JIM BROWN AND ROCKY COLAVITO: A GREAT CLEVELAND COMBINATION
By STEVE KING
It was exactly 60 years ago, in 1959, that Cleveland was home to the biggest power guy/numbers guy in football and one of the biggest in baseball.
It was on this date, June 10, in 1959 that the Cleveland Indians’ young power hitter, Rocky Colavito, hit four home runs in a game against the Baltimore Orioles to became just the second player in American League history to crack four home runs in a game, and the first since the great Lou Gehrig did it 27 years earlier in 1932.
Colavito would hit 42 home runs overall that year to tie Harmon Killebrew for the American League lead. It also enabled him to become the first Indian to hit at least 40 homers in back-to-back seasons, following the 41 he had posted in 1958.
In 1959, Browns third-year running back Jim Brown led the NFL in rushing for the third straight season, gaining 1,329 yards. He averaged 4.6 yards a carry and ran for a league-best 14 touchdowns.
His yardage total was actually down almost 200 yards – 198, to be exact – from the NFL-best 1,527 he had had the year before in 1958. So, too, were his average yards per attempt down from the previous season (it was a gaudy 5.9 in 1958) and his rushing TDs (17).
Brown, who is unquestionably the best running back of all-time and even the greatest player ever at any position, led the league in rushing yards once again in 1960 with 1,257. His average per try soared to 5.8, and he had nine rushing scores.
It should be pointed out that he put up these numbers in his first four NFL seasons even though he was playing just 12-game schedules, or four less than what is used today.
Brown paced the NFL again in rushing yards in 1961 in his first 14-game season with 1,408.
In 1962, Brown failed to hit 1,000 yards for just the second time overall, and the first time since his rookie year of 1957, with 996. It also marked the only time in his nine-year career that he would fail to lead the NFL in rushing.
That “failure” just seemed to make him mad, for he came roaring back in 1963 to rush for a staggering 1,863 yards and 12 TDs, averaging a career-best 6.4 yards per attempt.
Brown finished his career with an exclamation point in his final two seasons, getting 1,446 in 1964 to help the Browns win the NFL championship for the first time in nine years, and adding 1,544, the second-highest total of his career, in 1965.
Yes, Jim Brown and Rocky Colavito, a great combination in Cleveland six decades ago.
