Colorado Rockies

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1993
• Home ballpark: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
• Owner: Charles and Dick Monfort
• Team colors: Purple, black, and silver

Overview

The Colorado Rockies are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team playing in the National League (NL) West division. Colorado was awarded a franchise in the early 1990s as part of baseball’s last wave of expansion. The team is based in Denver, Colorado, which has earned the nickname “Mile High City” because of its elevation above sea level. The city’s high altitude and thinner air make playing baseball in Denver a paradise for hitters and a nightmare for pitchers. As a result, the Rockies have had a history of producing robust offensive statistics and below-average pitching performances. However, the Rockies have attempted to fix this disparity by storing baseballs in a humidity-controlled environment to reduce the effects of altitude. Since joining the league, Colorado has never won a division title but has made the playoffs several times as a wild card team. As of 2023, the Rockies are one of five MLB teams to have never won a World Series championship, although it did advance to the 2007 World Series.

History

The first record of baseball being played in Colorado comes from the 1860s, and within twenty years, several minor league and semi-pro teams had formed in the territory. In 1901, a minor league team known as the Bears began playing in Denver. In 1955, the Bears moved up to the Triple-A level—the top rung of the minor league ladder—and were briefly affiliated with the powerhouse New York Yankees. The team changed its name to the Denver Zephyrs in 1984 and remained in the city until 1992.

For many years, the Denver metropolitan area was one of the largest cities on the Triple-A circuit. On several occasions, local officials and business leaders had tried to get a MLB team for the city but were unsuccessful. These included failed attempts to lure the Chicago White Sox, the Baltimore Orioles, and Oakland A’s to Denver in the late 1970s. In the mid-1980s, MLB began the process of a planned expansion that was to take place in the 1990s. Denver officials knew that to be awarded a franchise, they would have to build a new stadium. They secured funding for the stadium in 1990, and in 1991, the city was chosen to receive one of two expansion teams.

The team, which was named the Rockies in reference to the region’s Rocky Mountains, began play in the 1993 season. Because the Rockies’ new ballpark—Coors Field—would not be finished until 1995, the team played its first two seasons in Mile High Stadium, then the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos. On April 9, 1993, the Rockies played their home opener before eighty thousand fans, a MLB record for the largest opening day attendance in history. Although Colorado finished its inaugural season well below .500—a typical occurrence for an expansion team—the Rockies had a better record than three other NL teams.

As had been apparent from the city’s days hosting a minor league team, playing baseball in Denver could be an adventure. Baseballs travel about 10 percent farther in Colorado’s high attitude and thinner air. This not only leads to more home runs, but also forces outfielders to play deeper, allowing more space for hits to fall in front of them. At the same time, the conditions make it difficult for pitchers, as the thin air hampers the aerodynamics needed for sharp breaking pitches. These realities prompted the Rockies to focus on building an offensive-minded team.

In 1995, Colorado christened the newly opened Coors Field with a 77–67 record and a berth in the NL playoffs as a wild card. The Rockies won their first postseason game on October 6 but lost the series to the Atlanta Braves. The team posted winning records in both 1996 and 1997, but soon fell to the bottom of the NL West standings and well out of playoff contention. In 2007, the Rockies finished with ninety wins and tied the San Diego Padres for the NL wild card spot, forcing a one-game playoff in Denver. In typical Coors Field fashion, the teams went into extra innings, tied at six. San Diego scored two runs in the top of the thirteenth inning, but Colorado rallied for three runs in the bottom of the inning for a 9–8 victory and a playoff berth. The Rockies then swept both the Philadelphia Phillies and the Arizona Diamondbacks in the next two rounds of the playoffs to advance to the World Series. However, they were in turn swept by the Boston Red Sox.

The Rockies won another wild card berth in 2009 with a franchise-best 92–70 record but lost in the National League Division Series (NLDS) to the Phillies. Colorado missed the playoffs from 2010 to 2016 before bouncing back with another postseason appearance in 2017. By this time, MLB had instituted a one-game playoff between two wild card teams for the right to advance to the NLDS. The Rockies lost that game in 2017, but won it in 2018 before losing to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.

Since moving into their new ballpark in 1995, the offensive boost the team enjoyed at home was often referred to as the “Coors effect.” This may have led to some fan-friendly high-scoring games but often made potential free agent pitchers wary of signing with Colorado for fear that their performance would suffer. That concern was not unfounded. In 1999, pitcher Mike Hampton won twenty-two games with a 2.90 earned run average (ERA) as a member of the Houston Astros. In 2000, he won fifteen games with a 3.15 ERA as a New York Met. In 2001, he signed with the Rockies and saw his ERA jump to 5.41. A year later, he went 7–15 with a 6.15 ERA. Soon after, team officials began experimenting with a way to lessen the impact that the attitude has on the game. They began storing baseballs in a humidor, a device that controls humidity and is typically used to keep cigars and tobacco moist. The experiment worked, as the number of home runs hit at Coors Field dropped from a record 303 in 1999 to 185 in 2007. In 2010, pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez posted a 19–8 record with a 2.88 ERA, finishing third in the NL Cy Young Award voting.

Although the humidor offered some relief for beleaguered pitchers, Colorado still had trouble developing and signing quality arms to help the team find success on the field. Apart from playoff appearances in 2017 and 2018, the Rockies remained among baseball’s worst teams from 2011 to 2023.

Notable players

As of 2020, outfielder Larry Walker is the only former Colorado Rockies player to have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Walker was a four-time All-Star with Colorado from 1995 to 2004, winning three batting titles and the 1997 NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Walker is second on the franchise list in home runs with 258, hits with 1,361, runs scored with 892, and runs batted in (RBIs) with 848. The all-time franchise leader in most offensive categories is first baseman Todd Helton, who played his entire career with the Rockies from 1997 to 2013, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024. He was the first Rockie to be so honored. A five-time All-Star, Helton led the NL in batting average and RBIs in 2000. He finished his career with 369 home runs, 2,519 hits, 1,401 runs scored, and 1,406 RBIs.

Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki played in Colorado from 2006 to 2015, making five All-Star appearances during that time. His teammate, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, was a Rockie from 2009 to 2018. Gonzalez is third in franchise history with 1,330 hits and tied for fourth in home runs with 227. First baseman Andres Galarraga played with the Rockies from 1993 to 1997 and set a single-season franchise record with 150 RBIs in 1996. He also won the 1996 NL home run title and the 1996 and 1997 RBI titles.

The Rockies have had more than their share of offensive stars through the years, but the best player in team history was likely third baseman Nolan Arenado, who debuted with the team in 2013 and played in Colorado until he was traded in 2021. During his time with the Rockies, Arenado made five All-Star teams and was fourth in team history with 235 home runs and 760 RBIs. In addition to his hitting, Arenado was also a stellar defender. He won the Gold Glove award in each of his eight seasons in Colorado and is considered one of the best defensive third basemen in history.

Although pitching has never been a strong suit for the Rockies, the 1999 season turned in by Ubaldo Jimenez remains the team’s best pitching performance in its history. A close second is Kyle Freeland’s 2018 effort, in which the left-hander went 17–7 with a 2.85 ERA, finishing fourth in the Cy Young voting. Jimenez played just three full seasons with Colorado before being traded in 2011. He holds the franchise mark for career ERA at 3.66 and is second in strikeouts with 773. Jorge De La Rosa, who was with the Rockies from 2008 to 2016, holds the team record for wins with 86 and strikeouts with 985.

Bibliography

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