Coors Field

I have made two trips to Coors Field. It is a very nice park located in what I have been told is a gentrified area of downtown. The park is one of the Back to the Future designs. The unique stadium aspect is the mini-arboretum in center field. It has an impressive red brick façade at the main entrance. They also have a general admission section in center called the ‘rock pile’. Overall it’s a nicely designed park.


My first trip to the stadium was in 1996 while I was driving my cousin from Chicago to LA. This was the Rockies second season in the park and tickets were tough to get. Ironically my cousin and I stayed in a hotel adjacent to Mile High Stadium. We bought tickets the morning of the game and sat in the front row of the upper deck behind home plate. It was a pretty good seat to see the game. The Rockies had Vinny Castilla, Andres Galarraga, Larry Walker, and no pitching. This game was against the Pirates who would finish last in their division that year. The Bucs had Jason Kendall, Al Martin, Jay Bell, and an equal amount of pitching talent as the Rockies. The Pirates also had Tony Womack – but this was a year before he became a regular starter. The Rockies won that day on a strong performance by starter Kevin Ritz. There were two home runs [one for each team] and Eric Young had a stolen base.



My second game was opening day 2001 right after the BRBL draft. I attended with John, CJ and Grace. The Rockies would finish last that season while the Cardinals would finish tied for the division lead with Houston. The Rockies had Larry Walker, Todd Helton, and Juan Pierre. The Rockies had just signed Mike Hampton. The Cards had Mark McGwire, Edgar Renteria, Jim Edmonds, and Bobby Bonilla. Rick Ankiel was still a pitcher following his meltdown in the 2000 playoffs. They also had the Rookie Albert Pujols appearing in his first game. Thus began the ‘Pujols Incident’. During the BRBL draft we just completed 2 days earlier, one of the owners [Marc] wanted to draft Pujols near the end of the draft and would have had him for $1. No one at the draft had internet access except the one owner who was participating by phone [Mendoza]. He announced that Pujols had been sent down to the minors making him ineligible for the regular draft. As we sat in Coors watching the game [upper level first base side] CJ says, “Isn’t that the guy Gue tried to draft? I guess he wasn’t sent down to the minors.” The Cards lost that day 8-0 on a great Hampton outing. Cardinal ace Darryl Kile gave up 6 ER and 14 H&W in 5 IP. Todd Walker and Larry Walker each had a home run. Pujols was 1-3.

Coincidentally the BRBL draft that year also produced the ‘Kaz Matsui incident’.