Colorado Rockies

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Colorado Rockies
2024 Colorado Rockies season
Established in 1993
175x100px Colorado Rockies logo.svg
Team logo Cap insignia
Major league affiliations
Current uniform
Retired numbers
Colors
  • Purple, black, silver, white[1][2][3]
                       
Name
  • Colorado Rockies (1993–present)
Other nicknames
  • The Rox
  • The Blake Street Bombers
Ballpark
Major league titles
World Series titles (0) None
NL Pennants (1) 2007
NL West Division titles (0) None
Wild card berths (5)
Front office
Owner(s) Richard & Charles Monfort[4]
Manager Bud Black
General Manager Bill Schmidt

The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Field, which is located in the Lower Downtown area of Denver. The club is owned by the Monfort brothers and managed by Bud Black.

The Rockies began as an expansion team for the 1993 season and played their home games for their first two seasons at Mile High Stadium. Since 1995, they have played at Coors Field, which has earned a reputation as a hitter's park. The Rockies have qualified for the postseason five times, each time as a Wild Card winner. In 2007, the team earned its only NL pennant after winning 14 of their final 15 games in the regular season to secure a Wild Card position, capping the streak off with a 13-inning 9–8 victory against the San Diego Padres in the tiebreaker game affectionately known as "Game 163" by Rockies fans. The Rockies then proceeded to sweep the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS and NLCS and entered the 2007 World Series as winners of 21 of their last 22 games. However, they were swept by the American League (AL) champions Boston Red Sox in four games.

From 1993 to 2022, the Rockies have an overall record of 2,201–2,495 (Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",". winning percentage).[5] After the Denver Nuggets won the 2023 NBA Finals, the Rockies became the only one of Denver’s franchises in the five major North American professional sports leagues (MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, & NHL) to yet win a championship.

History

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Denver had long been a hotbed of Denver Bears / Zephyrs minor league baseball as far back as the late 19th century with the original Denver Bears (or Grizzlies) competing in the Western League before being replaced in 1955 by a AAA team of the same name. Residents and businesses in the area desired a Major League team.[7][8] Denver's Mile High Stadium was built originally as Denver Bears Stadium,[9] a minor league baseball stadium that could be upgraded to major league standards.[8] Several previous attempts to bring Major League Baseball to Colorado had failed. In 1958, New York lawyer William Shea proposed the new Continental League as a rival to the two existing major leagues. In 1960, the Continental League announced that play would begin in April 1961 with eight teams, including one in Denver headed by Bob Howsam. The new league quickly evaporated, without ever playing a game, when the National League reached expansion agreements to put teams in New York City and Houston, removing much of the impetus behind the Continental League effort. Following the Pittsburgh drug trials in 1985, an unsuccessful attempt was made to purchase the Pittsburgh Pirates and relocate them. However, in January 1990, Colorado's chances for a new team improved when Coors Brewing Company became a limited partner with the AAA Denver Zephyrs.[10]

In 1991, as part of Major League Baseball's two-team expansion (along with the Florida (now Miami) Marlins), an ownership group representing Denver led by John Antonucci and Michael I. Monus was granted a franchise.[11] They took the name "Rockies" due to Denver's proximity to the Rocky Mountains, which is reflected in their logo; the name was previously used by the city's first NHL team (now the New Jersey Devils). Monus and Antonucci were forced to drop out in 1992 after Monus's reputation was ruined by an accounting scandal.[citation needed] Trucking magnate Jerry McMorris stepped in at the 11th hour to save the franchise, allowing the team to begin play in 1993. The Rockies shared Mile High Stadium with the National Football League (NFL)'s Denver Broncos for their first two seasons while Coors Field was constructed. It was completed for the 1995 Major League Baseball season.

The Rockies in June 2007. Later the same year, Colorado won its first NL pennant

In 1993, they began in the West division of the National League. That year the Rockies set the all-time Major League record for attendance, drawing an incredible 4,483,350 fans (a record that stands to this day). The Rockies were MLB's first team based in the Mountain Time Zone. They have reached the Major League Baseball postseason five times, each time as the National League wild card team. Twice (1995 and 2009), they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. In 2007, the Rockies advanced to the World Series, only to be swept by the Boston Red Sox. The team's stretch run was among the greatest ever for a Major League Baseball team. Having a record of 76-72 at the start of play on September 16, the Rockies proceeded to win 14 of their final 15 regular season games.[12] The stretch culminated with a 9-8, 13-inning victory over the San Diego Padres in a one-game playoff for the wild card berth. Colorado then swept their first seven playoff games to win the NL pennant (thus, at the start of the World Series, the Rockies had won a total of 21 out of 22 games). Fans and media nicknamed their improbable October run "Rocktober".[13]

Colorado made postseason berths in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, the Rockies became the first team since the 1922 Philadelphia Phillies to play in four cities against four teams in five days, including the 162nd game of the regular season, NL West tie-breaker, NL Wild Card Game and NLDS Game 1,[14] eventually losing to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.

Like their expansion brethren, the Miami Marlins, they have never won a division title since their establishment and they, along with the Pittsburgh Pirates are also one of three MLB teams that have never won their current division. The Rockies have played their home games at Coors Field since 1995. Their newest spring training home, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona, opened in March 2011 and is shared with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Controversies

On June 1, 2006, USA Today reported that Rockies management, including manager Clint Hurdle, had instituted an explicitly Christian code of conduct for the team's players, banning men's magazines (such as Maxim and Playboy) and sexually explicit music from the team's clubhouse.[15] The article sparked controversy, and soon-after The Denver Post published an article featuring many Rockies players contesting the claims made in the USA Today article.[16] Former Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings said: "[The article in USA Today] was just bad. I am not happy at all. Some of the best teammates I have ever had are the furthest thing from Christian", Jennings said. "You don't have to be a Christian to have good character. They can be separate. [The article] was misleading."

On October 17, 2007, a week before the first game of the 2007 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, the Colorado Rockies announced that tickets were to be available to the general public via online sales only, despite prior arrangements to sell the tickets at local retail outlets. Five days later on October 22, California-based ticket vendor Paciolan, Inc., the sole contractor authorized by the Colorado Rockies to distribute tickets, was forced to suspend sales after less than an hour due to an overwhelming number of attempts to purchase tickets. An official release from the baseball organization claimed that they were the victims of a denial of service attack. These claims, however, were unsubstantiated and neither the Rockies nor Paciolan have sought investigation into the matter. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation started its own investigation into the claims.[17][18] Ticket sales resumed the next day, with all three home games selling out within two and a half hours.

In March 2021, Ken Rosenthal and Nick Groke reported in The Athletic that, during the 2020 season, the Rockies had made baseball operations personnel work as clubhouse attendants in addition to their front office duties, resulting in work days lasting up to 17 hours.[19] Former staffers described doing laundry for players while team personnel asked them for scouting and statistical information. The article further described a general atmosphere of dysfunction and unaccountability in Colorado's front office.[19] General manager Jeff Bridich resigned the following month.[20]

Season record

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Uniforms

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One of the Rockies' team colors is purple which was inspired by the line "For purple mountain majesties" in "America the Beautiful". The shades of the color used by the ball club lacked uniformity until PMS 2685 was established as the official purple beginning with the 2017 season.[21]

The Rockies' home uniform is white with purple pinstripes, and the Rockies are the first team in Major League history to wear purple pinstripes.[22] The front of the uniform is emblazoned with the team name in silver trimmed in black, and letters and numerals are in black trimmed in silver. During the Rockies' inaugural season, they went without names on the back of their home uniforms, but added them for the following season. In 2000, numerals were added to the chest.

The Rockies' road uniform is grey with purple piping. The front of the uniform originally featured the team name in silver trimmed in purple, but was changed the next season to purple with white trim. Letters and numerals are in purple with white trim. In the 2000 season, piping was replaced with pinstripes, "Colorado" was emblazoned in front, chest numerals were placed, and black trim was added to the letters. Prior to the 2012 season, the Rockies brought back the purple piping on their road uniforms, but kept the other elements of their 2000 uniform change.

The Rockies originally wore an alternate black uniform during their maiden 1993 season, but for only a few games. The uniform featured the team name in silver with purple trim, and letters and numerals in purple with white trim. In the 2005 season, the Rockies started wearing black sleeveless alternate uniforms, featuring "Colorado", letters and numerals in silver with purple and white trim. The uniforms also included black undershirts, and for a few games in 2005, purple undershirts. The Rockies retired the black sleeveless uniform in 2022, replacing it with the "City Connect" uniform (see below).

From 2002 to 2011, the Rockies wore alternate versions of their pinstriped white uniform, featuring the interlocking "CR" on the left chest and numerals on the right chest. This design featured sleeves until 2004, when they went with a vest design with black undershirts.

In addition to the black sleeveless alternate uniform, the Rockies also wear a purple alternate uniform, which they first unveiled in the 2000 season. The design featured "Colorado" in silver with black and white trim, and letters and numerals in black with white trim. At the start of the 2012 season, the Rockies introduced "Purple Mondays" in which the team wears its purple uniform every Monday game day, though the team continued to wear them on other days of the week.[23]

Prior to 2019, the Rockies always wore their white pinstriped pants regardless of what uniform top they wore during home games. However, the Rockies have since added alternate white non-pinstriped pants to pair with either their black or purple alternate uniforms at home, as neither uniform contained pinstripes.

The Rockies currently wear an all-black cap with "CR" in purple trimmed in silver and a purple-brimmed variation as an alternate. The team previously wore an all-purple cap with "CR" in black trimmed in silver, and in the 2018 season, caps with the "CR" in silver to commemorate the team's 25th anniversary.

In 2022, the Rockies were one of seven additional teams to don Nike's "City Connect" uniforms. The set is predominantly green and white with printed mountain range motifs adorning the chest. The lettering was taken from the official Colorado license plates. The right sleeve has a yellow patch featuring the shortened nickname "ROX", the "5280" sign representing the altitude of Denver, two black diamonds representing Double Diamond skiing, and the exact longitude and latitude of Coors Field. The left sleeve has the interlocking "CR" in white with green trim, and purple piping was added to represent purple seats at Coors Field. Caps are green with a white panel, featuring a "CO" patch with various Colorado-inspired symbols, including colors from the state flag and mountain ranges. In 2023, the Rockies tweaked their "City Connect" uniform, pairing it with white pants on day games and green pants on night games.[24]

Home white pinstriped uniform, as worn by David Dahl.
Road grey uniform, as worn by Ryan McMahon.
Alternate purple uniform with home white pants, as worn by Wade Davis.
Alternate purple uniform with road grey pants, as worn by José Reyes.
Alternate purple uniform with white pinstriped pants (2000–2018), as worn by David Dahl.
Alternate black vest uniform with white pinstriped pants (2005–2018), as worn by Carlos González.
Alternate black vest uniform with black/purple cap and road grey pants (2005–2021), as worn by Carlos González.
Alternate white pinstriped vest uniform (2004–2011), as worn by Jason Giambi.
Road grey pinstriped uniform (2000–2011), as worn by Alex White.

Baseball Hall of Famers

Hall of Fame OF Larry Walker (1995–2004)

In 2020, Larry Walker was the first Colorado Rockies player to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame.[25]

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Colorado Rockies Hall of Famers
Affiliation according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Colorado Rockies

Larry Walker *

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  • Players and managers listed in bold are depicted on their Hall of Fame plaques wearing a Rockies cap insignia.
  • * Colorado Rockies listed as primary team according to the Hall of Fame

Colorado Sports Hall of Fame

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Colorado Rockies in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame
No. Name Position(s) Seasons Notes
Jerry McMorris Owner 1992–2005
Bob Gebhard GM 1992–1999
KSM Keli McGregor President 2001–2010 Attended Colorado State University
9, 14 Vinny Castilla 3B 1993–1999
2004, 2006
10 Dante Bichette OF 1993–1999
14 Andrés Galarraga 1B 1993–1997
17 Todd Helton 1B 1997–2013
25 Don Baylor Manager 1993–1998
33 Larry Walker RF 1995–2004

Retired numbers

1B Todd Helton (1997–2013)

Todd Helton is the first Colorado player to have his number (17) retired, which was done on Sunday, August 17, 2014.[26]

Jackie Robinson's No. 42, was retired throughout all of baseball in 1997.

Larry Walker, the first member of the Baseball Hall of Fame wearing a Colorado Rockies hat, became the second Colorado player to have his number retired, which occurred in 2021.

Keli McGregor had worked with the Rockies since their inception in 1993, rising from senior director of operations to team president in 2002, until his death on April 20, 2010. He is honored at Coors Field alongside Helton, Walker, and Robinson with his initials.[27]

File:Rockies Retired 17.svg
Todd
Helton

1B
Retired August 17, 2014
File:Rockies Retired 33.png
Larry
Walker

RF
Retired September 25, 2021
File:RockiesRetired42.PNG
Jackie
Robinson

All MLB
Honored April 15, 1997
File:Rockies-Retired-KSM.png
Keli
McGregor

President
Honored September 28, 2010

Out of Circulation, but not retired

The Rockies have not re-issued Carlos Gonzalez's No. 5 since leaving the team after 2018.

Individual awards

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NL MVP

NLCS MVP

NL Rookie of the Year

NL Comeback Player of the Year

Silver Slugger Award

File:Troy Tulowitzki on July 19, 2009.jpg
SS Troy Tulowitzki (2006–2015) was 5× All-Star in his tenure in Denver

Hank Aaron Award

Gold Glove Award

First base:

Second base:

Shortstop:

Third base:

Outfield:

Manager of the Year Award

NL Batting Champion

[28]

DHL Hometown Heroes (2006)

  • Larry Walker – voted by MLB fans as the most outstanding player in the history of the franchise, based on on-field performance, leadership quality and character value

Team award

Team records (single-game, single-season, career)

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Championships

National League Champions
Preceded by:
St. Louis Cardinals
2007 Succeeded by:
Philadelphia Phillies
National League Wild Card Winners
Preceded by:
None (First)
1995 Succeeded by:
Los Angeles Dodgers
Preceded by:
Los Angeles Dodgers
2007 Succeeded by:
Milwaukee Brewers
Preceded by:
Milwaukee Brewers
2009 Succeeded by:
Atlanta Braves
Preceded by:
Arizona Diamondbacks
2018 Succeeded by:
Washington Nationals
National League Wild Card Runner-Up
2017

Rivalries

The Rockies developed an on-and-off rivalry with the Arizona Diamondbacks, often attributed to both teams being the newest in the division.[29] Colorado had joined the NL West in 1993, while the Diamondbacks are the newest team in the league; founding in 1998.[30][31] The two teams have met twice in the postseason; notably during the 2007 National League Championship Series which saw the Rockies enter the postseason as a wild card, and went on to upset the division champion Diamondbacks in a sweep en route to the franchise's lone World Series appearance.[32][33] The two teams met again in the 2017 National League Wild Card Game, which was won by Arizona.

The Rockies also have clashed in divisional matchups with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants particularly as both teams often thwarted the Rockies' postseason ambitions by winning the division. The Rockies have never won the NL West while the Dodgers and Giants have combined for 21 division titles since the Rockies began play in 1993.[34][35][36]

Roster

Colorado Rockies roster
Active roster Inactive roster Coaches/Other

Pitchers
Starting rotation

Bullpen

Closer

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders


Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders


Manager

Coaches

60-day disabled list

Restricted list

25 active, 15 inactive

10px 7- or 15-day disabled list
Suspended list
# Personal leave
Roster and coaches updated May 25, 2016
TransactionsDepth chart
All MLB rosters

Home attendance

The Rockies led MLB attendance records for the first seven years of their existence. The inaugural season is currently the MLB all-time record for home attendance.

Home Attendance at Mile High Stadium
Year Total Attendance Game Average League Rank
1993 4,483,350 55,350 1st
1994 3,281,511 57,570+ 1st
Home Attendance at Coors Field
Year Total Attendance Game Average League Rank
1995 3,390,037 47,084++ 1st
1996 3,891,014 48,037 1st
1997 3,888,453 48,006 1st
1998 3,792,683 46,823 1st
1999 3,481,065 42,976 1st
2000 3,295,129 40,681 3rd
2001 3,166,821 39,097 2nd
2002 2,737,838 33,800 6th
2003 2,334,085 28,816 9th
2004 2,338,069 28,865 9th
2005 1,914,389 23,634 14th
2006 2,104,362 28,979 11th
2007 2,650,218 32,719 9th
2008 2,665,080 32,902 8th
2009 2,875,245 35,497 6th
2010 2,909,777 35,923 7th
2011 2,630,458 32,475 7th
2012 2,793,828 34,492 5th
2013 2,680,329 33,090 5th
2014 2,506,789 30,948 8th
2015 2,602,524 32,130 6th
2016 2,953,650 36,465 5th
2017 2,048,138 25,286 11th
2018 3,015,880 37,233 5th
2019 2,993,244 36,954 4th
2020 No attendance information available[37]
2021 1,978,645 24,854 7th

+ = 57 home games in strike shortened season. ++ = 72 home games in strike shortened season. [38][39]

Minor league affiliations

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The Colorado Rockies farm system consists of seven minor league affiliates.[40]

Level Team League Location
Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes Pacific Coast League Albuquerque, New Mexico
Double-A Hartford Yard Goats Eastern League Hartford, Connecticut
High-A Spokane Indians Northwest League Spokane Valley, Washington
Single-A Fresno Grizzlies California League Fresno, California
Rookie ACL Rockies Arizona Complex League Scottsdale, Arizona
DSL Colorado Dominican Summer League Boca Chica, Santo Domingo
DSL Rockies

Radio and television

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As of 2010, Rockies' flagship radio station is KOA 850AM, with some late-season games broadcast on KHOW 630 AM due to conflicts with Denver Broncos games. The Rockies Radio Network is composed of 38 affiliate stations in eight states.

As of 2019, Jack Corrigan and Jerry Schemmel are the radio announcers, serving as a backup TV announcer whenever Drew Goodman is not available.

In January 2020, long-time KOA radio announcer Jerry Schemmel was let go from his role for budgetary reasons from KOA's parent company. He returned in 2022, replacing Mike Rice, who reportedly refused the COVID-19 vaccine.[41]

As of 2013, Spanish language radio broadcasts of the Rockies are heard on KNRV 1150 AM.

From 1997 to 2023, most regular season games were produced and televised by AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain. All 150 games produced by AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain were broadcast in HD. Jeff Huson and Drew Goodman are the usual TV broadcast team, with Ryan Spilborghs and Kelsey Wingert handling on-field coverage and clubhouse interviews. Jenny Cavnar, Jason Hirsh, and Cory Sullivan handle the pre-game and post-game shows. Corrigan, Spilborghs, Cavnar, and Sullivan also fill in as play-by-play or color commentator during absences of Huson or Goodman. AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain is expected to shut down by the end of 2023, with their final Rockies broadcast being a home game against the Minnesota Twins on October 1. The Rockies are considering a deal with Altitude Sports and Entertainment or assigning their local television rights to MLB.[42][43]

References

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  12. 2007 Colorado Rockies Schedule and Results. Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
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  38. [1] Archived January 2, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Attendance Report
  39. [2] Archived January 2, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Attendance Report
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External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by National League champions
2007
Succeeded by
Philadelphia Phillies
2008

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Template:Colorado Rockies retired numbers

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