centerfield maz

Rocco Domenico Colavito was born August 10, 1933 in the Bronx, New York. He grew up idolizing Joe DiMaggio watching him from the Upper Deck of that stadium in the Bronx, and waiting by the players entrance for an autograph. Colavito got noticed on the sandlots of Crotona Park, playing baseball with his older brothers. His brothers wouldn’t allow him to go him to dinner until he threw the ball far enough to go over the fence. He practiced, strengthening his arm until he was able to fire the ball across the playground over the fence. His arm became legendary; once throwing a ball over 420 feet. He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School on Fordham Rd. near the "Little Italy"- Arthur Avenue section in the Bronx. He tried out with the A.L. New York team &they didn’t offer him much, but the Cleveland Indians did. Colavito signed with the Indians in 1954. As the Tribe was getting swept by the New York Giants in the '54 World Series, Rocky was tearing up the mino