Curse of Rocky Colavito by Terry Pluto

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Curse of Rocky Colavito

A Loving Look at a Thirty-Year Slump

by Terry Pluto

Format: Softcover, 304 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches
Illustrations: 40 40 black-and-white photographs
ISBN: 978-1-59851-035-5
Price: $14.95

Description

Any team can have an off-decade. But three in a row? Only in Cleveland.

The Indians tempted fate when they traded away Rocky Colavito in 1960. Young, strong, popular, and coming off back-to-back 40 home run/100 RBI seasons, he was the type of player you just don't trade.

Then, for the next thirty-three years, the Indians slumped miserably, finishing above .500 just six times, never higher than third in their division.

Only pride and masochism brought fans back to drafty old Cleveland Stadium during those awful seasons, when even the most optimistic knew their hopes would be dashed by June.

Veteran sportswriter Terry Pluto takes a witty look at the endless parade of strange events that afflicted the Tribe. Other teams lose players to injuries; the Indians lost them to alcoholism (Sam McDowell), a nervous breakdown (Tony Horton), and the pro golf tour (Ken Harrelson). They even had to trade young Dennis Eckersley (a future Hall-of-Famer) because his wife fell in love with his best friend and teammate.

Pluto profiles the men who made the Indians what they were, for better or worse, including Gabe Paul, the underfunded and overmatched general manager; Herb Score, the much-loved master of malaprops in the broadcast booth; Andre Thornton, who weathered personal tragedies and stood as one of the few hitting stalwarts on some terrible teams; Super Joe Charboneau, who blazed across the American League as a rookie but flamed out the following season; and Hank Peters, John Hart, and Mike Hargrove, who eventually pointed the team in the right direction.

Long-suffering Indians fans survived the curse and finally got an exciting, star-studded, winning team in the second half of the 1990s. But The Curse of Rocky Colavito still stands as a classic look back at those years of futility and frustration that made the rare taste of success so much sweeter.

Book Excerpt:

Herb and Rocky

“ I was never one to save much from when I was a kid, but I kept these,” said Chandler. “ It's hard for Cleveland fans to believe, but I remember going to games in the 1950s and the Indians rarely lost. I was eight years old when they won 111 games in 1954. Think about that— 111 wins in one season. The Indians owned the town. I was like a lot of kids in the late 1940s and 1950s. First thing every morning I'd pick up the Plain Dealer and check out the little Chief Wahoo cartoon on the front page. If the Indians won the night before, Chief Wahoo would be holding a lantern in one hand, and he would have his other hand up with a raised index finger. It was a sign of victory. If they lost, the Chief would be battered— a black eye, a couple of front teeth knocked out, and his feathers crumpled.

“ Back then, the Chief was in great shape most mornings. That was because the Indians kept throwing those great pitchers at you— Bob Lemon, Bob Feller, Early Wynn, and Mike Garcia. The Big Four. The Yankees had the best team in the American League, but the Indians were always right behind them. And the Indians had better pitching.”

That's why Chandler kept three newspapers dated May 2, 1955. Two of the papers no longer exist, but the lead story on all the sports pages was the same:

TRIBE'S TERRIFIC TWOSOME: MR. ROBERT, MASTER HERBIE

— Cleveland News.

FELLER AND SCORE JAR BOSOX TWICE

— Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“ FELLER WAS BETTER THAN I WAS” — SCORE: ONE-HITTER BY BOB, 16 WHIFFS BY HERB

— Cleveland Press.

“ Herb Score broke in . . . [ Read More Free Samples ]

About Terry Pluto

Terry Pluto is a sports columnist for the Plain Dealer. He has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the nation's top sports columnist for medium-sized newspapers. He is a nine-time winner of the Ohio Sports Writer of the Year award and has received more than 50 state and local writing awards. In 2005 he was inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame. He is the author of 23 books, including The Curse of Rocky Colavito (selected by the New York Times as one of the five notable sports books of 1989), and Loose Balls, which was ranked number 13 on Sports Illustrated's list of the top 100 sports books of all time. He was called “Perhaps the best American writer of sports books,” by the Chicago Tribune in 1997. He lives with his wife, Roberta, in Akron, Ohio. More About Terry Pluto

Contains References to:

Rocky Colavito, Sam McDowell, Tony Horton,Ken Harrelson, Dennis Eckersley, Gabe Paul, Herb Score, Andre Thorton, Joe Charboneau, Hank Peters, John Hart, Mike Hargrove