Many years ago on this day, the world welcomed two impressive beings that would become vitally important members of the Colorado Rockies.

One was born. One was hatched.

Born in 1991 in Newport Beach, CA, Nolan James Arenado has been a force since making his major league debut in 2013, quickly winning a Gold Glove Award for defensive play at third base and never relinquishing hold of the honor in the six years since.

Hatched at Mile High Stadium from an enormous egg in 1994, Dinger has provided countless smiles across faces of fans in Denver and is arguably one of the best mascots across all of baseball.

During a ceremony before the game – which Colorado won, 7-3, over Montréal – an unusual dinosaur egg was escorted into the stadium by the Colorado National Guard as one of the discoveries from Coors Field’s excavation. What emerged was a lovable purple triceratops named Dinger, the Rockies’ first and only mascot.

The inspiration for the precarious purple personality came from the discovery of dinosaur fossils on the site of the new ballpark, including a 7-foot-long triceratops skull that weighed half a ton.

On This Day

Roger Bailey threw two of the first four complete game shutouts in franchise history, both of which were in 1997. On this date, he blanked the Cubs during a five-hitter, walking one. Somewhat impressively – depending on how you view it – Bailey managed to finish the game without a single strikeout.

In his next start, Bailey threw another complete game in a 13-4 win over the Florida Marlins to become the last pitcher to throw consecutive complete games in purple.

Before Bailey’s career would come to an abrupt halt following a car accident that sidelined him with back issues, he’d put together 3.7 bWAR for the season, good for the 21st highest single-season total in team history.

Double The Fun

The Rockies have played in 55 double-headers over the years, or, about two per season. In 2013, they won both games for the 14th time in their history; they’d do the same a year later for the most recent double dip.

In the first game, Colorado won 8-4 over the New York Mets; in the second, Jordan Pacheco’s single walked it off in the tenth to secure the 9-8 victory.

Michael Cuddyer combined to go 4-for-7 with three walks and two RBI, while Carlos González hit for the combined cycle across both games, going 5-for-8 with a walk and two RBI.

Fun Fact

In his only season as Rockies manager, Jim Leyland became the 45th manager to win 1,000 games following a 6-4 win against the Padres in 1999.

On This Day In Baseball History

The Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in an exhibition game, 4-1, in 1948. WGN-TV televises a baseball game for the first time in what will become a superstation that puts the Cubs into living rooms all across the country.