Rocky Colavito

      It's been over sixty years since the most controversial trade in Cleveland sports history, 

And while the number of fans who saw him play dwindles, I'm not sure you can be a Cleveland sports fan and not be familiar with the name Rocky Colavito.

The power-hitting outfielder had everything that one needed to become a star for Cleveland fans for his career and one ridiculous general manager took it all away.

Colavito's recent passing at the age of ninety-one brought more to mind than the trade that lives on today and a career that was one of the premier home run bombers.

Colavito smashed 128 homers in his first four seasons in Cleveland, including forty-one and forty-two in 1958 and 59, the latter leading the American League. And as the team's most popular player at only twenty-six years of age, one would think Colavito would be untouchable in trade for anyone shy of Mickey Mantle.

You would be wrong.

Indians general manager Frank Lane didn't receive his nickname of "Trader" for his love of holding his cards. In spring training in 1960, Lane traded Colavito to Detroit for the reigning batting champion Harvey Kuenn.

Lane infamously explained the deal as trading "a hamburger for a steak".

Kuenn would hit .308 for Cleveland in his only season for the Tribe before being traded to the Giants for a washed-up Johnny Antonelli (who finished 0-4 for Cleveland and was out of baseball by the end of the season) and outfielder Willie Kirkland (Kirkland hit .238 and eight homers in three Cleveland seasons).

The Colavito for Kuenn trade may have been the trade that turned Indians fans ambivalent off the field but it was Kuenn for Antonelli and Kirkland that started the multiple-decade decline on the field as in only one season, the Indians had turned one of the best power hitters in baseball into Willie Kirkland.

Colavito would hit 139 homers in four seasons as a Tiger with a high of forty-five in 1961 and knock in over one hundred runs twice. But Rocky's 1963 stats declined a little, dropping to twenty-two home runs and "only" ninety-one RBI, so Detroit traded Colavito to the Kansas City Athletics along with pitcher Bob Anderson and fifty thousand dollars for Jerry Lumpe, Dave Wickersham, and Ed Rakow.

Wickersham won nineteen games for Detroit in 1964 and Lumpe made his only All-Star selection in that season, so Detroit didn't give Colavito away, however, Rocky hit thirty-four homers and finished with 102 RBI in what would be his only season in green and gold.

Meanwhile, Cleveland not only has struggled on the field since Rocky left town (no winning seasons), attendance has fallen and the rumors (which would continue until the team built Jacobs Field in 1994) of the Indians moving the franchise had started to multiply.

Returning "The Rock" to Cleveland would be an easy way to help attendance and appease a dwindling fan base was a great idea except the Indians didn't have anyone that Kansas City wanted in return.

The Chicago White Sox were interested in the Indians catcher Johnny Romano and were told to acquire Colavito and Cleveland would produce Romano.

Chicago was able to bring Colavito over, and the talks began with Cleveland, which also traded two minor leaguers with Romano: Tommie Agee, a solid outfielder who would be named Rookie of the Year in 1966, and Tommy John, who would win 288 games in the big leagues—two of them as an Indian.

Colavito's return was the story of the 1965 Indians, who finished 87-75 and temporarily derailed the talk of moving the team, led by Colavito's twenty-six homers and American League-leading one hundred-eight RBI.

Colavito hit thirty homers for the Indians in 1966, but his average plunged almost fifty points. Midway through the 1967 season, Cleveland sent Rocky to Chicago for journeyman outfielder Jim King and a player to be named later. Rocky would finish the year with a combined eight home runs.

Colavito was obtained by the Dodgers before the 1968 season but struggled and was released in July.

Colavito was signed and finished the season with the Yankees before being released after the season.

Known for his powerful throwing arm from right field, Colavito was feared by American League baserunners who rarely attempted to take liberties on The Rock.

Colavito pitched two games in the majors and in his final season, 1968, Colavito was the last position player to earn a win before Brent Mayne's win in 2000, when Colavito fired two and two/third scoreless innings against the Tigers.

However, the biggest day of Colavito's career would be June 10th, 1959 when Colavito became only the second player in American League history (Lou Gehrig was the first) to hit home runs in four consecutive at-bats against the Orioles at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.

Baltimore was the toughest park for power in the American League in 1959.

Colavito hit homers off Jerry Walker, Arnie Portocarrero (two), and Ernie Johnson, the father of the current sportscaster of the same name in his record-setting game.

Colavito worked for the Indians from 1973 through 1978 as a coach or broadcaster. In 1976, he would work in both roles, coaching before the game and then broadcasting the game from the booth.

Colavito finished his baseball life in 1982 and 83 as the hitting coach for the Royals and was ejected along with George Brett in the famous "Pine Tar" game against the Yankees.

Rocky returned to his longtime home near Reading, Pennsylvania after baseball and suffered through diabetes-related problems that would lead to a partial amputation of his right leg in 2015.

In 2021, Colavito received a life-size statue in his honor in Cleveland but its home wouldn't be around the ballpark where the now-Guardians play.

Instead, it would be in the Little Italy section of Cleveland where The Rock would stand the test of time in the batter's box waiting to uncork his powerful swing.

Colavito was named to the All-Star team in seven seasons, and finished his career with three hundred and seventy-four home runs, and over eleven hundred RBI.

Colavito also was one of the players selected to participate in the television show Home Run Derby, appearing in two episodes against Washington's Harmon Killebrew and Boston's Jackie Jensen.

When you look at the Rock's career statistics, had his career not ended so quickly (Colavito was a thirty home run hitter in 1966 and was retired two seasons later) and had he reached four hundred homers and notched another three or four seasons close to his average years, Colavito might have been a Hall of Fame candidate rather than a Hall of Very Good member.

Sometimes in life, you can have influence beyond the norm, and while Rocky Colavito's career fell short of enshrinement in Cooperstown, The Rock created a generation of Cleveland baseball fans, who then sired another and so forth.

Rocky Colavito in Cleveland built a better legacy with the town's fans than many players in the Hall of Fame who played with the Indians.

There weren't very many Cleveland fans or Northern Ohio residents who saw him play who were going to "Knock The Rock".

Not a bad way to be remembered.

Cleaning out the inbox- Sports version

It's been a busy time here at TRS when I'm able to post that is and the result is an inbox that's straining to keep itself in order with items from sports, non-sports, and passings.

We'll start with a Terry Pluto note on an upcoming appearance in Cleveland for Rocky Colavito.
The 85-year-old "Rock" will appear Thursday with a few former teammates at an All-Star fan week event as well as promote an upcoming book about the former Indian slugger.
Colavito, who I place firmly in the "Hall of Very Good" hit 374 homers in his fourteen-year career with 190 of them in his eight years and two stints with the Indians has been struggling with health issues in recent years that cost him his right leg (below the knee) from circulatory issues and diabetes in 2015.

The Athletics Tom Reed writes a tremendous article on former Browns tight end Gary Barnidge and Barnidge's life after football, which is a template for players today on how to prepare for their post-career.
Barnidge, who put up the best two seasons of his NFL career with the Browns, was then released in 2016 and would never play again in the league, will turn 34 before this season and could very easily still be playing football.
The article looks at Barnidge's various interests including studying the Bible and Koran as an agnostic, living in a home twenty minutes from almost anything in any direction and his friendship with wrestling legend Jerry "the King" Lawler among several interesting items on the former Cleveland tight end.

ESPN is working on a recurring series during the college basketball season titled "Chasing Ghosts" that looks at programs that possess plenty of tradition, yet for various reasons have struggled and slid from once-exalted status.
The edition that caught my eye was the N.C. State version ( I also had interest in the UNLV article as a fan of the Runnin' Rebels of the Jerry Tarkanian years) that looks at the peak of the program, coaches that contributed to the decline and the chances of the program returning to prominence.
I have written before of my fondness for the Wolfpack, who ranked behind only Maryland in my college basketball fandom under the late Jim Valvano and even today (since the sad defection of the Terrapins to the Big 10) battles with Wake Forest as my favorite school in the ACC and I do not completely agree with the article where they don't believe the Pack can ever return to past status.
Where there is a commitment to winning, there are possibilities of glory, it simply comes down to making the correct hire for your program and as the article notes, N.C.State hasn't been able to land that coach since Valvano's departure.

The Athletic makes the inbox again with an article on just what the San Francisco Giants would be losing when the likely trade of Madison Bumgarner at the trade deadline goes through.
Bumgarner's the type of old school pitcher that guys like me love and would have fit right in with the past eras of baseball.
He's grouchy, cantankerous and everything that modern baseball is not, which is exactly why the Giants and their fans will miss him so much.

Deadspin discusses a new pro wrestling promotion that has jumped the first hurdle that infant wrestling promotions have placed in the path to success- gaining a major television outlet.
The new All-Elite promotion that is funded by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan has agreed to a deal that begins in the fall with TNT.
Wrestling was a major portion of the success of the "Turner" networks from the early days with Georgia Championship Wrestling to their time with Jim Crockett Promotions and then World Championship Wrestling after the network bought the promotion from the Crockett family before selling the library and assets to the WWE and folding everything else.
This is an excellent article that covers the history of Ted Turner and his network's involvement with pro wrestling and even offers a piece of information that I never knew.
In 1970, Turner's then WTCG did not televise the local Georgia promotion which was on another network but wanted to televise wrestling.
What program did WTCG broadcast for a year before GCW moved over to them?
Capitol Wrestling- the WWF show promoted by Vincent McMahon Sr.
The WWF didn't run shows there, but this shows how long the Turner networks and their current descendants not owner by Turner have owned a relationship with wrestling.

We wrap up with the oldest item in the inbox from May as SI.com takes a deep look over two articles (found here and here) at the short life of the Alliance of American Football.
As some of you remember we covered the leagues and (mainly) the Arizona Hotshots and the league not surviving was a disappointment to me.
However, when you read these articles (and two podcasts that I'll mention soon in a podcast post), it is easy to see how the mistakes of the league sealed its doom.

I'll be around later with another inbox version with either recent passings of note or cleaning the non-sports version of the inbox.

Cleaning out the inbox

Time to dust off the brush and wipe out the inbox.

Lets start with a Hardball Times article on the pictured 1967 Topps Tribe Thumpers with Indian outfielders Rocky Colavito and Leon Wagner.
This card was one of my favorites as a kid for many reasons (despite being released a year before I was born) and Colavito was always a personal favorite of mine as a Indians fan.
The article reads more about Colavito and Wagner than the card,but it's still a fun look back at two players that were memorable for some pretty bad Cleveland teams of the 1960's....

Paul Lukas and his UniWatch column for ESPN is one of those that I try not to miss and even though I don't always agree with his opinions,his column is always worth reading.
We do have one thing in common after this column-we both love those 1970's Houston Astros uniforms.
The rainbow togs (officially named Tequila Sunrise) are still popular to this day,although like many bright uniforms,they are a love it or hate it brand and rank with the red,white and blue basketball for the NBA and the powder blue San Diego (um,Los Angeles) Chargers as the clubhouse leaders for the "Why in the hell don't they use this/these all the time?!" award.
I'm a basic uniform guy,although I don't mind some throwback days,but I do love those uniforms and the orange hat (along with the Seattle Pilots) is so sharp that I've considered buying the hat because I like it so much....

I've written about Phil Steele before and how his is the only college football magazine that you'll need for a season,but this article at Omaha.com digs a little deeper into how much Steele works,how he does things,how much football he watches and how he got into the football magazine business.
If you are a Phil Steele fan like me or just want to know more about college football,give it a glance!
And if you decide to order a book from Phil-make sure you tell him how disappointed you are that he isn't doing an NFL book this season.
The NFL version was only available via ordering from Phil,while the college version can be bought where magazines are sold-until they sell out and they do so quickly!!!

The Atlantic writes about the museum in Philadelphia that has famous (or infamous) brains from the past including a slice of Albert Einstein's,but this article is based on the brain of Charles Guiteau,the assassin of President James Garfield in 1881.
The article discusses why the brain was kept,the apparent mental issues of Guiteau and what doctors of the day thought could be accomplished by keeping Guiteau's brain for research.

Wrapping up with what looks to be an interesting show this Sunday on the History Channel with yet another show on the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.
These types of shows usually claim to offer much,but in the end offer little more than the standard line or nothing but speculation.
This time though,something has been discovered that might shed some light with a picture of that could be Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan on a Japanese controlled (at the time) Marshall Islands.
Some respected authenticators in their field have declared that the picture is not doctored,so could this finally be the key to a long mystery?

Thanks for reading and I'll have more soon!!

Cleaning out the inbox-Sports Edition

The cleaning of the sports version of the inbox begins with this as Hardball Times discusses those wonderful two player cards from the 1960s that Topps used so often and still uses today in the Topps Heritage sets.
The article mainly talks about the 1966 card "Power Plus" which paired Phillies outfielders, Johnny Callison, and Wes Covington.
It makes a great point as the card would have been better had it been Callison teamed with Richie (Dick) Allen as a more potent power pair.
One of my favorite all-time cards is one of those- the above picture of Rocky Colavito and Leon Wagner from the 1967 set.
Colavito is an all-time favorite with the red hats and sleeveless jerseys with Chief Wahoo on them, what's not to like about this card?!!

Awful Announcing writes of the rise and fall and then rise again of Max Kellerman at ESPN.
I've always liked Max's boxing work, although I don't share his affinity for dull boxers like Andre Ward and Guillermo Rigondeaux, I've always respected his opinion on boxing.
I remember the first time, I saw Max on the Friday Nights Fights and wondered "who the hell is this guy"?
It took only a short time of time for me to see Max knew the game and his work was solid...

ESPN writes of the long battle for the remains of the "world's greatest athlete" Jim Thorpe between his family in Oklahoma and the town that changed its name in order to get the remains in Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania.
It's interesting and I think very fair to both sides in telling the story of both Thorpe and the dispute.

I missed the HBO boxing card with another Andre Ward squash match vs Alexander Brand since I was in Lake County.
All accounts show that it was another boring Ward win.
I'll be back later tonight or tomorrow night with my trip to Lake County with the lovely Cherie.