Benjamin
Ambrosio Oglivie Palmer (born
February 11, 1949) is a Panamanian former professional baseball left fielder,
who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for
the Boston Red Sox (1971–1973), Detroit
Tigers (1974–1977), and Milwaukee
Brewers (1978–1986). He also played two seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB)
for the Kintetsu Buffaloes (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 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. Oglivie
batted .241 with eight homers and 30 runs batted
in (RBI) and led the Red Sox in pinch hitting with
a .375 average in his first full MLB season
in 1972. After slumping to .218 with two
homers in 58 games, he was traded from the Red Sox to the Tigers for Dick
McAuliffe on October 23, 1973. Oglivie
was acquired by the Brewers from the Tigers for Jim Slaton and Rich Folkers at
the Winter Meetings on December 9, 1977. In a
16-year Major League career, Oglivie posted a .273 batting average, with 277 doubles,
560 bases on balls, 235 home runs and 901 runs batted
in (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 journeyOglivie has coached at
various levels for a number of different organizations, including
Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Tampa Bay,
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.