Reusse: Twins legends Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek are recovering after recent strokes

Kent Hrbek was playing T-ball on the east side of Bloomington in the mid-1960s. “Our uniform tops were white T-shirts,” Hrbek said Wednesday. “That was it.”

Young Hrbek’s mother, Tina, decided to take action. “She sewed a No. 6 on the back of my T-shirt, in honor of my favorite player,” he said. “So, that’s how far back I go with Tony Oliva being my Twins hero.”

Hrbek paused and said: “Even with that, Tony was not enough of a hero to me to want to have a stroke just because he had one.”

More proof that Big Herbie can come up with a quip about anything, including Oliva, 86, and Hrbek, 64, having strokes within days of each other earlier this month.

Oliva’s stroke was officially diagnosed April 8, although the belief of neuro specialists is that it probably occurred earlier. April 8 was the day Hrbek had surgery on his right knee.

“The operation was at Tria, and we stayed at a hotel,” Hrbek said. “I woke up feeling strange and Kristen said, ‘Should I call 911?’ I said, ‘There’s something going on. I can’t talk.’ ”

Hrbek was taken to Fairview Southdale that morning, April 10. He was transferred to University of Minnesota Acute Care on April 15. And he came home Tuesday, feeling OK, but with a slight thickness in his speech that hints he’s been through something.

“I passed the cognitive test — all that stuff where they test the memory,“ Hrbek said. “I’m moving slower right now, but that’s it.

“I didn’t see myself as a stroke candidate. My blood pressure was good, cholesterol was good; larger guy, of course; little overweight, but not that bad. I was lucky, I guess.”

As Hrbek was returning home Tuesday with his wife, Kristen (they were married last October), Oliva was also home in Bloomington after being in and out of hospitals and doctor offices for a couple of weeks.

He was watching the Twins game. “Did you see Byron Buxton’s catch to end the game?“ he was asked Wednesday.

Tony’s daughter, Anita, was in a chair next to him and said: “I think that’s why he’s back in here today.”

Oliva nodded and said: “That and watching the Timberwolves game. My blood pressure was up to 208. … For real.”

Oliva was resting in a hospital bed midafternoon Wednesday. There is more diagnostic activity in his immediate future to figure out what’s been going since late March.

“Dad broadcast a game on Opening Day nationally — March 27 — on a Spanish network,“ Anita said. “He was sad about it. He said, ‘I wasn’t good on the broadcast tonight.’ ”

Oliva looked toward me and said: “I didn’t say the words I wanted to say that night.”

A week later, Tony was at Target Field for the April 3 home opener to do the Spanish broadcast with his outstanding partner Alfonso Fernandez on play-by-play.

In the 16 years of that ballpark, no radio broadcast has topped Alfonso and Tony exuding their joy when Jim Thome hit a majestic, screaming home run to beat the Chicago White Sox in that first summer of 2010.

This time, Tony made a couple of Opening Day appearances, started feeling poorly and had to skip the broadcast. He hasn’t made it since.

Back in early 2024, Tony, wife Gordette, Anita and other family members had made a spectacular three-week trip to his homeland of Cuba. Gordette had taken her usual steamer trunks full of gifts and supplies for Cuban relatives and friends.

On this occasion, the Cuban national baseball organization honored Tony, including throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for Cuba’s version of a major league opener.

The organization also sponsored an open house at the home of Juan Carlos, Tony’s brother, that was open to the public.

“People started arriving at the house at 7:30 in the morning,” Anita said. “Generations of Cuban players were there, including older men that Dad had played baseball with and against before he came to the United States [in 1961]. It was a fantastic day.”

Tony and his daughter were back for 12 days this winter. It’s not a great thing to talk about for visitors, but the shortages the Cubans were facing in food, supplies and erratic utilities admittedly left the Olivas feeling less celebratory this time.

What’s still working, though, if someone is in a Cuban town with working cell towers, is the “WhatsApp” internet communication.

That is the case for brother Juan Carlos, a member of 10 national teams as a pitcher, then a coach and official with the Cuban baseball organization. Last year, when the announcement was made that Joe Mauer was going into the Hall of Fame, Anita was able to get me on WhatsApp for an interview with Tony at Juan Carlos’ home.

And, on Wednesday, he was able to use that outlet to talk to two of his siblings in Cuba from a hospital room.

“WhatsApp is the greatest thing ever,” Tony said. “Sometimes, we’d wait for three days for a call to go through to Cuba. I’d go to Canada, just because it was easier to make calls to Cuba from there.”

So he was asked, what else is new, ‘Senor?’ – as I’ve called him since first meeting Tony in the Twins clubhouse in 1971.

“That game last night … that amigo [Jhoan Duran], he throws 100," Oliva said. “Throw that instead of all those breaking balls.”

OK, No. 6, and hang in there. Big Herbie needs his heroes right now.