Rocky Colavito Recalls the Harvey Kuenn Trade

Rocky Colavito knew what the phone call was about, even before being told.

“You want to talk about Harvey, right?” he said. “I’ll be glad to help. Harvey was a sweet guy.”

No mention of a last name was necessary. Colavito meant Harvey Kuenn, former big-league player and manager, who died recently at age 57. Colavito long ago grew accustomed to having his name linked with Kuenn’s. After all, they were involved in one of baseball’s most famous trades--a home-run king for a batting champion.

On April 17, 1960, Easter Sunday, Cleveland sent Colavito to Detroit for Kuenn. Colavito, 26 at the time, had just led the American League with 42 homers. And Kuenn, 29 back then, had won the batting title with a .353 average.

Frank (Trader) Lane of Cleveland and Bill DeWitt of Detroit swung the deal, and it ranks among any of the blockbusters you can name.

“He was not only a good ballplayer, but a decent human being as well,” Colavito said of Kuenn. “We weren’t close friends, but we knew each other well. I always liked him. I never saw him do anything to bother anyone. He went about his business.”

Colavito was speaking from his home in Bernville, Pa. Earlier in the day, he pitched batting practice to his son, Steve, who has been invited to Cleveland’s training camp.

Colavito seemed to enjoy recalling the trade. He said he remembers the details vividly. Then again, he could hardly forget them, considering how he heard the news.

“We were in Memphis, playing an exhibition game against the White Sox, and I was on first base,” he said. “I had hit a home run the first time up.”

The second time, Colavito rapped the ball to third and reached on a force play. Then Cleveland Manager Joe Gordon approached him from the dugout.

“I thought they were going to give me the rest of the day off because I had hit the ball well,” Colavito said. “I remember it so clearly. He said, ‘Rocky, that’s the last time you’re going to bat in a Cleveland uniform. You’ve just been traded.’

“I was in such shock. He said, ‘Good luck,’ and all I could say was, ‘Same to you.’ ”

Gordon’s comment about that last at-bat proved to be wrong. Colavito returned to Cleveland later in a career in which he also had stints with Kansas City, the White Sox, Dodgers and Yankees. He finished with 374 career homers.

Kuenn played only one year in Cleveland, before being traded to San Francisco. He also played for the Cubs and Phillies, and finished with a .303 career average.

In 1982, he took the Milwaukee Brewers, a power club nicknamed “Harvey’s Wallbangers,” within one victory of the World Championship.

Despite the magnitude of the deal, Colavito says, the two of them never discussed it very much.

“Maybe in the beginning,” he said. “The photographers asked us to pose when we changed uniforms. But actually, about discussing the trade, I don’t remember.”