It’s really a testament to Frank Lane’s botched transactions that he’s still among the most vilified of GM’s to ever work in Cleveland. 50 years ago this month, Rocky Colavito was shipped, unceremoniously, out of town for Harvey Kuehn. Who? Right.
Of course, if you’ve read Terry Pluto’s wonderful tome on the trade and Indians history since that moment, you know that nothing has gone right since then. Can we blame it on Frank Lane and the “Curse of Rocky Colavito”? Maybe.
The Baseball Heritage Museum is “celebrating” the anniversary on April 17 with a day full of longing torment and masochistic memories. At least that’s what I think is happening. Full press release below.
The 50th anniversary of a seminal moment in baseball history, the one-two punch of Rocky Colavito and Herb Score being traded from Cleveland, will be the focus of a new, day-long event produced by October Productions on April 17 at the Baseball Heritage Museum. “Where Were You on April 17, 1960” will look back at the Colavito for Harvey Kuenn trade as well as the Score for Barry Latman deal the following day.
The event will coincide with the spring meeting of the Jack Graney Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). A day of presentations, discussion, and events will take place at the Baseball Heritage Museum in the Colonial Marketplace, 530 Euclid Avenue, in the Historic Gateway Neighborhood of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Events are scheduled to take place throughout the day.
Our celebration will include reflections on the careers of Colavito, voted the Most Memorable Personality in Cleveland Indians history, and Score, the beloved pitcher/broadcaster and a part of Indians baseball for over four decades. The event will include audio and video highlights and reflections on those memorable days. Frank Lane, Score’s minor league career, and literature related to Colavito and Score will be among the topics covered during the day.
Admission cost for the event is $7, $5 for SABR members and $3 for kids 12 and under.
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This article appears in Mar 24-30, 2010.
It’s forgotten the the damage of the Colavito trade was greatly compounded when the Indians determined that they had to have Colavito back in 1965. In a three team trade to get Colavito back, they gave up to the White Sox:
Tommy Agee, the subsequent rookie of the year and a major cog on the Miracle Mets championship season in 1969,
Tommy John, who had won 14 games with the White Sox his first year after the trade, and went on to have a borderline Hall of Fame career winning 286 games
John Romano, the Indians’ starting catcher, and one of the better catchers in Indians history (had been earlier listed as one of the 100 top Indians of all time).
With Colavito back, the Indians continued to be a mediocre team at the expense of one quality player and two future stars.
LIB
If Frank Lane is the most reviled GM in Indian’s history Mark Shapiro is working hard for the runner up position.
I lived through the Colavito trade and it was traumatic. Shapiro doesn’t have one that is that bad but he has a shear numbers that will cement his position in team history before he is done.
Trader Lane traded Roger Maris in 1958. Five days before the Colavito trade, he traded Norm Cash to Detroit for Steve Demeter.
Just think of the Tribe in the ’60’s with Maris, Colavito and Cash batting back to back to back…………..
I was 10 years old when the Tribe traded Rocky. It’s hard to believe the impact that had on me and all my pals who lived and breathed baseball each and every day on the sandlots. “Don’t knock the Rock” was part of our every day parlance. I went to all the playoff games against the White Sox in ’59 and was broken-hearted by the sweep and have not tolerated the Sox ever since. Tied to such fond memories this trade still engenders sadness to this very day. Before the absurd advent of free agency the players we almost like part of the family. Though time and perspective heal all wounds this trade of the Rock remains alive in the painful memory of a young boy.
Dr. Ulrich is absolutely right, those players were like a part of my youth and family. It hurt so deeply to lose Rocky Colavito that the pain continues today. I used to lay in bed at night with a transistor radio listening to the games, living and dying with each pitch,especially when Rocky came to bat. As completely insane as Frank Lane was, I blame the owner for allowing that to occur. A child could tell that we didn’t even get close to what we gave away for Rocky. I believe not onlydid the trade kill the spirit and future of the team for decades, it also disrupted his career, and limited what would have been an even greater stastical achievement by Rocky.
And, although we gave up quite a bit to get Rocky back, he actually had several good years for the Indians and was not the reason the club did not do so well. If he were playig today, under current conditions and with the DH, he would have had close to 500 home runs.