Maybe the Royal player with the most impact who was obtained from their expansion draft (note ROY Lou Pinella was acquired from the Seattle Pilots)...passed along Twins and Pirates before finding a home in KC....was able to become a regular outfielder over a cattle call of contenders....set franchise firsts: hit the initial grand slam and going 6 for 6....1970 moves over to be KC’s primary 1st baseman with the arrival of rookie outfielder Amos Otis and the failure of second year player Mike Fiore....Oliver responds with career year, establishing team high marks with 27 dingers, 99 RBI’s.....Oliver’s play downgrades in 1971, causing the Royals to take a chance of promising slugger John Mayberry....No longer an outfielder was odd man out Oliver and rather than ride the bench he is exchanged to Angels....Oliver returns to prominence on his new team easily leading the way with 70 RBIs and in going yard 19 times despite being tardy in joining the Halos...was an easy going clubhouse presence.....King Olly brought a wind of change from the controversies from the year prior.... improved runs driven in the following year.....started to tail off in 1974 along with some of his Anaheim peers..... from sent packing to Baltimore in late stages as California cleaned house....while the birds were playoff bound Oliver was not used....picked on waiver by NYY for 1975 also resulted little use and an anemic BA ending his MLB days by the all star break....did not directly give up on baseball, put together strong minor league seasons in AAA and then the Mexican League....but in the mid-30s a return to MLB did not materialize....Once Oliver hung up his spikes did some managing and established a baseball teaching academy....Father of Darren Oliver a MLB pitcher who logged in 20 seasons....jostled around third and first and outfield, did best when assigned to one steady position....resided in Sacramento most of his life until passing away in 2020.
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