"Bob" vs "Roberto" Clemente

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

You believe incorrectly.

Technically, Darren is correct. Oliva was born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandez Javique. When he arrived in the USA in 1961 he used the paperwork of his younger brother Pedro, Jr to make it appear that he was eighteen rather than his true age of twenty one. The name stuck throughout his career and he had it legally changed to Tony Pedro Oliva in the 1990's.

[brian1961]

Doesn't, or in this case, didn't, Topps have a questionaire for each player to fill out that would provide the company with their correct information? Meaning, if Roberto filled one out for 1955, he naturally would have written, "Roberto", and Topps dutifully copied that.

Now, if you're really upset about your Clemente cards that have "Bob" instead of the proper "Roberto", look, I'll help ya out. Just send all those cards to me and I promise I will enjoy and respect them, as is. When I refer to them in front of my collecting chums, I will endeavor to address them as my neat Roberto Clementes that collectors gave to me 'cause they couldn't stand 'em anymore!!!

----Brian Powell

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by Cliff Bowman

Technically, Darren is correct. Oliva was born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandez Javique. When he arrived in the USA in 1961 he used the paperwork of his younger brother Pedro, Jr to make it appear that he was eighteen rather than his true age of twenty one. The name stuck throughout his career and he had it legally changed to Tony Pedro Oliva in the 1990's.

You might want to tell that to SABR biographer Peter Bjarkman, who has it just the opposite:

"As Oliva himself recounts the events, his February signing allowed only a few short weeks before a scheduled departure for spring training in the United States. The cramped time frame created a significant problem because he lacked a passport. But since his brother Antonio (older by Oliva’s telling) did possess proper documentation, a switch was hurriedly arranged and the hopeful ballplayer was cleared to leave his homeland with obviously illegitimate paperwork. The Twins’ timely offer and the availability of his brother’s passport papers enabled an escape from Cuba in the immediate aftermath of the 1959 Castro-led revolution and thus at the precise time of worsening Cuba-USA relations. One fateful consequence for the future was that the youngster would become known by a brother’s name and not his own, a fate he could never shake despite later legally changing his name in U.S. courts to Pedro Oliva Jr. (actually his rightful given name in Cuba). An equally devastating consequence was the fact that worsening relations between Washington and the newly installed Castro regime would soon block any possibilities of returning to his beloved homeland and his family homestead for decades into the future.

There has been considerable controversy surrounding Oliva’s actual birth date, with 1938, 1940 and 1941 all appearing as alternative choices in standard baseball reference works and various on-line sources. 7 The ballplayer’s own account in his autobiography attests that he was the second son, born in 1941 and preceded by older sibling Antonio.."

[Cliff Bowman]

After reading the SABR article, I agree that it's very plausible that his birth name is Pedro, Jr., and that he used his brother Antonio's birth certificate so that he could obtain a passport to gain entrance into the US. That would mean that his Wikipedia page and the Baseball Almanac are both wrong.