Minnesota Twins baseball fans, especially those of a certain vintage, will take great joy and feel great vindication in the announcement on Sunday that two of the finest Twins to play the game, Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat, will enter the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown this summer.

Oliva and Kaat, teammates for many year sin the 1960s and ’70s, had been overlooked by the hall of fame voters for decades. But this year the Hall of Fame’s “Golden Age Committee” gave them the respect and the necessary votes they have deserved all this time, both at the age of 83.

Oliva burst on the baseball scene like comet, winning Rookie of the Year honors in 1964, and he won the American League batting title in his first two season, and a third in 1971. He was a lifetime .304 hitter, with 1,917 hits, 597 for extra bases. But knee injuries that started in 1971 hobbled him, cut his production and led him to retire after 15 seasons with the Twins. Hall of Fame voters looked at his stats as good, but not quite good enough, and it took years to get him in the hall.

Kaat was as durable and reliable a pitcher as there was in the majors. He came to Minnesota with the Washington Senators and played 13 more years with the Twins, then ten more seasons with other teams. He had 283 victories for six different teams, and is still the Twins’ leader in wins, losses, innings, starts and walks. He was an amazing fielder, winning 16 consecutive Gold Glove awards. He was one of the best hitting pitchers of his era.

Again, his statistics were considered not quite good enough for the Hall, but in this day of pampered pitchers, limited pitch counts and designated hitters, when five or six good innings are considered a “quality start,” his 25-year career stands out.

The Baseball Hall of Fame voters can now look themselves in the mirror after righting a decades-long injustice with the selection of Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat.