Rocky Colavito, who has died at 91, was more than a baseball slugger — he was a Cleveland sports legend

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Rocky Colavito was the reigning king of Cleveland baseball. He was an accomplished slugger who led the American League in home runs. He was handsome, tall and friendly and was wildly popular with the public.

Then “Frantic” Frank Lane came along and ruined it all. Two days before the 1960 baseball season began Lane, the Indians’ general manager, traded Colavito to Detroit for batting champion Harvey Kuenn.

The fans’ uproar was immediate and furious. They could not understand how their flanneled icon could be traded. They called for Lane’s job and said they were giving up on the Indians. Season attendance fell by 546,000.

Time proved the fans to be correct. It was the most disastrous trade in Cleveland baseball history. The deal broke up the good 1959 club and began a downward spiral that plunged the Indians into more than 30 years of losing.

Colavito, who was born on Aug. 10, 1933, has died at age 91. His family confirmed his death to the Guardians on Tuesday afternoon.

The Cleveland fans never forgot Colavito, who rejoined the Indians in 1965 for a final fling. In 1975, when the team took a vote to determine the most memorable personality in team history, Colavito won the honor.

The Big Four

His playing highlight occurred on June 10, 1959, when he hit four home runs on a sultry night in Baltimore. At the time, he was only the third American League player to accomplish the feat.

Rocco Domenico Colavito was born in New York City, the Bronx. Joe DiMaggio, the Yankees’ centerfielder, was his hero.

Colavito tried to mimic the great DiMaggio in all his ballfield movements. Enough of DiMaggio’s actions rubbed off on Colavito to give him a distinct presence. At 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, he looked like a man for whom the baseball uniform was invented. He developed a slow, dramatic trot after hitting a homer. Then he would race into the dugout and shake hands excitedly with everybody he could find.

He pointed his bat directly at pitchers while awaiting the delivery. When he went to the plate to hit, he would put one hand on the bat handle and the other on the barrel and stretch by lifting the stick from his waist to his back.

Colavito, a right fielder, was generally considered to have the strongest arm in the American League. He reportedly hurled a ball 435 feet in an exhibition. He threw the ball so hard that he was twice used as a relief pitcher.

He credited his older brother, Vito, with strengthening his arm from the time he was 5 years old. The boys would play at a nearby field, but Vito would not let him go home to eat until he threw a ball over a fence surrounding the field.

Colavito quit school at 16, wanting to become a professional baseball player. He received a tryout from the Yankees when he was 17. The Yankees wanted to sign him, but he decided to sign with the Indians because their scout, Mike McNally, “was nicer to me.”

“We had a tryout in the Bronx for eight or 10 kids,” McNally once recalled. “When I saw Rocky make a throw from the outfield, that was enough for me.”

His feet were his only physical weakness. They were so flat a newspaper could not be slid under them. His speed was acceptable, however.

Colavito met his future wife, Carmen Perotti, when he was playing for the Indians’ Reading (Pa.) farm club in 1953. Carmen lived in nearby Temple, Pa. They were introduced by Carmen’s girlfriend, who was a baseball fan and often went to the games.

One day Colavito asked her, “Where’s your dark-haired girlfriend? I always seem to hit when she’s around.” The friend, who later became their maid of honor, told Carmen and things went along from there.

Wedding bells

They were married in November 1954, when Colavito was 21 and Carmen 18.

Colavito was still copying DiMaggio at Reading and not hitting that well. Kerby Farrell, the Reading manager, said to him, “Rocky, we’ve gone with you far enough on this DiMaggio stuff. Let’s try to be Colavito.”

Colavito gave up on DiMaggio’s wide, upright stance. “I saw the ball better from a crouch,” he said later.

While playing for Indianapolis he led the American Association with 38 homers, drove in 116 runs and batted .271. He came up to the Indians for the first time at the end of 1955, batting nine times, then got his first extensive big league experience in 1956, hitting 21 homers.

His roommate, pitcher Herb Score, who had already won 20 games in a season, gave Colavito a big shot of encouragement in spring training in 1957. “He’ll hit 30 homers,” Score predicted. “He loves to hit with men on.” Colavito came close, hitting 26 homers and driving in 84 runs in 1957. He still wasn’t playing every day, however.

The first big year

In 1958, he broke through with what many consider to be his best season. He had spent the winter working for his father-in-law’s packing house in Temple, loading baskets of mushrooms on trucks. Obsessed with hitting, he swung a bat 30 times a night in his living room. He did a lot of pushups and reported in top shape to spring training.

Colavito’s self-confidence had much to do with the breakthrough. Early in the year, he was still being platooned. He was hitting .242 and had only two homers when he approached manager Bobby Bragan and said, “If you play me every day I promise you I’ll hit 35 homers.”

Colavito bettered his promise. Playing 143 games, he slugged 41 homers, drove in 113 runs, hit .303 (the only time he reached .300) and led the American League in slugging at .620.

He came in third in the Most Valuable Player vote with 181 points, trailing Boston outfielder Jackie Jensen (233) and Yankee pitcher Bob Turley (191.)

Colavito was named the Indians Man of the Year by the Cleveland baseball writers. A full house of 600 turned out at the Hollenden Hotel as he was honored at the Ribs and Roasts, the writers’ annual winter musicale. He was given a silver tray and a watch. When Colavito was called on to say a few words, he was so overcome with emotion he could not speak. It only added to his legend. His salary was doubled to $29,000.

He credited new manager Joe Gordon, who had taken over the Indians when Bragan was fired midway through the 1958 season, for much of his success. Gordon had convinced Colavito to cut down his swing. “Rocky has the greatest attitude and disposition of any athlete I’ve ever seen,” Gordon said.

Gordon utilized Colavito’s powerful arm in a relief stint on Aug. 13, 1958. He pitched three scoreless innings against the Tigers, not giving up a hit and walking three.

He had previously pitched in two exhibition games against Cincinnati, striking out five straight batters in one of the efforts. “He’s got a windup that scares hitters and he throws so fast I’m having a trouble getting someone to volunteer to catch him,” Gordon said. One writer said he threw harder than any pitcher he had ever seen.

Memorable slogan

Colavito earned his money with his batwork. He did not strike out much by current standards, about 80 times a year. Like any player, he had his slumps and heard the boobirds. A Cleveland sportswriter advised fans never to get down on him under a story that was headlined, “DON’T KNOCK THE ROCK.” It later became the title of his biography.

Colavito was never discouraged. His usual comment during batting lulls was, “I’m not in a slump. I’m just not getting any hits.”

That was his attitude going into the greatest game of his career, in Baltimore in 1959. He was three-for-28 when he bounded out of the dugout and saw a group of writers talking. “Don’t look so gloomy,” he said to the writers.

“When are you going to start hitting?” asked Harry Jones of The Plain Dealer.

“You never know, Harry,” Colavito said. “Maybe tonight.”

There had been rumors that the Indians might trade Colavito to Boston. The Rock asked Gordon about them. “Not true,” Gordon said. “You’d kill us in Boston with that short left field wall. But if you don’t start hitting, I’ll send you to Reading.”

Beer call

The game started inauspiciously for Colavito, when a fan spilled beer on him when he made a catch in right field. After walking his first time up, Colavito belted a home run in the third inning off Jerry Walker of the Orioles. In the fifth and sixth, he homered off Arnold Portocarrero. When he went up to bat in the ninth against Ernie Johnson, Score said, “Get up there and hit that fourth one.”

Colavito said, “I’ll be happy if I get a single.”

When Colavito hit the homer that put him into the record books, the Baltimore fans gave him a standing ovation. Memorial Stadium was considered the most difficult place to hit homers in baseball. Before Colavito hit his four, no team had ever hit that many in a game there.

Colavito trotted around the bases and jumped on home plate with both feet, then raced to the dugout and shook everybody’s hand. Teammates Gary Bell and Billy Martin, who had been taken out of the game earlier, left the showers and ran into the dugout to greet Colavito, covered only by towels. Colavito went into the clubhouse, looking for more hands to shake. He had six RBI in the 11-8 victory.

Treasured memento

Colavito kept the ball he hit for the fourth homer in his den the rest of his life, refusing requests to give it to the Baseball Hall of Fame. “It would be like giving up part of my life,” he said.

It was another big season for Colavito. He tied Washington’s Harmon Killebrew for the home run title with 42 and had 111 RBI as the Indians finished second in a close race with the Chicago White Sox.

He graced the cover of Time Magazine in August of that season. He was only 26. Everybody expected he would be a fixture in Cleveland for many years.

But Lane, who was a compulsive trader, changed all that. On April 17, 1960, Easter Sunday, he sent Colavito to Detroit for Kuenn, who had won the 1959 batting championship with a .353 average.

Colavito received the news while standing on first base as the Indians played an exhibition in Memphis. Gordon walked out and told him, “That’s the last time you’ll bat for the Indians. You’ve just been traded for Harvey Kuenn.”

According to legend, Colavito replied, “For Kuenn and who else?” But Rocky always denied saying that.

Lane said, “I traded a hamburger for a steak.”

Left powerless

Unfortunately for Cleveland fans, he was wrong. Kuenn was a fine contact hitter but he had little power. The trade destroyed the Indians’ balance. They were left with little muscle, for Lane had previously dealt away another Cleveland long-ball hitter, Orestes “Minnie” Minoso.

The Colavito trade unleashed a firestorm of protest against Lane. Big, black headlines covered the front page of The Plain Dealer. The next day Lane struck again, trading Score, Colavito’s roomie.

On April 19, the Indians opened the season against the Tigers at home. The stunned Colavito had a horrible game, striking out four times, hitting into a double play and popping out. But the Tigers won, 4-2, in 15 innings.

The next day Colavito hit a three-run homer off the Indians’ Jim Perry as the Tigers won again. He homered again in his first at-bat in Detroit and went on to get 35 for the season.

The Indians stumbled to a 76-78 season. Kuenn, who had hit .308 and driven in 54 runs, was traded to San Francisco for Willie Kirkland after the season. For the next 30 years the Indians were losers.

Colavito never forgave Lane. When Lane died in 1981, Colavito said, “Let him rest in peace, but he loved to see his name in the papers. He was an egomaniac.”

Colavito kept hitting in Detroit. In 1961, he pounded 45 homers and reached his career high in RBI with 140. He hit four homers in a doubleheader with Washington.

On May 12 that season, he raced into the stands behind third base in Yankee Stadium, chastising a drunken fan who was heckling his father and wife. Colavito was ejected for his gallantry. The next day he hit two homers and went 4-for-5 as the Tigers beat the Yankees.

On June 24, 1962, he made seven hits in a 22-inning loss to the Yankees. On July 5, 1962, he hit three homers against the Indians at the Stadium. He almost became the first player to have two four-homer games, but his long drive into the upper deck was foul by 10 feet.

“We might have shot off the scoreboard if he hit the fourth,” said an Indians spokesman.

Colavito had a weak year in 1963, hitting 22 homers, and the Tigers traded him to Kansas City.

Colavito showed he had plenty left, hitting 34 homers, with 102 RBI, in K.C.

On Jan. 20, 1965, general manager Gabe Paul brought him back to Cleveland in a three-way deal, sending John Romano, Tommy Agee and Tommy John to Chicago, while Kansas City gave up Jim Landis, Mike Hershberger and Fred Talbot to K.C. The Indians also got Camilo Carreon.

“I regret those years away from Cleveland,” said Colavito, then 31. “Cleveland was and is the No. 1 town for me. I loved it here, even when I was booed, which wasn’t very often.”

Leads in RBI

The Rock again came through in Cleveland, leading the league in RBI with 108 and rapping 26 homers. He tied a major league record by playing 162 errorless games in right field, handling 274 chances. His salary climbed to $70,000. He was named Indians Man of the Year for the second time.

The next year, 1966, he hit 30 homers. He went into a precipitous slide in 1967. He had five homers in 63 games when the Indians traded him to Chicago. He wound up his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees in 1968. The power was gone. He totaled eight homers for the season.

However, Colavito had one more memorable performance. On Aug. 25, 1968, he came in as a relief pitcher with Detroit leading, 5-0, in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium. Colavito hurled scoreless ball for 2 2/3 innings, giving up one hit, a double to Al Kaline. He got the victory when the Yankees rallied, with Colavito scoring the winning run. It was the last victory by a non-pitcher until Colorado catcher Brent Mayne won in relief in 2000.

“I threw mostly fastballs,” Colavito said. “I tried a couple of curves but I couldn’t get them over.” He played right field in the second game of the doubleheader and hit a home run.

After retiring, he was a coach for Kansas City and the Indians. He was an Indians telecaster in the 1970s. He also had a mushroom farm and enjoyed hunting on his 88-acre property in Bernville, Pa. ¶

In 2001, he was an easy choice as one of the top 100 Cleveland players of all time. He drove in 100 or more runs six times in his career and finished with 374 homers, 13 more than his idol, DiMaggio.

Little Italy statue

On Aug. 10, 2021, Colavito returned to Cleveland on his 88th birthday for the unveiling of a statue honoring him at Tony Brush Park in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood.

Hundreds turned out to shake his hand, get an autograph, say hello and take a picture. What’s amazing is that Colavito had last walked off a diamond as a player in 53 years earlier.

The statue ceremony culminated grassroots work over several years, fueled by fans whose outpouring of love for Colavito never wavered.

Colavito traveled with dozens of family members and friends from his Reading, Pennsylvania, home and elsewhere, and some former teammates attended the ceremony as well.

Before the ceremony, Colavito visited the Indians’ former East Side home at League Park. He never played there but wanted to visit the preserved remnants of the ballpark that sits on Lexington Avenue, legendary home runs smacked by Babe Ruth a memory lingering through its grounds.

“I would have liked to have met Ruth,” Colavito said as his son, Steve, quietly pushed his wheelchair onto the diamond.

Colavito, a powerful hitter, looked up at the tall, arching fence in the notorious short right field and said: “Piece of cake to right field. Only thing is I was right-handed.”

The countdown to unveil the bronzed sculpture from David Deming, who has crafted likenesses of Larry Doby, Lou Boudreau and Jim Thome at Progressive Field, started at 6 – Colavito’s jersey number.

“As I’ve said, and I’ll say it again: Cleveland is my favorite city in the world,” Colavito said as he addressed fans that day. “And I am absolutely honored and overwhelmed by all of you guys, all of my family, all of friends that are here, that they came. And some of my teammates – Denny McLain, Willie Horton – are here. If that doesn’t show respect, I don’t know what is. And I cherish respect.

He added: “I am thankful God chose me to play in Cleveland.”