#380 Rocky Colavito - Cleveland Indians

Rocco Domenico Colavito
Cleveland Indians
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  190
Born:  August 10, 1933, New York, NY
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1951 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1955-1959; Detroit Tigers 1960-1963; Kansas City Athletics 1964; Cleveland Indians 1965-1967; Chicago White Sox 1967; Los Angeles Dodgers 1968; New York Yankees 1968

One of the most prolific power hitters of the late 1950s and early 1960s, slugger Rocky Colavito played for 14 seasons in the majors, accumulating 374 career home runs.  He made his debut with the Indians late in the 1955 season, and was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 1956, his first of 11 straight seasons with at least 20 home runs.  Colavito led the league with a .620 slugging percentage in 1958 and drove in 113 runs, the first year out of six total in which he'd eclipse the century mark for RBIs.  In 1959, he was named to the first of nine All-Star teams and led the league with 42 home runs.  On June 10, 1959, Colavito connected for four consecutive home runs against the Orioles, joining Lou Gehrig as the second player in American League history with four home runs in a game.

1964 Topps Giants #9

Surprisingly dealt to the Tigers right before the start of the 1960 season for batting champion Harvey Kuenn (#103), the fan favorite left Cleveland and continued his impressive slugging in Detroit.  With the Tigers in 1961, he hit .290 with career highs in both home runs (45) and RBIs (140).  He'd return to Cleveland for the 1965 season in an eight-player, three-team trade, leading the league in RBIs with 108.  Always an above-average defender, in 1965 he would become the first American League outfielder to play a complete season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.  Colavito spent the final two years of his playing career as a bench player and pinch-hitter for the Indians, White Sox, Dodgers and Yankees.  He tallied 1,730 hits while batting .266 and driving in 1,159.  He'd later coach for the Indians (1973, 1976-1978) and Royals (1982-1983) and was one of four ejected during the 1983 pine tar game between the Royals and Yankees.  Joining Colavito with ejections in that game were George Brett, Royals' manager Dick Howser (#92) and Yankees' pitcher Gaylord Perry (#193).

Building the Set

May 3, 2022 from Wenonah, NJ (Gar Miller Cards) - Card #589

Growing up in South Jersey, I'd look forward to the Ocean City Baseball Card show every summer, saving my precious birthday or gas mowing money so that I could spend it all during one glorious afternoon inside the Ocean City Music Pier among dozens of tables of vintage baseball cards.  When my wife Jenna texted me that there was a baseball card show coming up in Ocean City on April 30th, I admittedly got giddy.  We needed 11 cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, I had plans to begin collecting a 1969 Topps set, and I figured I'd add a Diamond Stars card or two to that growing set.  We loaded the family in the car, trekked down to Ocean City, and I stepped inside the Music Pier for the first time in over 20 years.

The memories came flooding back, but none of the former baseball card dealers from my youth did.  There were maybe 15 tables scattered on the lower portion of the Music Pier floor and I immediately scanned mostly shiny slabbed cards, bobble heads, signed jerseys, and nary a vintage baseball card in sight.  It was a little depressing.  Determined to come away with something, anything for my collection, I scoured a "3 for $20" box and came away with a few cards for Doug's collection, namely Alec Bohm relic cards, and six cards from sets I'm not even collecting yet.

All of this is meant as a prelude to how this Colavito card ended up in my collection.  My budgeted show money burning a hole in my pocket, I navigated over to Gar Miller Cards' online store when we got home and held my own virtual baseball card show.  I added four cards to our Diamond Cards set, crossed off three more cards for our 1965 Topps set and threw in a few cool cards to add to the 1969 Topps pile I've started.

The Card / Indians Team Set
Topps blacked out the Athletics' logo on Colavito's hat, recycling a photo first used for the 1964 Topps Giants set.  The back of the card highlights his four home runs in a game performance from 1959, as well as his re-acquisition by the Indians.

I've now written about the massive eight-player trade that brought Colavito back to Cleveland for the 1965 season in eight posts, and I wanted to show all the players together in one mini gallery below.  As the set progressed into the third series, Topps started updating the players' team designations, beginning with the Tommy John (#208) card.

#17 - Indians to White Sox

#166 - Indians to White Sox

#208 - Indians to White Sox

#578 - White Sox to Indians

#89 - White Sox to Athletics

#376 - White Sox to Athletics

#58 - White Sox to Athletics

#380 - Athletics to Indians

1965 Season
Playing again for the Indians for the first time since 1959, Colavito started all 162 of the team's games in right field.  He batted .287 with 26 home runs and a team-leading 108 RBIs, as the Indians finished in fifth place.  He led the league in RBIs and walks (93), and was the starting right fielder for the American League All-Stars.  On September 6th, Colavito collected his 1,000th career RBI in the second game of a double header against the Senators.

1957 Topps #212

1959 Topps #420

1961 Topps #330

1966 Topps #150

1968 Topps #99

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1957 Topps #212
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13):  1957-1968, 1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2014 Panini Golden Age #81

243 - Colavito non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/18/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #379 San Francisco Giants Team Card

Next Card:  #381 Al Jackson - New York Mets