Many baseball players who are not well known often have the timing to create a historic moment.
Bob Oliver is one of those players.
As a rookie with the Kansas City Royals during the 1969 season, Oliver went 6-for-6 in a game against the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium on May 4.
Oliver’s six-hit performance remains a Kansas City record, although it has been tied by Kevin Seitzer (1987) and Joe Randa (2004).
The Royals won 15-1 with Roger Nelson tossing a complete game.
In the second inning, Oliver began his Sunday afternoon with a single off Clyde Wright. However, about the only thing that went wrong for him that day was Wright picked him off second with the bases loaded. Despite the mistake, the Royals were able to score twice and take a 2-1 lead.
Oliver picked up a double in the fourth off Eddie Fisher before hitting a two-run homer off Pedro Borbon in the fifth.
He added a RBI single in the seventh and his final hit was a single in the ninth.
Playing in 118 games at several positions in 1969, Oliver finished the season with 13 homers and 43 RBI. He had exactly 100 hits with a .254 batting average.
Played Eight Seasons
Oliver played three games with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1965, but didn’t return to the big leagues until 1969 with the Royals.
He was traded to California early in the 1972 season and played there until being sent to Baltimore late in 1974. He ended his career with the New York Yankees in 1975.
In 1970, Oliver probably had his best season with 27 homers and 99 RBI.
With the Royals and Angels in 1972, he hit 20 homers and drive in 76 with a career-high .269 batting average.
In his career, he had 94 homers and 419 RBI.
Teammates with Hall of Famer
Oliver and his son Darren Oliver had a unique moment in 1993 when the latter made his major league debut with Texas in September of that season.
Bob was a teammate of Nolan Ryan in California, while Darren was with the Rangers during the final year of Ryan’s career.