Oliver played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959, 1961–63), Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves (1963–67), Philadelphia Phillies (1967), Boston Red Sox (1968) and Chicago Cubs (1968–69).

[1] Oliver began his professional baseball career in the Class-D Albany Cardinals of the Georgia-Florida League where was very briefly before moving to the Class-D Ardmore Cardinals of the Sooner State League where he hit .333 with 39 home runs and 113 runs batted in in 122 games.

[2] The following year, he moved to the Class-B Winston-Salem Red Birds of the Carolina League, hitting .285 with 30 home runs.

For his strong performance, he was promoted to the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings of the International League where he remained for three seasons except for a 68-game stint with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959.

In 1961, he began to year with the Cardinals, where he was used sparingly by manager Solly Hemus, before being sent Triple-A Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League.

[4] On June 8 of that year, Joe Torre, Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron and Oliver hit tenth-inning home runs in a Braves victory over the Cubs, setting a major league record for most long balls in a single inning of an extra-inning game.

[1] Oliver remained close to his former Cubs teammates and acted as social director for Randy Hundley's fantasy baseball camps.