Baseball Remembers: Rocky Colavito

Late on Tuesday, the word came out that Rocky Colavito had passed away at his home in Pennsylvania at the age of 91. He was surrounded by his family, including his wife of 70 years, Carmen. It marked the end of a long, fulfilling life, and was likely exactly the sort of ending he’d have wished for.

It was just the sort of peaceful ending he didn’t have to his baseball career.

It’s worth remembering that, around the end of the 1966 season, most baseball fans probably viewed Rocky Colavito as a lock to make the Hall of Fame someday. They had good reason to think that.

Signed by Cleveland at just 17 after dropping out of high school to play semi-pro ball, Colavito had blasted his way through their minor league system with relative ease. He started with 23 homers and 111 RBI that first year in Class D, then 19 more homers in just 98 games at Class B as an 18-year old. By 19 he was on the Class A Reading Indians, where he hit 28 more homers and drove in 121. He also met Carmen there, and they were married the next year.

Two years at Triple A Indianapolis (38 homers, 116 RBI in 1954, followed by 30 homers and 104 RBI in 1955) earned him a September call-up to the Indians and a job as their right fielder to start the 1956 season. He struggled through mid-June and was sent to San Diego of the Pacific Coast League to straighten out his swing. After 35 games there in which he belted 12 homers and hit .368, he was recalled to Cleveland in late July and was outstanding the rest of the year. From that point forward he hit .301/.383/.576, with 16 homers and 48 RBI in just 64 games, earning a second-place finish to Luis Aparicio in the Rookie of the Year voting.

What followed was a decade of excellence. Displaying outstanding power, durability, and a rocket arm from the outfield, he averaged 34 homers, 102 RBI, and 153 games. He had a 135 combined OPS+, and was also +6 in fielding runs on average while throwing out 11 runners per year with that incredible arm. He lead the league in homers in 1959 and three times he surpassed 40 in a season. He led the league in RBI in 1965 and six times surpassed 100. He also led in total bases twice, and in walks once, and routinely struck out less than he walked, quite a feat for a slugger of his stature. Defensively, five times he led the league in putouts, four times in range, three times in fielding runs, and twice in assists. He was a star, playing in 9 All-Star games in these years and getting MVP votes six times, including three finishes in the league’s top five. In a fair world he would have multiple Gold Gloves as well.