Rocky Colavito, an All-Star slugger for three teams in the 1950s and 1960s, died Tuesday at age 91.
The Cleveland Guardians announced that Colavito died at home with family at his side in Bernville, Pa.
In 14 major league seasons with Cleveland (1955-59, 1965-67), the Detroit Tigers (1960-63), Kansas City Athletics (1964), Chicago White Sox (1967), Los Angeles Dodgers (1968) and New York Yankees (1968), Colavito hit 374 homers and drove in 1,159 runs in 1,841 games.
The corner outfielder produced a .266 career batting average with a .359 on-base percentage and a .489 slugging percentage. He finished in the top 10 in AL Most Valuable Player voting four times.
Colavito tied for the American League lead with 42 home runs in 1959 and topped the AL with 108 RBIs in 1965. He was an All-Star for Cleveland in 1959, 1965 and 1966; for Detroit in 1961 and 1962 and for Kansas City in 1964.
“Our collective hearts ache at the passing of Rocky,” Guardians senior vice president/public affairs Bob DiBiasio said in a statement. “Rocky was a generational hero, one of the most popular players in franchise history. His popularity was evident across Northeast Ohio as sandlot ballplayers everywhere imitated Rocky’s on-deck circle routine of kneeling, then as he stepped into the batter’s box the stretching the bat over the shoulders and pointing the bat at the pitcher. I can proudly say I was one of them.
“Rocky loved our organization and always held the fans in the highest esteem. He would always say, ‘I am thankful God chose me to play in Cleveland.’ We send our most sincere condolences to the entire Colavito family, as well as his many teammates and other organizations impacted by his passing.”
Colavito left Cleveland the first time as part of a historic trade. He was the reigning AL homer champ when he was dealt straight up to Detroit for reigning AL batting champion Harvey Kuenn on April 17, 1960. The teams faced each other two days later in the season opener, won by Detroit 4-2 in 15 innings as Kuenn went 2-for-7 and Colavito finished 0-for-6.
