Rocky had 123 career assists in the outfield, mostly in right. Eight times he had at least 10 in a season.
If a batter hit a sharp single to right, he had to sprint, because Rocky could...and would...throw him out.
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In spite of being a power hitter, he had more walks than Ks in his career.
His career OPS+ was 132, which is a Pronk number.
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He led the AL once in HR, once in RBI, and once in walks.
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Rockys negative was that he had fallen arches and couldn't run at all.
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It is difficult to imagine how popular he was in NE Ohio, esp considering that fans only heard his exploits on the radio, except for the few times that Tribe games were televised. Fortunately, one of those games was a Friday nighter in Baltimore, when he hit four bombs.
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I got to see it. We had an 11 inch Hotpoint TV that my Dad had won in a drawing at the County fair....one of those things where some aluminum siding guy picked a ticket out of a hat as a way to get your phone number.
Even brand new, the picture on that thing was so dim that we had to pull the shades to see it during the day and turn out the lights at night.
Since the Tribe was on TV, I was allowed to stay up to watch the game. After Dad mowed the yard, we settled in with popcorn and kool-aid to watch. But Mom, a big baseball fan herself, had ironing to do, and insisted that the light be kept on. So we grumbled and squinted.
But Mom would turn the light off when Rocky came to bat. Home run number one.
On went the light, until Rocky came up again. Home run number two.
On went the light, until Rocky came up the third time. Home run number three.
Mom decided that the rest of the ironing could wait. The light stayed off.
Rocky drew a walk the fourth time up, and we were indignant. But in his last at bat he went boom for the fourth time.
Rocky's legend in Cleveland was cemented.
