Winning pitcher ... Rocky Colavito?

[JohnHoward]

Here is a weird boxscore from August 25, 1968:

August 25, 1968 Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees Play by Play and Box Score - Baseball-Reference.com

The Yankees were facing three consecutive doubleheaders and five doubleheaders in eight days, so Ralph Houk brought Rocky Colavito in to pitch in the 4th inning of a game against the Tigers. You can see that the Rock more than held his own.

[Jeff Reed]

Looks like he also drew a walk and scored the winning run in the 6th. Bobby Cox tied the game with a HR, one of 9 he would hit in his career.

[JohnHoward]

Rocky Colavito also pitched 3 hitless and scoreless innings in a game for Cleveland in 1958, so the career total for him is 23 batters faced and only one hit allowed. Not too shabby.

[wireman]

Originally Posted by JohnHoward

Rocky Colavito also pitched 3 hitless and scoreless innings in a game for Cleveland in 1958, so the career total for him is 23 batters faced and only one hit allowed. Not too shabby.

I remember the '58 game. Colavito had a reputation for having a cannon of an arm from the outfield; seemed only logical -- '50s logic, anyway -- to give him a shot as an emergency pitcher.

[kenyan_cheena]

Getting flashbacks to an OOTP8 league I once ran that was set in the late '50s when he was with the Indians and Willie Mays left the Giants and signed with them.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by JohnHoward

Here is a weird boxscore from August 25, 1968:

...Rocky Colavito in to pitch in the 4th inning of a game against the Tigers. You can see that the Rock more than held his own.

Aaaaand Joe Pepitone played CF while Mickey Mantle played 1B, which if you asked me before looking at the boxscore would be reversed. I had no idea that Mic played the last 2 seasons of his career at first.

[Splitter24]

I'm not old enough to have seen Colavito play in the majors. But I do remember him playing in an Old-Timers game in the mid-80's. He did make a throw in from the OF after a base hit and thought to myself "Man, Rocky's still got a pretty good arm." This was also the same game where a 70-something year old Luke Appling homered off Warren Spahn.

[TribeFanInNC]

Ok, super obscure trivia....

Who was the only player to face Colavito in both games he pitched?

[PotatoPeeler]

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

Ok, super obscure trivia....

Who was the only player to face Colavito in both games he pitched?

Al Kaline. Got him to ground out both times.

It's interesting that both of Colavito's pitching appearances came against the Tigers.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by Splitter24

I'm not old enough to have seen Colavito play in the majors. But I do remember him playing in an Old-Timers game in the mid-80's. He did make a throw in from the OF after a base hit and thought to myself "Man, Rocky's still got a pretty good arm." This was also the same game where a 70-something year old Luke Appling homered off Warren Spahn.

I love old timer games. I saw Bill Lee's Grey Sox at least a decade ago with whatever group of guys he was able to pull together. Mark Fidrych threw a few innings! Dalton Jones, just a utility guy in the bigs, still had a pretty impressive arm from short. Lots of fun.

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

Al Kaline. Got him to ground out both times.

It's interesting that both of Colavito's pitching appearances came against the Tigers.

Ding! Ding!


(although according to B-R, Kaline went 1-for-3 total with a double, accounting for the only hit given up by the player whose trade cursed the Indians for a couple generations)

[PotatoPeeler]

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

Ding! Ding!


(although according to B-R, Kaline went 1-for-3 total with a double, accounting for the only hit given up by the player whose trade cursed the Indians for a couple generations)

You're right. Kaline was the first batter he retired after he replaced Steve Barber in the in the 4th inning. I neglected to scan further and see that Kaline hit a double off Colavito in the 6th. Thanks for catching that.