Why professional baseball does not belong in the Mile High City.
Coors Field is a staple of LoDo, but could it be gone? Matt Fabian ponders.
Artwork by Ryan Woods
Imagine Coors Field.
The smells of the ballpark, the contentment of the fans with a picnic atmosphere watching (but certainly not enjoying) the Colorado Rockies, and the occasional crack of the bat. Now imagine all of that gone. Coors Field uprooted from 20th and Blake Street and the chants of “Tulo” no longer ringing throughout LoDo.
According to many baseball experts, this should not be a fantasy but very well a reality. At first, I did not agree with the idea of the Rockies being moved from Denver to a sea level location. I enjoy spending a day or evening at Coors Field and mingling among the crowd and watching the great American Pastime. Now, after looking at the facts and the overall quality of the baseball being played at 5280 feet, I agree with the nay sayers. Really, after looking further into the facts, the only down side to the Rockies leaving Denver would be depriving Denver residents of professional baseball.
We all have to face it, the Colorado Rockies is a franchise that has had very little success in the past, and does not seem to have much of a future. This past season, if I told you the Rockies’ batting statistics you would have assumed they were a playoff team or even a division winner. They were sixth in runs scored (758), second in batting average (.274), sixth in on base percentage (.330), and fourth in slugging percentage (.436). This offense was impressive to watch for the season, but the pitching was historically bad.
The Rockies were dead last in every pitching category and by a very wide margin. The team Earned Run Average was 5.22. Even if the Rockies had the 1923 Yankees offense, the team would still lose 80 games with such a non-existent pitching staff. The sad fact remains that this is not unusual to the Rockies organization.
Historically, the Rockies have never put together average or even slightly below average pitching staffs. They have assembled rotations that look like they belong in Double-A baseball. This has a lot to do with the high altitude. The thin-air of the Mile High City not only allows baseballs to fly farther, but breaking balls are unable to obtain the movement that pitchers so desperately want. At 5280 feet, curveballs do not have the same bite and sliders simply don’t slide. This means that pitches are left in the middle of the plate, and a professional hitter will take advantage of such an erroneous mistake every time. This helps the Rockies to lead in almost all offensive categories, but fail in most pitching categories. Baseball’s pioneers would be disappointed with such an issue. The men who invented the game intended each side to be at its fullest strength at all points during the game. With baseball at altitude, the contest is compromised, no matter if each side is at a disadvantage.
Another problem with having Major League Baseball in Denver is the fan base that resides with it. In Denver-in the months between April and August-there is nothing much to do around the Metro area. The only commodity that is consistent is Colorado Rockies baseball. This leads to a fan base that gives the Rockies their undying love in the summer, regardless of the team’s play. Now, this may seem great on the outside, but upon further investigation it’s a terrible burden for the play of the Rockies. Fans in Denver have shown up to Coors Field in hoards, and never complain about the team, no matter how bad the play has become.
The finest example of this came last summer while I was at a game. The Rockies were playing the St. Louis Cardinals on a beautiful summer evening. The Rockies had a 5-0 lead after three innings and seemed to be cruising to a win. Yet, (surprise surprise), the pitching staff gave up the lead and all of a sudden the team from a Mile High was down 8-7 in the final inning. When it came down to the last batter, Second Basemen JJ Ruttledge batted a ground ball to the shortstop and was thrown out. I didn’t have a problem with the loss; in fact I was expecting it. I began booing only after I saw Ruttledge jog to the base instead of sprinting down. I figured that if it was the last out and the team is down one, players should give it their all and do their best Usain Bolt impression to first base. I was angered by Ruttledge’s effort and booed it justly. The season ticket fans around me began criticizing me. They told me to never boo their team, and to let them play ball. This cemented my feeling that Rockies fans will always be happy with the team no matter how bad they are, as long as the sun is shining and the beer is flowing. Booing poor performance is part of baseball, get over it!
The Rockies owners, the Monfords, will continue to put a bad product on the field as long as ticket holders send in their money. The Monfords are by far the worst owners in sports. They are not concerned with the team play, and simply ask fans for money with tickets and concessions. Yes, most owners are businessmen who are in it for the money. The best owners in sports are the ones who put winning at the forefront. The greatest owner in all of sports who ever lived was Jerry Buss. Buss made moves that made Lakers fans scratch their heads in disbelief, but they worked out each time. Buss was willing to take risks and they worked out. The Monfords refuse to make big change. When it comes time to hire a new manager, they usually stay within the organization. It was the first time in a long time that they left organizational ties, and hired Walt Weiss. But, he was managing his son’s high school baseball team this time last year, and was the Rockie’s short stop over 15 years ago. Bold move? Not in the slightest. If the Monfords weren’t such cowards and frauds to Rockies fans everywhere, they would step up and take big risks. They refuse to trade or sign for anyone who either: a.) Has a small chance of not working out or b.) Is a proven, old veteran of the game i.e. Michael Cuddyer. The best teams are the ones who take chances and don’t miss. The St. Louis Cardinals are the prime example. They were willing to let Pujols go after a negotiatied price became too high, and they were able to regroup during the season and come to within two innings of a World Series birth. The Monfords need to take risks much like this, and try to re-evaluate the talent they have in the organization.
If fans really want to make some noise at the ownership level, they would not send their money into Monford’s mailbox. The problem remains that since there is nothing to do around the city, ticket holders will not boycott in such a manner. Since there is no way to stop the money flow, the team should relocate to a city that is rooted in baseball success and at a more proper elevation, like Oklahoma City. Oklahoma is a baseball state through and through, and would boo the Rockies team if they didn’t make changes soon, as true baseball fans would do. I like the ring of the Oklahoma City Allyers. (Like tornado ally).
