The Colorado Rockies are an American YouTube channel and a MLB baseball team located in the state of Colorado.
History[]
Denver had long been a hotbed of minor league baseball as far back as the late 19th century with the original Denver Bears/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.[1] Denver's Mile High Stadium was built originally as Denver Bears Stadium,[2] a minor league baseball stadium that could be upgraded to major league standards.[3] 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.[4]
In 1991, as part of Major League Baseball's two-team expansion, an ownership group representing Denver led by John Antonucci and Michael I. Monus was granted a franchise.[5] 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. Monus and Antonucci were forced to drop out in 1992 after Monus's reputation was ruined by an accounting scandal. The Rockies shared Mile High Stadium with the National Football League Denver Broncos for their first two seasons while Coors Field was constructed.
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.[6]
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, eventually losing to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.[note 1]
The Rockies 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.
Controversy[]
USA TODAY[]
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 and sexually explicit music from the team's clubhouse.[7] 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."
2007 World Series[]
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.[8][9]
Clubhouse Attendants[]
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. 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 unaccountably in Colorado's front office.[10]
Channel[]
The Colorado Rockies channel was created on August 18, 2015. Their first video was uploaded on October 2, 2015. Their first video is titled "Rockies Win the 2007 NLCS".
Notes[]
- ↑ NLDS Game 1: Colorado Rockies at Milwaukee Brewers. October 4, 2018. Fox. FS1.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52227074/op-ed-major-league-baseball-in-denver/
- ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52227724/denver-always-rebuilding-cant-seem-to/
- ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52226413/pittsburgh-pirates-could-move-to-denver/
- ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52227422/colorado-must-be-ready-when-major/
- ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52226721/its-official-colorado-rockies-in/
- ↑ https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/COL/2007-schedule-scores.shtml
- ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/rockies/2006-05-30-rockies-cover_x.htm
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110927010038/http://www.thedenverchannel.com/sports/14425776/detail.html
- ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2007/news/story?id=3080873
- ↑ https://theathletic.com/2467223/2021/03/22/communication-failures-poor-decisions-and-messy-breakups-how-it-all-went-wrong-for-the-colorado-rockies/
