Twins all-time great Tony Oliva is going into baseball's hall of fame on July 24, and his brother will be there to see it all.
Juan Carlos Oliva is being united with his brother, and is expected to arrive in the Twin Cities on July 11.
It wasn't easy.
Because it could have taken up to two years for Juan Carlos to get the proper papers from Cuba, he had to get permission to fly to the Dominican Republic, where he worked with officials at that country's US embassy.
"When he went to the immigration, they said to come back tomorrow," said Oliva, adding that when tomorrow came, Juan Carlos got the good news.
"Man, he jumped," said Oliva, noting that Cubans can jump no matter how long they live. "He called me right away, and (said) 'Hey, Bingo, we got it!"
US Senator Amy Klobuchar made the announcement Sunday at Target Field, saying that it shouldn't be so difficult for Cubans and Americans to visit each other.
"If it's possible for a kid from Cuba, when relations were at the hardest, to somehow get over to America and play baseball and become a hall of famer, it's possible to change foreign policy when it comes to Cuba," she said. "What we've been doing hasn't really been working."
In December, Oliva was elected to the shrine in Cooperstown, NY by the hall of fame's Golden Days Era Committee.
The voting came nearly half-a-century after Oliva played his last major league baseball game.
The 76-year-old Oliva batted .304 in his major league career that spanned 14 seasons, all with the Twins.
He won three batting championships, was American League rookie of the year in 1964, and selected to play in eight all-star games.
Oliva's career was curtailed by knee injuries.
He was first eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1982, and failed to gain the 75 percent of the BBWA votes for induction.
He also came up short five times in the voting by the Veteran's Committee, and the same happened with the Golden Era Committee.
The panel that elected Oliva and his former Twins teammate Jim Kaat last winter was formed in 2016.
Among the members of the Golden Days Era Committee is another one-time teammate of Oliva, Rod Carew.
The 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame class also includes one-time Twins infielder David Ortiz, along with Buck O'Neil, Bud Fowler, Minnie Minoso, and Gil Hodges.