Rocky Colavito, All-Star Slugger for Cleveland, Dies at 91

Rocky Colavito, who was one of baseball’s leading sluggers in his time and a huge fan favorite playing the outfield for the Cleveland Indians, only to be traded away in the most infamous deal in the club’s history, has died. He was 91.

His death was announced by the Cleveland Guardians, as the team is now known. The team did not give any details.

Colavito hit 374 home runs in 14 years in the major leagues, eight of those seasons in two stints with Cleveland. He finished his career in a return to his birthplace, the Bronx, playing for the Yankees. Colavito was just the third player in the majors to hit four home runs in one game in consecutive at-bats. He was also a six-time All-Star and had one of the game’s strongest arms.

A sturdy 6 feet 3 inches tall and 190 pounds, Colavito was handsome with curly hair. Although flat feet limited his mobility, he played the game with enthusiasm, and he was happy to sign autographs. Time magazine put him on its cover in the summer of 1959 for a profile of baseball’s young stars and gushed how he “makes bobby-soxers squeal.”

“Rocky had tremendous charisma,” recalled Herb Score, Cleveland’s fast-balling left-hander.

“Fans gravitated to him not just because he hit home runs,” Score told Terry Pluto in “The Curse of Rocky Colavito” (1994), a chronicle of the team’s years of floundering after Colavito was traded. “Rocky relished the clutch situations. He didn’t always come through, but he wanted to be the guy who took that burden on his back.”