What is Rocky Colavito Curse? Know all about the phenomenon attached to deceased Guardians HOFer
Cleveland Indians legend Rocky Colavito died on Tuesday night, as announced on the Guardians' social media channels. Colavito spent eight of his 14 playing years in Cleveland through two separate stints and even became a coach for the team for four seasons during the 1970s.
"The Cleveland Guardians are deeply saddened by the loss of Rocky Colavito. Beloved by fans, Rocky spent eight of his fourteen MLB seasons with Cleveland. He represented the club in three All-Star Games while finishing top-5 in MVP voting on three occasions. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends during this time." - @ Cleveland Guardians
One of the biggest legacies that Rocky Colavito left was an intriguing one.
Known as "The Curse of Rocky Colavito," journalist Terry Pluto explained in a column on The Plain Dealer and eventually in a book called The Curse of Rocky Colavito: A Loving Look at a Thirty-Year Slump how Colavito's move away from the Indians led to a "hex" in which the team would fail to win the World Series or even be in a pennant race.
On April 17, 1960, Indians executive Frank Lane surprisingly traded Colavito to the Detroit Tigers with 1959 AL batting champion Harvey Kuenn going the other way. The outfielder was the best player in Cleveland's roster, and the move proved to be unpopular among the Indians faithful.
This move set in a motion what was considered a string of bad luck for the organization that made them lose all the succeeding World Series attempts that they mounted and, at times, even finish at the bottom of MLB.
Some events attributed to the "Rocky Colavito curse" were the outfielder's second stint on the team, in which Cleveland was obliged to let go of pitcher Tommy John and Tommie Agee to the Chicago White Sox.
John, who had an eponymous surgery, would go on to be a four-time All-Star after leaving Cleveland. Agee, meanwhile, would also thrive away from the Indians as he won the 1966 AL ROY award and was instrumental in the World Series run of the 1969 Miracle Mets.
Other noteworthy "effects" of the curse attributed to Rocky Colavito were the trading of Jim "Mudcat" Grant, the issues of Sam McDowell, Tony Horton and Steve Dunning, the injury-riddled career of Wayne Gardland, and the deaths of relievers Steve Olin and Tim Crews.
Perhaps the biggest butterfly effect of the Colavito curse happened in 1984 when the Indians traded Rick "The Red Baron" Sutcliffe to the Chicago Cubs for Mel Hall and Joe Carter. The pitcher would immediately prove that Cleveland made the wrong move by claiming the NL Cy Young award in the same year.
As for Carter, he spent six seasons in Cleveland and was the AL RBI leader in 1986. However, it was after moving away from the city that he found major success.
In a trade with the Padres ahead of the 1990 season, Carter was sent to SoCal in exchange for Sandy Alomar Jr. and Carlos Baerga.
While Alomar and Baerga powered Cleveland to several pennants in the 1990s, it was Carter's succeeding move that merited him the most success. After a one-year stint in San Diego, he moved to the Toronto Blue Jays, where he won back-to-back World Series titles.
Mel Hall, meanwhile, spent five years with the Indians before being signed by the New York Yankees. In 2009, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison after being found guilty of sexual assault.
Rocky Colavito was a nine-time All-Star, a home run leader, an RBI leader, and one of the few players in MLB history to hit four home runs in one game. In 2006, he was enshrined in the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame. He always denied any curses that he placed on the team.
Rocky Colavito's curse rears its ugly head
At the time of writing, the Cleveland Guardians sit atop the MLB sphere for the longest current World Series championship drought at 76 years. The last championship title that the team captured was in 1948 when they were known as the Indians after beating the Boston Braves.
The Indians were just a few innings away from breaking this long curse before a rain delay saw the Jason Heyward-inspired Chicago Cubs (who themselves are battling a title curse) win Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
Up to today, some fans attributed the repeated failures to "The Curse of Rocky Colavito."