Time flies.
Sunday marked the 20-year anniversary of Dante Bichette drilling a no-doubt home run to left-center field, christening Coors Field in the 14th inning and setting the stage for so many more wild and crazy games at Coors Field for years to come.
It doesn’t seem that long ago.
Later that same year, the Rockies, just three years old, would clinch their first-ever playoff berth when Curtis Leskanic recorded a 9th inning strikeout on the final day of the season. A bunch of rag-tag expansion draft players, coupled with a few key free agent signings, had set the tone for Coors Field for years to come.
The first year of Coors Field, added in with the previous two exciting seasons at Mile High Stadium, gave the Rocky Mountain region a baptism into the world of Major League Baseball. It was a game that Denver had longed for. It was a game that many believed the city couldn’t support. Those critics are nowhere to be found.
In recent years, many Rockies fans hoping for change have criticized fans for showing up every night. Despite seasons that have left fans of the purple pinstripes longing for so much more, the Coors Field faithful continue to show up. Despite losing 90+ games in each of the last three seasons, it isn’t uncommon for 45,000 people to show up to watch the team play on a Friday night in mid-summer.
Coors Field represents something special, especially for Colorado natives. If Yankee Stadium was The House That Ruth Built, Coors Field is the house that the passionate fans of Denver built. It is the place that revitalized lower downtown Denver, a place that was a wasteland prior to the construction of Coors Field. It is the best place within a thousand miles to watch the sunset on a summer night over the Rocky Mountains, when the crisp air of a Colorado summer cools off a hot day.
Take a look around the league. Visit some of the newer parks that were built after Coors Field. There are only two in the National League that are still older than Coors Field. None of them are nicer than what Coloradans have in their back yard. Coors Field is the best maintained park in the entire league. It doesn’t look as nice as it did on the day it was opened, it actually looks nicer. The additions to the stadium have added to the character. From the fountains and rocks in center field, to the trees in the bullpens to the rooftop, Coors Field is more gorgeous than ever.
While many people have moved to the great state of Colorado, those who were here when Coors Field opened can truly appreciate it. Fans grew up in that park. Kids of that generation grew up going to games with their parents, then on their own as young adults, and are now taking their own children. They went from despising the purple dinosaur Dinger, to standing in line waiting for their kid to get his chance to greet the purple beast.
Young fans fell in love with baseball in that park. They learned the game there. They devoted their summers to watching a team win and lose in that park. They watched six run leads evaporate in one inning, and they saw bullpens gasp for breath. Coors Field saw the football fans of Denver learn a new game, an exciting one that had a strategy of it’s own.
Kids who watched Dante Bichette hit to the opposite gap and Larry Walker gracefully run the bases now root for Corey Dickerson to smash the ball to the bullpen and Nolan Arenado to make another great play at third base. They learned the game by watching the Big Cat gracefully pick balls out of the dirt at first base, then put one into the pavilion the next inning. They saw Todd Helton bridge the gap between the first generation of Rockies and the current one. Who could forget the voice of Alan Roach calling out “now batting for the Rockies, number 33, Larry Walk…er?”
Those same kids, just a little bit older, raised their arms in unison with Todd Helton when the team clinched their first World Series berth and they jumped up and down when Ubaldo Jimenez threw the club’s first no-hitter.
Denver has grown up around Coors Field. The park has helped the economy gain strength and has made Denver an attractive city for people from around the country. It revitalized a destitute neighborhood and made it the go-to place for a night on the town, even when baseball isn’t being played.
In 20 years Coors Field has endeared itself to the city. It has become the crown jewel of Denver. When someone wants to do something on a summer evening, it doesn’t matter if a person is a fan of baseball or not, Coors Field is never a bad decision. Coors Field is the crown jewel of Denver and a place that the people of Colorado can be proud of.
