Rocky Colavito Dies at 91; Cleveland Legend Was 9-Time MLB All-Star

Rocky Colavito, a nine-time MLB All-Star and Cleveland baseball legend, died at 91 on Tuesday, per MLB.com's Chris Haft.

The Guardians said in a statement that Colavito "passed peacefully at home today with family by his side in Bernville, Pennsylvania."

"Our collective hearts ache at the passing of Rocky," said Guardians senior vice president/public affairs Bob DiBiasio. "Rocky was a generational hero, one of the most popular players in franchise history. His popularity was evident across Northeast Ohio as sandlot ballplayers everywhere imitated Rocky's on-deck circle routine of kneeling, then as he stepped into the batter's box the stretching the bat over the shoulders and pointing the bat at the pitcher. I can proudly say I was one of them. Rocky loved our organization and always held the fans in the highest esteem. He would always say, 'I am thankful God chose me to play in Cleveland.' We send our most sincere condolences to the entire Colavito family, as well as his many teammates and other organizations impacted by his passing."

Colavito signed with Cleveland in 1951 as an undrafted amateur free agent and he made his MLB debut a few years later in 1955. He spent the first five years of his career in Cleveland, having a breakout season in 1958 when he hit 41 homers and 113 RBI. The following season, he had a career-high 42 home runs and 111 RBI as he was named to his first All-Star Team.

Also in 1959, he hit four home runs in a single game, something just eight players had done before him.

He joined the Detroit Tigers in 1960 and stayed with them until 1963, picking up a pair of All-Star appearances while with the team. After a one-year stint with the Kansas City Athletics, he returned to Cleveland in 1965.

Colavito finished out his career with stints with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. He hit 374 home runs, 1,159 RBI and had a career batting average of .266.

He was inducted into the Guardians Hall of Fame in 2006.