In 1965, Oliva won a second straight AL batting title with a .321 average, his back-to-back wins once again a baseball first. His performances were all the more noteworthy for falling right at the onset of baseball's "second deadball era", with only two other AL hitters reaching the .300 mark that season, (Carl Yastrzemski (.312) and Vic Davalillo (.301)). Oliva added 16 home runs, 98 runs batted in, and 107 runs. He led the AL in hits (185), runs created (108), sacrifice flies (10), and batting average (.321), good for a second-place finish in MVP voting to teammate and Twins sparkplug Versalles. That season, Oliva became an All-Star for the first time. Oliva got into the All-Star game in right field in the eighth inning, replacing game starter Rocky Colavito, and had a double in the ninth inning after pinch hitting in the seventh inning and grounding out.