9-time All-Star Rocky Colavito has handed away, the Guardians introduced. The longtime MLB slugger was 91.
A local of the Bronx, Colavito signed with the Indians out of highschool. He had consecutive 30-plus house run seasons in Triple-A and performed his option to Cleveland by his age-21 season. Colavito carried that over in opposition to MLB pitching, hitting 21 homers over 101 video games as a rookie in 1956. He completed runner-up to Luis Aparicio in AL Rookie of the Yr voting.
Colavito hit 25 homers in 1957. By the ’58 season, he was one of many sport’s most feared energy bats. Colavito popped 41 homers whereas hitting .303 with an MLB-best .620 slugging share at age 24. He positioned third in that yr’s MVP balloting. Colavito drove in 113 runs that season and tallied 111 RBI the subsequent. On June 10, 1959, he turned the eighth participant in MLB historical past to hit 4 homers in a recreation. He led the American League with 42 longballs en path to his first All-Star nod and a fourth-place MVP end.
Early within the 1960 season, Cleveland traded Colavito to the Tigers in a one-for-one deal for star shortstop Harvey Kuenn. Whereas Colavito hit 35 homers throughout his first season in Detroit, his common dropped to .249 in a disappointing total season. He had a serious rebound in ’61, as he set profession marks in homers (45) and RBI (140). He hit .290 with a .402 on-base share, rating high 10 amongst certified hitters in OBP and OPS. He positioned eighth in MVP voting in what was arguably one of the best yr of his profession.
Colavito performed two extra seasons in Detroit. He hit one other 37 homers whereas main the AL with 309 complete bases in ’62. Detroit dealt him to the Athletics over the 1963-64 offseason. Colavito hit .274 with 34 longballs for the then Kansas Metropolis-based franchise. Issues got here full circle the subsequent winter, because the A’s traded him again to Cleveland. Colavito mixed for 56 homers over the subsequent two seasons and paced the AL with 108 RBI in 1965. He noticed restricted taking part in time with the White Sox, Yankees and Dodgers to shut his 14-year taking part in profession.
A profession .266/.359/.489 hitter, Colavito was top-of-the-line run producers of his day. He drove in 1159 runs on greater than 1700 hits, 379 of which cleared the fences. Colavito had seven 30-homer seasons, together with a trio of years with at the least 40 longballs. He topped 100 runs batted in on six events. Colavito is 81st on the all-time leaderboard in house runs and slots within the high 200 in RBI. Whereas he by no means received a lot consideration from voters for Cooperstown, he was inducted into the Cleveland franchise’s Corridor of Fame in 2006.
Colavito’s influence on baseball prolonged nicely past his taking part in days. He labored within the sport for many years as a coach and radio broadcaster. MLBTR sends our condolences to his household, associates, family members and plenty of followers.
