THE NEW YORK TIMES – Rocky Colavito, who was one of baseball’s leading sluggers in his time and a huge fan favorite playing the outfield for the Cleveland Indians, only to be traded away in 1960 in the most infamous deal in the club’s history, died on Tuesday at his home in Bernville, Pa. He was 91.
His death was announced by the Cleveland Guardians, as the team is now known.
Colavito hit 374 home runs in 14 years in the major leagues, eight of those seasons in two separate stints with Cleveland. He finished his career with a return to his birthplace, the Bronx, playing for the Yankees.
A nine-time All-Star, he was just the third player in the major leagues to hit four home runs in one game in consecutive at-bats, and he had one of the game’s strongest arms.
A sturdy 6 feet 3 inches tall and 190 pounds, Colavito played the game with enthusiasm, although flat feet limited his mobility, and he was happy to sign autographs.
Time magazine put him on its cover in the summer of 1959 for a profile of baseball’s young stars, gushing at how Colavito, handsome with curly hair, “makes bobby-soxers squeal.”
“Rocky had tremendous charisma,” Herb Score, Cleveland’s fast-balling left-hander, told Terry Pluto in “The Curse of Rocky Colavito” (1994), a chronicle of the team’s years of floundering after Colavito was traded.
“Fans gravitated to him not just because he hit home runs. Rocky relished the clutch situations. He didn’t always come through, but he wanted to be the guy who took that burden on his back.”
When rumors arose that Colavito would be traded in 1958 by Cleveland’s newly arrived general manager, Frank Lane, who had been consumed with making deals in his previous stops, fans chanted, “Don’t knock the Rock!” …
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