Colavito was only 25 years old, not even in his prime yet, he’d just led the American League with 42 homers and was the idol of nearly every young baseball fan in Cleveland. It was our own version of trading away Babe Ruth for the cash to fund a production of “No No Nanette”Įven without the benefit of hindsight the trade made no sense. To this day even fans born years later know that trading Colavito as the most infamous move in franchise history. Tribe general manager Frank “Trader’ Lane had just traded Colavito to the Tigers in exchange for the reigning batting champion, center fielder Harvey Kuenn.
As the Indians returned home to face the Detroit Tigers on opening day, little did they know that in that opening series, not only would they be without their star hitter, outfielder Rocky Colavito, but he would be playing opposite them as a member of the Tigers. In what should’ve been seen as an omen, Russwood Park, the site of the exhibition, burned to the ground shortly after the end of the game.
On April 17th 1960, just two days before the start of the season, the Indians played an Easter Sunday exhibition game in Memphis, Tennessee.
