Looking Back at Rocky Colavito

by Dusty Writes

***

For a player who never played in a World Series and who is not in the Hall of Fame, Rocky Colavito has had one of the most amazing careers in MLB history. He was one of the premier power hitters of his time with 374 career homers at a time when teams were not hitting anywhere close to the amount of homers they hit today. Rocky played part of his career in the 1960s (The Second Dead Ball Era), and yet three times he hit 40 or more homers, 7 times he had 30 or more homers, and 11 times he had a season with 20 or more homers.

According to Statmuse and other sources, in a 10-season period (1957-1966), Colavito had more home runs than anyone in the American League with 337. That total topped legendary sluggers such as Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew. Only 2 players in all of MLB (Willie Mays and Hank Aaron) hit more homers than Colavito during this span.

In RBI during this 10 year span, Colavito had more, 1,020, than anyone in the AL. He was 4th in all of MLB, trailing only Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Frank Robinson.

In this period, Colavito led the AL in extra-base hits. In all of MLB, Rocky trailed only Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson and Ernie Banks in this category.

In Total Bases, Colavito led all AL players during this 10 year span and trailed Aaron, Mays, Robinson, and Banks in this department. 

One Colavito fan noted that Colavito achieved the 10-year Grand Slam, (leading the league in Home Runs, Extra Base Hits, RBIs, and Total Bases in a 10-year period!

According to Fangraphs, in a 5 season span (1958-1962), Colavito hit the most home runs in MLB with 200.

Colavito's .266 career batting average may not seem overly impressive, but in the 10-year span mentioned above, he had a .270 batting average, which was well above the league average of that time.

Colavito hit 4 homers in a game in 1959, something which, according to Wikipedia, has happened only 21 times since 1894. Rocky was only the 8th player to do it at the time. 

In a 1962 game vs the Yankees, Colavito had 7 hits in 10 at bats in a 22 inning game. He also had a walk.

When he retired in 1968, he was one of the best home run hitters in history. He was a 9-time All-Star, including being selected for both All-Star games in 1959, 1961, and 1962. Four times, Colavito was in the top 8 in MVP voting, including having a 3rd, 4th, and 5th place finish. Colavito perhaps should have won at least one MVP. In 1958, Jackie Jensen won the MVP. Colavito that season had a 6.0 WAR, while Jensen had a 4.9 WAR. There wasn't a big difference in both players hits and runs scored totals. Jensen led the league with 122 rbi, while Colavito had 113 rbi. Colavito had a better batting average by 17 points, and a better on-base percentage by 9 points. Colavito led the league in slugging pct. with a big advantage of .620 to Jensen's .535 total.

As impressive as Colavito's power numbers are, his throwing arm may have been even more impressive. Many fans, players and media people have said Colavito had as good and probably stronger arm than anyone in baseball including the legendary throwing arms of Roberto Clemente and Carl Furillo. 

In a time where players often had jobs in the off-season, players would often participate in "exhibitions" to earn a few extra dollars. Sometimes players would race other players, some players in history were known to race against horses, believe it or not. When Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner was the GM of the Pacific Coast League, he arranged a promotional event in which a throwing contest took place. According to many sources, including SABR, and former players, Colavito threw a ball on the fly 435 feet and 10 inches!  Rocky in his prime could throw a ball well beyond the outfield fence in many centerfields and reach home plate on a fly! Ralph Kiner said Colavito had the best arm in baseball. 

Colavito had, according to some players with the Indians, a stronger arm than every pitcher in the Indians organization at the time.

Many fans have commented that they went to games in which Colavito would make these incredible long distance throws. Colavito said in the exhibition game in which he threw the ball nearly 436 feet, he actually made a throw that would have traveled further than 436 feet, but that one of his throws hit a car which disrupted the flight of the ball and it didn't count.

Colavito was also one of the most popular players of his time. In Cleveland, he is a legend. The trade of Colavito to Detroit was considered by thousands of Indians fans as the worst trade in Indians history, in large part because the Indians traded away possibly the most popular player in their history.

Colavito was extremely popular in Cleveland and Detroit due to his fantastic career and also because he would sign autographs for kids for hours after the game ended. Rocky would not leave until he signed an autograph for every kid. An article said Rocky's wife would have to delay cooking dinner because Rocky would often come home late due to signing autographs. How popular was Rocky Colavito? Many kids throughout the country, especially in the Cleveland and Detroit area would copy Colavito's legendary batting stance. Rocky had a routine in which he would stretch, bring the bat back behind his shoulders, stretch, then slowly point the bat directly at the pitcher. 

Terry Pluto, a Cleveland writer, wrote a book called, The Curse of Rocky Colavito, which basically said the Indians were cursed, never won another world series after all this time due to trading Colavito. Obviously, Pluto doesn't believe in this "Curse," but the title of the book just indicates what an idol and legendary personality Colavito was to Cleveland fans.

There were a few people however, who did not idolize Colavito. Colavito had a very strong personality and didn't get along with some in the media. How much did Rocky's poor relationship with certain writers play a part in his low vote totals for the Hall of Fame? For example, one Detroit writer, Joe Falls, considered Colavito a " self-ordained deity" according to some articles. Falls created an anti-Colavito stat, called " RNBI" (Runs Not Batted In) to highlight whenever Rocky failed to drive in a run. Some official scores gave Colavito errors on plays that probably all were not errors, but they disliked Colavito. Colavito confronted official scores on occasion, which made Colavito's relationship with writers decline further.

Colavito's popularity, even until this day, is legendary, maybe even something such as a cult-hero. Some fans have started petitions stating that Rocky should be in the Hall of Fame and in one petition, several thousand fans have signed it to get Rocky into the Hall of Fame. If you read websites that have fans comment on Rocky Colavito for the Hall of Fame, you could read articles for hours every day, day after day, for weeks, perhaps even months, and you still wouldn't be able to read all the comments by fans who say Rocky should be in the Hall of Fame. Fans have made elaborate Youtube videos. with charts, graphs, etc. to prove their point that Colavito should be a Hall of Famer. One of the more popular sayings is "Don't Knock the Rock" concerning his failure to get elected to Cooperstown.

One Colavito fan pointed out that when Colavito got traded to Detroit, the Indians attendance decreased dramatically. The Indians attendance did decrease after they traded Colavito by 546,991 in 1960. When Colavito returned to play for the Indians in 1965, the Indians attendance increased by 281,493. Many believe much of the attendance increase was due to Colavito.

Another interesting Colavito stat. I would guess he is the only player in history to lead the league in fielding percentage as a right fielder and left fielder and as a pitcher have an undefeated record, 1-0, with a 0.00 ERA.

When the Yankees were going through tough times during the CBS years, Colavito pitched and won a game for the Yankees. In 1968, vs the Tigers, who would win the 1968 World Series, Colavito pitched 2 and 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to win the game. In that game, he scored the winning run. The next game that day in the second game of the doubleheader, Colavito hit a homer as the Yankees swept the Tigers.

Rocky grew up near Yankees Stadium as a Yankees fan with Joe DiMaggio being his favorite player. Rocky tried to copy DiMaggio's stance but it wasn't working. His minor league manager told Rocky something such as, "You tried to bat like DiMaggio but it is not working. Now try to bat like Colavito."

Colavito had some other interesting stats. His career OPS was higher than the average OPS of players in the Hall of Fame. According to Baseball Reference, his career OPS is better than about 130 batters in the Hall of Fame. His career WAR is better than almost 40 players in the Hall of Fame. He was the first outfielder in AL history to go an entire season and not make an error. One fan wrote that according to Stathead, Rocky's career 132 OPS+ is better than the average batter in the Hall of Fame (128). Another fan pointed out that Rocky's career slugging percentage is more than 20 points higher than the average Slugging Percentage of Hall of Famers.

It is amazing how many websites are promoting Rocky Colavito to be elected into the Hall of Fame. They seem to make very interesting arguments. 

We know Colavito is not on the same level as some other all-time greats. But should the Hall of Fame make it somewhat less difficult to make the Hall of Fame? Many believe it is unrealistic to match the records of the legends like Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Aaron, etc. and if we use those players as the standard, how many future players would be elected into the Hall of Fame?

According to Baseball Reference, more than 23, 000 players played MLB since the 1800s.There are less than 300 players in the HOF. That comes out to approximately 1 out of 84. Approximately 1 player out of every 84 players to play MLB makes the HOF. If the HOF has become watered down, as some fans believe, what would be the ratio to make it not watered down? What should it be to be where only the "elite" players get elected to the HOF? Should the HOF make it more difficult to enter the HOF? If so, should the ratio be 1 player out of, let's say 150 make the HOF? If the HOF standards are too difficult and more players should get elected, should the ratio be, let's say, 1 player gets elected for every 70 players? Should the players a notch or two below the all-time greats get elected such as Colavito, Norm Cash, Billy Pierce, Bernie Williams, etc.?

Whether Rocky Colavito ever gets voted into the HOF or not, he had an incredible career. He has been elected to the Italian/American Hall of Fame, he is in the Cleveland Indians HOF, and a few years ago in Cleveland, a statue was dedicated to Colavito.