Rocky Colavito: 9-Time MLB All Star dead at 91
On December 10, Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians announced their sadness regarding the passing of Rocky Colavito. Rocco Domenico “Rocky” Colavito Jr. was an MLB outfielder, and later a coach and television sports commentator who played in the bigs from 1955 to 1968, most prominently with the Cleveland Indians. Rocky passed peacefully at his home on December 9 with family by his side in Bernville, Pennsylvania, at the tender age of 91.
“Our collective hearts ache at the passing of Rocky,” said Guardians Senior Vice President/Public Affairs Bob DiBiasio. “Rocky was a generational hero, one of the most popular players in franchise history. His popularity was evident across Northeast Ohio as sandlot ballplayers everywhere imitated Rocky’s on-deck circle routine of kneeling, then as he stepped into the batter’s box the stretching the bat over the shoulders and pointing the bat at the pitcher. I can proudly say I was one of them. Rocky loved our organization and always held the fans in the highest esteem. He would always say, ‘I am thankful God chose me to play in Cleveland.’ We send our most sincere condolences to the entire Colavito family, as well as his many teammates and other organizations impacted by his passing.”
In his eight seasons with Cleveland, Colavito amassed 190 homers, 574 RBI and 851 hits as a right fielder. He ranks 12th on the club’s all-time home run list.
Born in the Bronx borough of New York City on August 10, 1933, Colavito was the youngest of five children. He signed with Cleveland at just 17 years old after a tryout at Yankee Stadium prior to the 1951 season.
Colavito made a swift ascent through the minor leagues with Cleveland, moving up a level each year before earning a late-season promotion and making his Major League debut in September 1955. He joined an already star-studded outfield that featured Hall of Famers Ralph Kiner and Larry Doby.
Colavito put up one of the best seasons of his career in 1958, finishing third in MVP voting while batting .303, hitting 41 home runs and leading MLB with a .620 slugging percentage. The following season in 1959, he received his first career All-Star selection and paced the American League with a career-high 42 home runs. In 1960, after five seasons with Cleveland, Colavito was traded to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Harvey Kuenn.
After a successful four-year stint with Detroit, in 1964, Colavito was dealt to the Kansas City Athletics, where he spent just one season before being reacquired by Cleveland prior to the 1965 campaign. He spent two-and-a-half more seasons with the franchise before being traded to the Chicago White Sox in July 1967.
Colavito closed out his career with brief stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and his hometown New York Yankees in 1968 before retiring at the conclusion of the season. In his 14-year career, he tallied 374 home runs and nine All-Star selections, while finishing in the top five in A.L. MVP voting on three separate occasions. Colavito is the only player in Cleveland history to hit four home runs in a single game and shares the MLB record for highest fielding percentage by an outfielder in a season (1.000), a mark set during his errorless 1965 campaign.
Following his retirement, Colavito returned to Cleveland to work as a TV analyst for WJW in 1972 and 1975-1976. In 1973 and again from 1976-1978, he served on Cleveland’s coaching staff. His coaching career concluded with the Kansas City Royals’ staff from 1982-1983.
Colavito was inducted into the Guardians Hall of Fame in 2006. A statue was dedicated to Colavito on August 10, 2021, his 88th birthday, in Little Italy’s Tony Brush Park.
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(Source: Cleveland Guardians / MLB)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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