twice.

Originally signed by the Red Sox, he could not crack Boston’s starting lineup in 1971-73, and was traded to the Tigers for second baseman Dick McAuliffe. Oglivie played more regularly in Detroit, but was still on the bench enough to lead the AL in pinch hits in 1976, and after hitting .262 with 21 HR as the Tigers rightfielder in 1977, he was traded to the Brewers for pitchers Jim Slaton and Rich Folkers. He hit .303 in his first season in Milwaukee, then belted 29 HR in 1979 before recording career highs across the board in 1980, batting .304 with 41 HR and 118 RBI. His batting average plummeted into the .240s in 1981-82, but he still hit 34 HR in 1982 to help the Brewers to their only WS appearance, and in the WS he homered in a losing effort against the Cardinals in Game Seven.

Oglivie’s HR production waned after the 1982 season, and after hitting only five in 103 games in 1986, he left the ML to play in Japan. He returned to the U.S. in 1989, and signed a minor league contract with the Brewers.

Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts

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