Nine-time All-Star Rocky Colavito has passed away, the Guardians announced. The longtime MLB slugger was 91.
A native of the Bronx, Colavito signed with the Indians out of high school. He had consecutive 30-plus home run seasons in Triple-A and played his way to Cleveland by his age-21 season. Colavito carried that over against MLB pitching, hitting 21 homers over 101 games as a rookie in 1956. He finished runner-up to Luis Aparicio in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
Colavito hit 25 homers in 1957. By the ’58 season, he was one of the sport’s most feared power bats. Colavito popped 41 homers while hitting .303 with an MLB-best .620 slugging percentage at age 24. He placed third in that year’s MVP balloting. Colavito drove in 113 runs that season and tallied 111 RBI the next. On June 10, 1959, he became the eighth player in MLB history to hit four homers in a game. He led the American League with 42 longballs en route to his first All-Star nod and a fourth-place MVP finish.
Early in the 1960 season, Cleveland traded Colavito to the Tigers in a one-for-one deal for star shortstop Harvey Kuenn. While Colavito hit 35 homers during his first season in Detroit, his average dropped to .249 in a disappointing overall season. He had a major rebound in ’61, as he set career marks in homers (45) and RBI (140). He hit .290 with a .402 on-base percentage, ranking top 10 among qualified hitters in OBP and OPS. He placed eighth in MVP voting in what was arguably the best year of his career.
Colavito played two more seasons in Detroit. He hit another 37 homers while leading the AL with 309 total bases in ’62. Detroit dealt him to the Athletics over the 1963-64 offseason. Colavito hit .274 with 34 longballs for the then Kansas City-based franchise. Things came full circle the next winter, as the A’s traded him back to Cleveland. Colavito combined for 56 homers over the next two seasons and paced the AL with 108 RBI in 1965. He saw limited playing time with the White Sox, Yankees and Dodgers to close his 14-year playing career.
A career .266/.359/.489 hitter, Colavito was one of the best run producers of his day. He drove in 1159 runs on more than 1700 hits, 379 of which cleared the fences. Colavito had seven 30-homer seasons, including a trio of years with at least 40 longballs. He topped 100 runs batted in on six occasions. Colavito is 81st on the all-time leaderboard in home runs and slots in the top 200 in RBI. While he never got much consideration from voters for Cooperstown, he was inducted into the Cleveland franchise’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
Colavito’s impact on baseball extended well beyond his playing days. He worked in the sport for decades as a coach and radio broadcaster. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends, loved ones and many fans.
Always a relief to see an age like that for a memorial post. May we all live to be at least 91 years old…
Amen!
Well said, Trillionaire.
… if you’re not in any serious mental or physical pain for a long period of time before passing.
I mean, yes…. that’s kind of implied. Generally good health, comfort and emotional stability, nothing debilitating, etc.
Nice reflection Trillionaire. My mother will be 94 this year and in relatively good health. I just think of all the changes she has witnessed. From sitting around and listening to the radio to watching movies on your phone. The Great Depression, WWII, the Cold War she lived through it all. The world today is completely different from the world she grew up in. I think I would feel like an alien. Also, all of her peers are gone. Rest in Peace Rocky.
I am genuinely happy for you, Bobcastelliniscat. That’s fantastic.
I used to work at nursing homes. 91 is no fun
RIP Rocky. A great player just shy of a HOF career.
Really nice baseball career and a long life rest in peace.
Rest in peace, RC…may you be penciled into the lineup for tonight’s game against other stars who’ve made their way to the higher leagues.
Don’t knock the Rock! Another childhood hero gone. RIP Rocky!!
The reason I am a Tiger fan. Sharing the same birthday was just icing on the cake. RIP Mr. Colavito
My dad told me that during a game fans were harassing his mom or family. Rocky Colavito went into the stands during that game to protect his family. I remember my dad had mentioned that story several times.
I too remember being told that story! I believe it happened at Yankee Stadium if I remember correctly. Great memories
That’s a Fellow Italian for you. 😉 I hadn’t heard that story before.
My Italian buddies & I had an expression when we were teens: “Don’t get mad, get even, twice over!”
RIP Rocky!
His years in the fifty’s brings back memories of the back pages of the NY dailies…✌️❤️
My Dad’s favorite Tiger! RIP!
Major dude of the Mantle/ Mays era. Near HOFer, very possibly worthy.
I am with you, 777. Don’t knock the Rock. Trading him to Detroit left me traumatized. Rest in Peace, Rocco Domenico Colavito
He could have been a two-way player.
Condolences to family, friends, fans and everyone who was part of his life.
RIP Rocky.
It would be cool if the article mentioned that he played a position.
‘111 years ago, when I was 10 years old’ came to mind when reading Rocky had passed. He was old when I was a kid, and I’m 70. RIP Rocco Domenico Colavito
RIP to a member of the rare four-homer-game club.
RIP Rocky! Mahalo
If I recall, his pitching appearances stretched over a 10 year period with an ERA of 0.00
One of my favorites. I have a beautiful 1957 Topps card of “Rocco”
Wondering why he got traded so much.
RIP Mr. Colavito.
My dad grew up in the mid west and was a huge rocky colavito fan and made me one too. I remember seeing in the old home run derby show. Rest in peace Rocky.
For a little kid growing up in Ohio or Michigan (both for me) in that era, the name Rocky Colavito was legend. RIP.
True Goob, I grew up in Ohio too.
Remember Rocky well.
RIP. A lot of good memories.
Does this mean the curse is over?
Very sad. Rest easy
Before my time but a legend in Cleveland. I hope he didn’t pass as a reaction to today’s trade.
Rocky paired with Cash & Kaline to give the 61 Tigers a magical year only to be thwarted by the M&M brothers in New York. I also remember Rocky pitching for the Yankees in 1968 to beat the Tigers. He was a true legend of the 50’s/ 60’s era and may his memory be a blessing
Thank you, “Motown is My Town,” for confirming my sometimes faulty memory was correct this time.
I thought I remembered Rocky coming in to pitch in relief once for the Yankees & throwing lights out.
You sparked a memory from long ago of my dad and I laughing gleefully over Rocky’s relief appearance. He mowed them down, if I remember correctly.
The Guardians trade today was the last straw.
Which one?
Ol time baseball. RIP Rocky
Never struck out more than 89 times in a season. Impressive
This guy would have made $100 million if he’d played today
A childhood favorite. I loved his gyrations when he stepped up to the plate, how he would stretch the bat across his shoulders and then aim his practice swings directly at the pitcher. It was great theater. I couldn’t imagine a baseball fan not liking Rocky Colavito. A fun player to watch who had one of the great outfield throwing arms.
I was watching on TV in 1968 when he pitched in relief for the Yankees. The Yankees were in a stretch where they played 10 games in six days due to rainouts. Strapped for pitching, Ralph Houk summoned Coalvito from the bullpen to face the soon-to-be-champion Tigers. Colavito pitched 2.2 scoreless innings and was credited with the win. Gene Michael pitched three scoreless innings in another game during that stretch. The Year of the Pitcher was not for the faint of heart. The Yankees that year hit .214 as a team.
RIP to an outstanding player and human being.
R.I.P. ROCKY……..He was a big name in my youth, backyard wiffle ball was a hoot. Fun growing up in the 50’s and 60’s.
1961 was my age 6 year. I got to be a precocious reader because I followed my beloved Tigers every day in the Grand Rapids Press. Cash was an easy name to read and remember. Kaline wasn’t too hard. But man, I struggled to figure out how to pronounce Colavito.
That was also the year I began my lifelong loathing of the New York Yankees. The Tigers won 101 games and stayed home.
RIP Rocco Dominico Colavito.
I learned of Colavito as a 11 year old boy in 1987 when a neighbor boy pulled out a binder of baseball cards his dad had collected in his childhood and traded me my most cherished material possession, a 1958 Topps Colavito. Rocky in an Indians uniform, his distinct eyebrows that came together in the middle, the bright yellow background, it would become the beginning of my lifelong love for vintage baseball cards. I rode home on my bike, carefully holding the card, I’ll never forget the feeling. I intend to be buried with it. RIP Rocky
It would have been a better story if you clothespinned the card to the spokes before your ride back home and you hightailed it out of there when your friend’s Dad started yelling at his son.
Nah, Luke’s real story is better.
RIP Rocky
Unless you lived in NE Ohio back then, you can’t realize what a big deal Rocky Colavito was in Cleveland. No Cleveland sports figure was as popular until LeBron.
Every kid in the neighborhood games flexed his back with his bat. Every kid pounded his glove before catching a pop up or fly ball.
He was tall, dark, and handsome, big smile, and unfailing polite. Mothers swooned…lol.
Frank Lane, the Cleveland GM, destroyed the franchise…literally…by trading Colavito and Norm Cash weeks apart, less that two years after trading Roger Maris.
The Indians has great pitching back then, but all the offense had been traded away. It took over 30 years for the franchise to recover.
Trader Lane was the worst.
As a kid, I lived in San Diego in 1956 – 1958 and the then Padres of the Pacific Coast league were the minor league team for the Cleveland Indians.
Every year Rocky would come to town as the major team played the minor league team.
What wasn’t mentioned is Rocky’s arm. The strongest I ever saw and that includes the likes of Mays and Clemente.
In one exhibition, Rocky stood at home plate and fired a bullet over the 426 foot center field fence.
Always was and always will be a huge fan. RIP.
RIP
One of the very best arms I ever saw. RIP.
The curse that’s never been broken.
A great player in an era filled with many HOF players.. RIP Rocky. You were great major leaguer
He played before my time, but I always liked his name and he seemed underrated to me statistically as a hitter in a pitching friendly era. I sent one of his Topps baseball cards to him for an autograph in late 1980’s, and he not only answered but provided another signed postcard of him in Cleveland uniform. Class act! RIP.
Rocky was my back yard hero next to Mantle. Love those hitters of that era.
One of my all-time favorites. RIP.
August 2nd, 1956, my dad and my best friend’s dad took us to Municipal Stadium in Cleveland to watch the Indians and the Yankees. Herb Score vs Tom Sturdivant. Herb fanned Micky Mantle and the Indians beat the Yanks 4-0. I became a fan of mlb for life on that afternoon. Herb Score became my favorite player and his best friend was a rocket armed rookie right fielder named Rocky Colavito. Rocky was one of the four boys who hit solo homers for the Tribe that day to win the game. Herb and Rocky became my heroes and I had a major weenie fit when they traded Colavito to the Tigers for Harvey Kuenn. Everyone knows the story of how Score got hurt (by a Yankee, of course) but there was never a good explanation for the Colavito trade. He was a fine player for a long time. He can be in my HOF any time and may he rest in peace.
I met Herb Score in the press box at Jacobs Field in 1994.
Appropriately enough, he used scoresheets titled “A Herb Scorecard” across the top.
And I seriously doubt the Yankees had any intention of injuring him.
One of my earliest baseball memories was seeing Rocky Colavito bat against the White Sox, back when I was about 8 years old. I thought that was the coolest batting stance and imitated it in every sand lot game I played in for a good year or 2.
What a great career.
RIP Mr. Colavito.
As a kid I watched Colavito pound the White Sox over and over again. I had forgotten that he played a half-season for the Sox in 1967, just a year before he retired.
Surprised Baseball Reference did not list any pitching stats….just one game I know of….he stymied The Tigers for several innings in relief and I believe he even got the win! 1968??
In his Hey- Day, Colavito was Cleveland’s and Detroit’s comparable to the Yankees Mickey Mantle!!
This nice article about Rocky Colavito is a good tribute to him, but states nothing about his defense. Not only was Colavito solid on offense, for those of us who are old enough to be fortunate enough to have seen him play in Person, Rocky was just as solid of a player on Defense as he was on offense!!!
5-Tool player on both sides of the ball.
I was fortunate enough to watch Colavito play for the Tigers growing up as a youngster. A feared slugger who always put up good numbers wherever he went. Baseball was great during that era, and will miss it.
My condolences to his family, many freinds and many, many fans.
It’s a shame the author of this article wasn’t more precise or descriptive in his statement about Rocky being one of only 8 players to hit 4 home runs in one game. Rocky (and the other seven) hit them CONSECUTIVELY. In one game! Even more amazing, imo.
And “The Rock” was only the second player of the modern era to do so, hitting his 4 over two decades after some guy named Gehrig did it in Yankee Stadium. Plus, Rocky in that June 1959 game, hit his 4 CONSECUTIVE blasts out of old Memorial Stadium, one of the most difficult ball parks to hit a homer, if not the most, at that time.
As a young punk of 14, I can still vividly recall lying on the living room floor of our house in Bedford, Ohio, watching that game on television with my father. As a dye-hard Yankees fan who always cheered for them when they played my Indians, even my dad was impressed by what he saw that day. And like virtually every other kid in northern Ohio who loved baseball, Rocky was my baseball hero. And I agree completely with one of the commenters below that he was also a wonderful human being.
Had to put in my two cents here about this wonderful man and a most memorable baseball player.
Sportswriters didn’t vote in Baines and Parker.
Colavito wasn’t in the class of Aaron, Mays & Clemente, but given today’s standard for HOF, he should be considered. Hate to break out the Harold Baines rule, but Colavito was a much more impactful player. While he had a very good arm he was not a great outfielder overall. He certainly contributed just as much over his career as the two new HOF members, Dick Allen & Dave Parker. Players like Rocky, Ken Boyer & Vada Pinson, just to name a few, should be re-evaluated given the recent inductees. I’m not saying anyone in doesn’t belong, but wherever the bar is set it should equitable.
That glorious day when the Yankees brought Rocco in to pitch. Colavito I’m sure would have clocked 98-99 mph on his fastball.
He strikes out Kaline and Horton.
All of us kids knew the Yankees were on their way back.
LOL.