Rocky Colavito Dies at 91; Cleveland Legend Was 9-Time MLB All-Star

Rocky Colavito, a nine-time MLB All-Star and Cleveland baseball legend, died at 91 on Tuesday, per MLB.com’s Chris Haft.

The Guardians mentioned in a press release that Colavito “handed peacefully at residence right now with household by his aspect in Bernville, Pennsylvania.”

“Our collective hearts ache on the passing of Rocky,” mentioned Guardians senior vp/public affairs Bob DiBiasio. “Rocky was a generational hero, one of the common gamers in franchise historical past. His recognition was evident throughout Northeast Ohio as sandlot ballplayers in every single place imitated Rocky’s on-deck circle routine of kneeling, then as he stepped into the batter’s field the stretching the bat over the shoulders and pointing the bat on the pitcher. I can proudly say I used to be one in every of them. Rocky beloved our group and all the time held the followers within the highest esteem. He would all the time say, ‘I’m grateful God selected me to play in Cleveland.’ We ship our most honest condolences to all the Colavito household, in addition to his many teammates and different organizations impacted by his passing.”

Colavito signed with Cleveland in 1951 as an undrafted beginner free agent and he made his MLB debut a number of years later in 1955. He spent the primary 5 years of his profession in Cleveland, having a breakout season in 1958 when he hit 41 homers and 113 RBI. The next season, he had a career-high 42 residence runs and 111 RBI as he was named to his first All-Star Workforce.

Additionally in 1959, he hit 4 residence runs in a single sport, one thing simply eight gamers had carried out earlier than him.

He joined the Detroit Tigers in 1960 and stayed with them till 1963, selecting up a pair of All-Star appearances whereas with the group. After a one-year stint with the Kansas Metropolis Athletics, he returned to Cleveland in 1965.

Colavito completed out his profession with stints with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. He hit 374 residence runs, 1,159 RBI and had a profession batting common of .266.

He was inducted into the Guardians Corridor of Fame in 2006.