Rocky Colavito

Rocco Domenico "Rocky" Colavito, Jr. (born August 10, 1933) is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball best known for his years with the Cleveland Indians. He wore a #6, #7 or #21 jersey during his MLB career. Colavito was the fifth player in American League history to have eleven consecutive 20-home run seasons (1956–66), exceeding 40 home runs three times and 100 runs batted in six times during that span; he also led the AL in home runs, RBI and slugging average once each. Hitting all but three of his 374 career home runs in the AL, he ranked behind only Jimmie Foxx (524) and Harmon Killebrew (then at 397) among the league's right-handed hitters when he retired. In 1965, playing every game, he became the first outfielder in AL history to complete a season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, and his 1272 AL games in right field ranked eighth in league history at the end of his career. He currently lives in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

Childhood in The Bronx

Colavito grew up in The Bronx as a devoted fan of the New York Yankees, particularly Joe DiMaggio. By age nine he was playing semipro baseball, and he dropped out of school at age 16 to pursue a baseball career. Major League rules called for a player to wait until his school class graduated before signing, and only a special appeal allowed him to go pro after a one-year wait. The Yankees expressed little interest in him, and the Philadelphia Athletics had to bow out due to financial problems; the Cleveland Indians finally signed him in 1950, with two-thirds of his signing bonus deferred until he progressed in their system. He spent most of the next six years working his way up. With the Indianapolis Indians in 1954, Colavito would hit 38 home runs and accumulate 116 RBIs.

Home run

In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR, also "homer", "dinger", "bomb", "blast", "Big Dog" or "four-bagger") is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that it leaves the field of play and the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process. In modern baseball, the feat is typically achieved by hitting the ball over the outfield fence between the foul poles (or making contact with either foul pole) without first touching the ground, resulting in an automatic home run. There is also the "inside-the-park" home run, increasingly rare in modern baseball, where the batter reaches home safely while the baseball is in play on the field. When a home run is scored, the batter is also credited with a hit and a run scored, and an RBI for each runner that scores, including himself. Likewise, the pitcher is recorded as having given up a hit, and a run for each runner that scores including the batter.

Home Run Derby (Major League Baseball)

The Home Run Derby is an annual home run hitting contest in Major League Baseball (MLB) customarily held the day before the MLB All-Star Game. Since the inaugural derby in 1985, the event has seen several rule changes, evolving from a short outs-based competition, to multiple rounds, and eventually a bracket-style timed event. It is currently co-sponsored by Gillette and Head & Shoulders, both Procter & Gamble based products.

History

The event has grown significantly from its roots in the 1980s, when it was not televised. Prior to 1991, the Home Run Derby was structured as a two-inning event with each player receiving five outs per inning, allowing for the possibility of ties. It is now one of the most-watched events broadcast on ESPN.

In 2000, a "match play"-style format was instituted for the second round. The player with the most home runs in the first round faced the player with the least among the four qualifying players, as did the players with the second- and third-most totals. The contestant who won each matchup advanced to the finals. This format was discontinued after the 2003 competition.

Rocky

Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted working class Italian-American boxer working as a debt collector for a loan shark in the slums of Philadelphia. Rocky starts out as a small-time club fighter, and later gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship. The film also stars Talia Shire as Adrian, Burt Young as Adrian's brother Paulie, Burgess Meredith as Rocky's trainer Mickey Goldmill, and Carl Weathers as the champion, Apollo Creed.

The film, made on a budget of just over $1 million and shot in 28 days, was a sleeper hit; it earned $225 million in global box office receipts, becoming the highest grossing film of 1976, and went on to win three Oscars, including Best Picture. The film received many positive reviews and turned Stallone into a major star. In 2006, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Rocky is considered to be one of the greatest sports films ever made and was ranked as the second-best in the genre, after Raging Bull, by the American Film Institute in 2008.

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers compete in the Central division of the American League (AL) in Major League Baseball (MLB). One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in 1894 as part of the Western League. They are the oldest continuous one-name, one-city franchise in the AL. The Tigers have won four World Series championships (1935, 1945, 1968, and 1984), 11 AL pennants (1907, 1908, 1909, 1934, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1968, 1984, 2006, and 2012), and four AL Central division championships (2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014). The Tigers also won division titles in 1972, 1984 and 1987 while members of the AL East. The team currently plays its home games at Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit.

The Tigers constructed Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue in Corktown (just west of Downtown Detroit) and began playing there in 1896. In 1912, the team moved into Navin Field, which was built on the same location. It was expanded in 1938 and renamed Briggs Stadium. It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961 and the Tigers played there until moving to Comerica Park in 2000.