Pop quiz, who were the AL and NL batting champions last season?
If you didn’t immediately have the names of Tim Anderson (.335) and Christian Yelich (.329) at the tip of your tongue, don’t worry. Given how modern statistics have lessened the importance of batting average in recent years, the batting title doesn’t carry nearly as much prestige in 2019 as it did for much of baseball’s history. One could even make the case that the home run crown lost some its luster last year since so many players were suddenly clearing the fences — a record 6776 homers were hit during the 2019 season, with Pete Alonso (53) and Jorge Soler (48) leading the way in their respective leagues.
All this being said, you can imagine the furor that would have been generated this offseason if a Yelich-for-Alonso deal had been arranged between the Brewers and Mets, or if the White Sox and Royals decided to swap Soler and Anderson in a one-for-one deal. Ultimately, any straight-up trade of star players is going to generate headlines, though the idea of a “home run champ for batting champ” trade makes for just as intriguing a concept today as it did 60 years ago yesterday, when the Indians dealt Rocky Colavito to the Tigers for Harvey Kuenn.
Both players were All-Stars in 1959, with Colavito finishing fourth in AL MVP voting and Kuenn in eighth place. Colavito’s 42 home runs tied Harmon Killebrew for the American League lead, as “The Rock” managed to top his 41-homer performance from a season earlier. Over four full seasons with the Tribe, Colavito has already hit 129 home runs and slashed .271/.364/.533 over 2166 plate appearances, making him an instant superstar to the Cleveland faithful.
However, Colavito hit “only” .257 in 1959, which led Indians GM Frank Lane to balk at Colavito’s demand for a raise for the 1960 season. For younger fans used to today’s guaranteed contracts and arbitration structure, players in 1960 had to negotiate their salaries on a year-to-year basis, and since teams had total control over player movement due to the reserve clause, even some of the game’s biggest stars had little leverage in salary negotiations. In fact, there was also some dispute between Kuenn and the Tigers in the batting champ’s own contract talks heading into the 1960 season.
Though Colavito and the Indians ultimately worked out a deal for 1960, Lane (known as “Trader Frank” for completing over 400 swaps during his two decades as a GM for five different teams) jumped at the opportunity to move the slugger for a player Lane felt was a better all-around talent. While Kuenn’s reputation has been somewhat diminished by his decline after this trade, it should be noted that he was a very good ballplayer in his prime. From 1953-59, Kuenn hit .314/.360/.426 with 53 home runs, while leading the league in hits four times, doubles three times, and once in batting average thanks to his career-best .353 mark in 1959.
As steady as Kuenn was, however, 1959 was by far his best offensive year, and it was still only somewhat better (141 OPS+, 145 wRC+) than Colavito’s production (133 OPS+, 130 wRC+) that same season. Kuenn was also almost three years older than Colavito, and of course didn’t have Colavito’s folk hero status in Cleveland. Indians fans were instantly enraged by the trade, while Lane was confident that he had made a shrewd move. In an infamous quote that has gone down in Tribe lore, Lane told reporters that dealing Colavito for Kuenn was like trading hamburger for steak.
In 1960, it seemed like the Indians may have at least broken even on the deal. Kuenn hit .308/.379/.416 over 537 PA, good for a 118 OPS+ and wRC+ through modern analytical eyes. Colavito, meanwhile, far outpaced Kuenn in the power department by hitting 35 homers and collecting 87 RBI over 616 PA, but also batted .249/.317/.474 (107 wRC+, 108 OPS+) in his first season in Detroit.
It didn’t take long for Trader Frank to lose interest in Kuenn, however, as Kuenn was traded to the Giants in the 1960-61 offseason for left-hander Johnny Antonelli and outfielder Willie Kirkland. Antonelli’s MLB career ended after the 1961 season, while Kirkland put up some decent power numbers along with a low average (ironically, making him something of the version of Colavito that Lane feared Colavito would become). Kuenn played six more years in the big leagues and had a couple more productive seasons, though he never again approached his 1959 peak.
As for Colavito, he rebounded from his 1960 down year to become one of the game’s most fearsome bats of the 1960’s, hitting .266/.362/.470 with 210 home runs from 1961-68 despite playing in a notoriously pitcher-friendly era. This included a second stint in Cleveland in 1965-67, as the Indians (with Lane no longer in the organization) reacquired Colavito for a return visit.
Cleveland fans may already be cringing at any recollection of “The Curse Of Rocky Colavito,” which was the title of a 1994 book by longtime Cleveland sportswriter Terry Pluto. After dealing Colavito, the Indians didn’t reach the postseason again until the 1995 season, and the club had only six winning seasons between 1960-1993. The Colavito trade was hardly the only reason for the Indians’ long slide, of course, and it arguably wasn’t even the starting point of the team’s downfall — nor was it even the most damaging trade the Indians made with the Tigers that same week. Just five days prior to the Colavito deal, Cleveland sent Norm Cash to Detroit for infielder Steve Demeter, who went on to appear in just four games for the Tribe and never again played in the majors after the 1960 season. Cash, meanwhile, proceeded to rip up American League pitching for the next 15 years in a Tigers uniform.
Still, the Cash trade never seemed to loom as large in the minds of Tribe supporters, perhaps since Cash never actually played a game in a Cleveland uniform. (The Indians acquired Cash from the White Sox as part of a seven-player deal that saw Minnie Minoso head back to Chicago earlier in the 1959-60 offseason.) Colavito had already become a fan favorite at the time of the deal, and continued to remain a presence in Cleveland for years afterwards, both in his return stint as a player and then as a coach and broadcaster for the Indians.
Trading one star player for another was as relatively unusual in 1960 and it would be today, though in some ways, the story of Colavito-for-Kuenn has a lot of parallels to modern-day front office moves. Money was naturally a factor, as both Colavito and Kuenn were coming off rather contentious contract negotiations, and it seemed as though Lane had misgivings about continuing to pay top dollar for what he felt was a power-only type of ballplayer.
In today’s game, you might see a front office just non-tender an arbitration-eligible slugger rather than work out a trade — just ask Chris Carter or C.J. Cron. Likewise, many a current GM would undoubtedly prefer more of a well-rounded hitter than a power-only type, though of course Lane was far off the mark both in evaluating Colavito as a one-dimensional hitter, and in betting that Kuenn would continue his 1959 form.
Losing Colavito was a tough beat for Indians fans, though since the Tribe have been regular postseason participants since Pluto’s book was published, maybe the “curse” is technically no more. Of course, Cleveland also hasn’t won a World Series since 1948 (the longest streak of any team in baseball), so maybe the baseball gods have more of an issue with the Tribe than just the Colavito deal. Maybe fate simply prefers hamburger to steak.
man, being cheap is in the blood of the Indians
Back then all the owners were cheap- there was no free agency so players basically had to accept what was offered. That offseason Mickey Mantle took a $4,000 pay cut because he had only hit .285 with 31 HR’s which was down from the previous year
The good old days!
I am really digging this potpourri style original content.
Same
Minnie Minoso played in the majors in 5 different decades lol
MINNY was signed to a contract and planned to bat in a CHISOX game in what would have been his 6th decade. BUT, MLB in it’s infinite wisdom would not accept the contract, looking at it as a the game of baseball.
That’s got Veeck written all over it.
Veeck no longer owned the team and had nothing to do with Minnie’s attempt to bat in his 6th decade.
Norm Cash didn’t loom as large because… Rocky Colavito is one of the best goddamn names in baseball history
Kirby Puckett is still my favorite baseball name, it’s just fun to say, but this one is pretty good.
Rico Petrocelli and Billy Conigliaro always struck me as being iconic baseball player names. Same for Sparky Lyle and Rollie Fingers.
His brother Tony was better…..
Tony Fingers?
Phillies had a 1B of little renown back in the ’70s named Costen Shockley. Didn’t play too many MLB games, but that name always intrigued me.
How about A’s second baseman Shooty Babbitt?
Steele Walker is a pretty good name.
Too bad Don Money and Norm Cash were never teammates.
The time before debit cards!
Interesting side story for the GM Frank Lane- it was reported that he had a bonus tied to attendance in his contract. For every ticket that was sold over 800,000 he would receive a .05 cent bonus on top of his salary. Because this was such an unpopular trade the attendance plummeted that year of the trade and he received $27,000 less in bonus than the previous year. On top of that when the Indians reacquired Rocky in ‘65 – Lane no longer GM- they traded away a little known lefty who in 2 seasons with Cleve was 2-11 who would go on to help revolutionize the game, on top of also winning 286 more games during his long career- that player was Tommy John.
Like Branch Rickey getting to skim off part of the money for prospects he sold to other teams?
Can you imagine that going on today!!??
Don’t be afraid to post more of these historical trade and/or general analysis pieces for old chunks of coal like me to ruminate and reminisce over. Well done, nice little read.
Outside of 1961 when he was dominant, Cash was an average player.
Not true. Look at the numbers. From 1960 to 1973 he never had an OPS+ under 120. His career OPS+ is 139. That’s all-star level production.
Don’t let facts get in the way of his rhetoric
A good band and a great commentor!
Looking up career stats is very easy. You should try it sometime.
Captain obvious!
That’s supposed to be me!
Cash: 379 or so HRs, >1,000 RBI? Never mentioned in any greatest/worst trades articles.
Great story!
Excellent story! Growing up in NE Ohio, Rocky Colavito was my favorite Indian. It took over 3 decades for the Indians to field good teams on a consistent basis after trading Rocky. His trade sucked the life out of Indian fans and team. We are still waiting for that elusive World Series title.
Great stadium they played in too! Was it dreary watching with 2,000 other fans in a bowl meant for 80,000?
The Mistake by the Lake.
Steve Demeter, perhaps now best known as Derek Dietrich’s grandfather
Blood lines!
Keep these kind of articles coming, please.
Both Kuenn and Colavito walked more than they struck out for their careers. Just doesn’t happen much anymore, especially for a slugger like Colavito.
I enjoyed this article very much. Please keep them coming!
I thought it was cool how Colavito would stretch his shoulders by holding the bat outstretched over his head with both hands then pull the bat down. He was the only ballplayer I noticed ever doing that.
Great read, Mark!! Thanks!
Thank you, Mark, for a great story, one that I cringe to remember even to this day. Rocky was the heart and soul of the Cleveland Indians. That trade broke the spirit of Tribe fans for many, many years. As a young Cleveland Indians fan at the time, I hated this trade. I wasn’t alone. In Cleveland, Frank Lane went from being known as Trader Lane to Traitor Lane.
He was a bad, bad man…..
If you really want to speculate what might have been for Indians fans in the 1960’s, don’t forget the Cleveland traded a young outfielder named Roger Maris to Kansas City midway through the 1958 season. That means you could easily have had Maris, Norm Cash and Colavito all hitting in the middle of the Indians lineup for years. With that kind of offensive firepower, pitchers like Luis Tiant and Sam McDowell would have had all the run support they needed. Oh what might have been.
It’s fun (Well, sometimes it isn’t!) to look back on trades where teams gave up on a player who later became an All-Star and/or HOFer.
My Phillies were no slouches in that department when, in two separate trades, they swapped Ryne Sandberg and Ferguson Jenkins to the Cubbies.
Anyway, I enjoyed the article. Would like to see the author write a story about relatively unknown players at the time who were traded and later became perennial all-stars or HOFers. In addition to Sandberg and Jenkins mentioned above who fit that criteria, guys like Lou Brock (Cubs to Cardinals), Steve Carlton (Cardinals to Phillies), and the aforementioned Tommy John and Norm Cash fit the bill.
Love this! Mark, you did a great job of contextualizing the trade. Would love an article on the Ozzie Smith / Garry Templeton deal of the early 80s.
Imo, Colavito for Kuehn was Cleveland’s worst trade in the modern era. Right behind it was the Roger Maris trade in 1958. Frank “Trader” Lane was just a dreadful GM.
Thanks for the article!
As an Indians fan I would love to read some more background on some of the big Indians trades of my lifetime like the Indians trades for guys like….
Brett Butler
Brooke Jacoby
Julio Franco
Joe Carter
Mel Hall
Carlos Beaerga
Sandy Alomar
Cliff Lee
Grady Sizemore
And many more Indians trades from the 1980s through 2020
Many of those trades like the ones with Joe Carter worked out great for the Indians twice, he played great for the Indians when they traded for him, and then got them great players in return when the Indians traded him to San Diego.