Of the dozens of people who showed up in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood to mark the groundbreaking for a statue of former Indians slugger Rocky Colavito, few beamed as much as Sheldon Green.

Like many people of a certain age, Green was fond of the New York-born Colavito, an endearment the ballplayer shared with his adopted city. In 1960, Green was in a theater when the management stopped the film to announce Colavito had been traded. That deal still lingers bitterly for many fans, whose respect and love for Colavito has never wavered.