Editor's Note: With the election of Zeeland native Jim Kaat to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, The Sentinel will look at the careers of his fellow electees. Today: Tony Oliva.

Surrounded by family, Tony Oliva finally got the call.

It was a call that could have come 45 years ago when he first arrived on a Hall of Fame ballot.

But it took until this year for Oliva to pick up the phone and hear the life-changing words that he was finally a Hall of Famer.

Oliva, 83, and his family were overcome with emotion. After all, when a nearly half-century wait is over, there was pure joy for the moment but also relief that he lived long enough to get the call.

His longtime Minnesota Twins teammate Jim Kaat also got the call. He had waited more than 30 years himself.

Going into the Hall of Fame together is a fitting bonus for enduring such a long wait.

"Things have to align correctly (to make it ... and to both make it)," Kaat said. "In the years I didn't get voted in, I always spoke up for Tony. The argument was that he didn't play that long, but I always said neither did Sandy Koufax."

Oliva was often compared with Koufax, but the hitting version. Oliva was one of the best all-around players in the game from 1964-73, but knee injuries derailed his career early.

Had he played just a couple more years, he likely would have been voted into the Hall of Fame decades ago. But his career totals were lower than most stars because of the injuries. He did not reach 2,000 career hits or even 1,000 RBIs or 250 home runs.

But those were just career totals. When he was healthy, he is peak was as dominant as nearly any player of his era in the American League.

Oliva batted .304 for his career and won three batting titles and led the AL in hits five times. He won the Rookie of the Year in 1964 after stunningly winning the batting title (.323), leading the league in hits (217), runs (109), total bases (374) and doubles (43).

It was one of the greatest rookie seasons in baseball history. But with a season that dominant, the only place to go is down.

But Oliva won the batting title and led the AL in hist again the following year and was runner-up for the MVP award. In his third year, he led the AL in hits for the third consecutive year.

Oliva was an eight-time All-Star and won a Gold Glove award as the best fielder at his position.

For the analytics crowd, he had a 43.0 wins above replacement (strong for his peak but not a super high total given his shorter career) and an OPS+ (on base % plus slugging % with era and ballparks factored in) of 137, which is stellar.

Analytics have been a big factor in recent elections with some candidates having better cases because of them, and some whose cases look weaker because of them. Oliva was neither. His traditional stats and analytics show the same thing. He was dominant but his short career made him a borderline candidate.

Oliva is finally a Hall of Famer, something that should have happened years ago. He missed by one vote in the last Golden Era Committee ballot and has been close for decades.

He and Kaat will join former Twins teammates Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew in the Hall of Fame. Oliva batted between seven-time batting champion Carew and 573-home-run-hitting Killebrew.

"I could spend my entire time telling stories about Tony. I am so happy for Tony," Kaat said. "I have often said Rod is in the Hall of Fame and should be and Harmon. If you talk to catchers of that era, Tony is the guy they feared knocking in big runs."

Now, both Oliva and Kaat are where they belong, among their Twins teammates - and now among their Hall of Fame teammates.

— Contact Sports Editor Dan D'Addona at Dan.D'Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona and Facebook @Holland Sentinel Sports.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva overwhelmed to go into Hall of Fame together