Rocky Colavito, beloved former Cleveland Indians slugger, dies at 91

[Diamond_Dog]

CLEVELAND — In the long and illustrious history of Cleveland baseball, there may have been better players, but none were perhaps more beloved.

And make no mistake: Rocky Colavito was a darn good ballplayer, too.

The legendary former Indians slugger died Tuesday at his home in Bernville, Pennsylvania, according to a release from the Guardians organization. He was surrounded by his family in his final moments on this Earth.

More ….

https://www.wkyc.com/article/sports/mlb/cleveland-guardians/rocky-colavito-former-cleveland-indians-slugger-dies-91/95-6fc3fae2-db8e-439b-873d-7e639b00dc3e

Mr. Diamond has a baseball signed by Rocky, Sam McDowell, Minnie Minoso, Mudcat Grant, and Larry Brown.

[Sneederbunk]

1. Wow! That's a blast from the past.

Remember him well from my childhood growing up in the 50s.

[blm]

2. Saw him play when I was a schoolgirl.

The Cleveland Press rewarded straight A report cards with a pair of tickets.

RIP, sir.

[BOSSHOG]

4. Now Ya tell me.

[BOSSHOG]

3. A memorable player

From My Childhood. Back in the day when us youngins knew lots of baseball stuff without ESPN or podcasts. Thanks Rocky for adding to the excitement of my early days via your awesome baseball prowess. I’m a Philly fan, always will be, but when you’re great it doesn’t matter who ya play for. Your great.

[bif]

5. And Detroit Tiger!

I used to love him when I was a kid.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. He Had A Hellacious Throwing Arm

Only player I saw live with a better arm was Clemente.
Could throw it a ton, and knew where it was going.

[Diamond_Dog]

7. A cannon for an arm

And one of the few players (8) in MLB history to hit 4 home runs in one game in consecutive order!

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Just Because I Should...

...I need to mention a couple cannon arm guys that I never saw live.
Ichiro & Dave Parker.
I just thought they deserved to be in the discussion along with Roberto & Rocky.
Funny side note: when in HS, I played softball with guys from my dad's club's youth group.
We had one guy who was ridiculous with how far he could throw a softball. I had a good arm; nothing like this kid. He could throw it 70 feet farther than me!
BUT: it was anybody's guess where the ball would land! One time, he threw from right field to 3rd base. My cousin took 2 steps to his left & caught the ball. My cousin was the catcher covering home!
He missed the runner by a qhole base!

[Diamond_Dog]

9. How funny!

I guess if ya got a cannon arm, it helps to be accurate!

No runner ever went from first to third on a single with Clemente or Colavito in RF.

Another baseball story. My Dad pitched in the sandlot leagues in Cleveland when he was young. This was ages ago. He said just for fun during practices he’d have the catcher get behind home plate and he’d stand out in the middle of center field with a basket of balls and throw strikes down the middle of the plate, boom, boom, boom. This story always impressed me to pieces as a youngster.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Going From 1st To Third

When Ichiro first came from Japan, he led the league in outfield assists his 1st two years.
Then came year 3, and he fell way down the list. Why? Because people quit testing his arm! They knew it was stupid to challenge him.

[Diamond_Dog]

11. He was a hell of a player.