Rocky Colavito remembered as a baseball star and a dad

To Steve Colavito and his older brother and sister, their father, Rocco D. "Rocky" Colavito, never seemed like a celebrity.

The late major league baseball player and coach was just their dad.

"Everybody knew him as a baseball player, but my dad, to me, was just the best dad there was," Colavito said in a recent interview. "He always made time for me. Always. It was never too much for my dad."

His words echoed those of his sister, Marisa McGrath, during a tribute Aug. 11 at FirstEnergy Stadium, where the siblings and their mother, Carmen Colavito, gathered with family, friends and fans to celebrate the late ballplayer's career and life.

As a girl, McGrath said, she did not understand all the fuss made over her father by the teachers when he brought her and her older brother, Rocky Jr., lunch at school or the hospital staff when she cut her foot and needed stitches.

"I just knew my dad was there," she said.

The tribute took place before the Reading Fightin Phils faced the visiting Chesapeake Baysox on the diamond at 1950 Centre Ave.

The evening's first 2,500 ticket holders received a limited edition Rocky Colavito bobblehead created for the occasion.

Matt Hoffmaster, assistant manager of the Fightin Phils, said the idea grew from a relationship that developed between the organization and the family after Colavito's death in December 2024 at age 91.

Colavito's celebration of life was held at the stadium's Redner's Event Center, Hoffmaster explained, and members of the Fightin Phils management kept in touch with the family, eventually planning the tribute.

For many, Hoffmaster said, the setting carried special meaning.

In 1953, before becoming one of Major League Baseball's power hitters, Colavito played in the then-2-year-old Reading Municipal Memorial Stadium — dedicated to military personnel killed in service — as a member of the Cleveland Indians organization, which brought a minor league affiliate to Reading a year earlier.

Although affiliations changed over the ensuing decades, the stadium endured, with the Philadelphia Phillies establishing a feeder team in Reading in 1967.

The venue recently underwent a $45 million upgrade and expansion as part a new deal between Major League Baseball and minor league teams like the Fightins.

Some of the fans who watched Colavito play in Reading were able to return to the same ballpark to honor him 73 years later, Hoffmaster said.

"You can't find many professional baseball stadiums where Rocky Colavito and teammates of his era played," he said.

Colavito, who was inducted into the Reading Baseballtown Hall of Fame in 1993, went on from Reading to become one of baseball's premier players of the late 1950s and 1960s, said Mark Sommer, a Buffalo-based journalist and author of the 2019 biography "Rocky Colavito: Cleveland's Iconic Slugger."

Sommer said Colavito combined power at the plate with an exceptional throwing arm in the outfield and an ability to connect with fans.

Between 1958 and 1962, Colavito hit more home runs than any other major leaguer, tying for the American League lead in home runs in 1959, Sommer said, and surpassing such legends as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roger Maris during that span.

At the height of his popularity in Cleveland, however, Colavito was traded in 1960 to the Detroit Tigers for American League batting champion Harvey Kuenn. The deal stunned Cleveland fans and became one of baseball's most controversial trades, Sommer said.

By the time Colavito retired in 1968, he ranked 15th in career home runs in major league history, the author said.

"In the context of the times in which he played, in the era that he came out of, he was absolutely one of the best players in baseball," Sommer said.

But Colavito's appeal went beyond statistics.

He was known for staying after games to sign autographs until every waiting fan had one, Sommer said. The slugger remained just as approachable decades later.

At a 2021 ceremony in Cleveland unveiling a statue in his honor, Colavito, then 88, stayed outside in the August heat, signing autographs for about two hours rather than disappointing fans, Sommer recalled.

Colavito's connection to Berks County continued long after his playing days in Reading ended.

A Bronx native, the ballplayer met his future wife, Carmen Perrotti, while playing here. The two married in October 1954 and reared their family of three children, Rocky Jr., Marisa and Steve in Muhlenberg Township.

The couple later moved to Bern Township.

For Steve Colavito and his siblings, their father's devotion to family means more than the home runs, accolades and baseball lore.

Colavito of Maidencreek Township recalled spending summers with his father in Cleveland when the elder Colavito was coaching. Night games meant late dinners, but when he wanted to return to the ballpark early the next afternoon, Colavito said his father never complained.

"He was always willing," he said. "His family meant the world to him."

Baseball also became part of Steve Colavito's life. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and later played in the Cleveland organization. Through the difficult stretches of his own professional career, he said, his father remained a constant source of support.

"Whenever my dad was there, I always felt like Superman," he said. "I didn't feel there was anything I couldn't do or accomplish when he was there."

That paternal support extended to all aspects of his life, Colavito said.

"It went beyond baseball," he said. "He was just always there for me."