Rocky Colavito
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Rocco Domenico "Rocky" Colavito (born August 10, 1933 in New York, NY) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder (primarily playing right field, but also at the other outfield positions, as well as a small number of games as a pitcher and first baseman) and right-handed batter who played for the Cleveland Indians (1955-59, 1965-67), Detroit Tigers (1960-63), Kansas City Athletics (1964), Chicago White Sox (1967), Los Angeles Dodgers (1968) and New York Yankees (1968).
Colavito made himself a complete player. He slammed 30-plus homers in seven seasons, was a high run-producing slugger, and a superb rightfielder with a strong arm.
In 1958 Colavito batted .303 with 41 home runs and 113 runs batted in. One year later he became the first Indian to have two 40-HR seasons; his 42 tied him with Harmon Killebrew for the American League lead. The same season he smashed four homers in consecutive at-bats. In 1965 he played in 162 consecutive errorless games (274 total chances) for a perfect 1.000, a MLB season record.
In his 1841-game career, Colavito batted .266, with 374 HRs, 1159 RBI, 971 runs, 1730 hits, 283 doubles and 21 triples. As a rightfielder, he posted numbers of 3223 putouts, 123 assists, 26 double plays, committed only 70 errors in 3516 total chances for a .980 of fielding percent average.
Highlights
- 6-time All-Star (1959, 1961-62, 1964-66)
- Twice led league in extra base hits (1958-59)
- Led league in slugging average (.620, 1958)
- Led league in games played (163, 1961)
- Led league in total bases (301, 1959)
- Led league in home runs (42, 1959)
- Led league in runs batted in (108, 1965)
- Led major leagues in fielding average (1965)
See also
- Frank Lane (general manager)
- Batters with four home runs in one game
External links
- Template:Baseball-reference
- Baseball Almanac (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=colavro01)
- Baseball Library (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/C/Colavito_Rocky.stm)