| Rocky Colavito was one of the most popular baseball players in the Indians' history. When Indians' general manager, Frank Lane traded him in 1960, hordes of fans in Cleveland protested by carry signs reading "Don't Knock The Rock" and other slogans favorable to Rocky. "They wanted to lynch me," said Lane. " I went back to my hotel and there was a dummy hanging in effigy from a lamp post, with my name, written in large letters, on it".
The clean living rightfielder always had time for his fans. Colavito spent hours after each game signing his autograph for the hundreds of Indians fans. Young girls adored this personal young slugger. In 1976, Rocky was voted the most memorable personality in Cleveland Indians' history.
Baseball Historian
Rocky Colavito was a fine fielder with a powerful throwing arm. In 1958, he led the league by participating in six double plays and played 241 straight errorless games.
Colavito was the Indians answer to Mickey Mantle when he clubbed 41 homers in 1958; one shy of Mantle's league leading 42. Rocky batted .303 and had 113 RBI's.
In 1959, Colavito slugged 42 home runs and drove in 111 runs; but his batting average slipped to .257.
While playing for Detroit in 1961, " The Rock" came back to hit .290, with 45 HR's, and he had 145 RBI's. Rocky arm was so powerful that he once threw a ball over the roof of Briggs Stadium in Detroit as a feature before the ballgame. Traded to Kansas City in 1964, Colavito hit 34 HR's with 102 RBI's.
In 1965, he was traded back to Cleveland where he hit 26 HR's and drove in 108 runs.
Rocky Colavito career highlights include 283 doubles, 374 home runs, he played in 1841 games, walked 951 times, fanned 880 times and had a batting ave. of .266. baseballhistorian.com archives |
