A nine-time All-Star Rocky Colavito he passed, said the guards. The all-time 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 in his age-21 season. Colavito struggled against MLB pitching, hitting 21 homers over 101 games as a rookie in 1956. He finished second Luis Aparicio in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
Colavito hit 25 homers in 1957. In the ’58 season, he was one of the most feared power bats in the game. Colavito slugged 41 homers while hitting .303 with an MLB-best .620 slugging percentage at age 24. He placed third in the MVP voting that year. Colavito drove in 113 runs that season and had 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 long balls en route to his first All-Star nod and a fourth-place MVP finish.
At the start of the 1960 season, Cleveland traded Colavito to the Tigers in a one-for-one deal for the star shortstop. Harvey Kuenn. While Colavito hit 35 homers during his first season in Detroit, his average dropped to a disappointing .249 for the season. He had a big double in ’61, as he set career marks in homers (45) and RBI (130). He hit .290 with a .402 on-base percentage, ranking in the top ten among professional hitters in OBP and OPS. He finished eighth in the MVP voting in what would have been the best year of his career.
Colavito played two more seasons in Detroit. He hit 37 more homers while leading the AL with 309 bases in ’62. Detroit dealt him to the Athletics in the 1963-64 offseason. Colavito hit .274 with 34 long balls for the then-Kansas City-based franchise. Things came to a head the following winter, as the A’s traded him back to Cleveland. Colavito hit 56 homers over the next two seasons and tied for the AL with 108 RBI in 1965. He saw limited playing time with the White Sox, Yankees and Dodgers to close out his 14-year playing career.
A career .266/.359/.489 hitter, Colavito was one of the top run producers of his day. He scored 1159 runs on over 1700 hits, 379 of which cleared the fence. Colavito had seven 30-homer seasons, including a trio of years with at least 40 long balls. He scored 100 runs six times. Colavito is 81st on the all-time leaderboard in home runs and in the top 200 in RBI. Although he was never highly regarded by Cooperstown voters, he was inducted into the Cleveland franchise’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
Colavito’s impact on baseball extended beyond his playing days. He has worked in sports for decades as a coach and radio host. MLBTR sends its condolences to his family, friends, loved ones and many fans.
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