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More photos every week.
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To learn more about Denver, the Mile High City, click on the link below.
http://www.milehighcity.com
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before:

A little history - The 1980 Denver Bears

In 1980, Tim Raines won the batting title .3543. He also set the league record stealing 77 bases and tied for the league lead in triples (11).

Another terrific player, Designated Hitter Randy Bass (.333) completed the Triple Crown for the Bears, leading the league in home runs (37) and RBI (143), as well as in runs scored (106) and slugging percentage (.644).

Shortstop Jerry Manuel's (.277) big league numbers were not gigantic but he turned out to be a very successful manager.

Tim Wallach played third base for the Bears. Tim hit .281-36-124, led the American Association in total bases (295) and was second to Bass in homers, RBI and slugging percentage (.576).

Right-hander Bill Gullickson was the Denver pitcher who went on to the most successful major league career. Bill was 6'3" and 225 pounds and compiled a major league record of 162-136, 3.93.

"Marvelous" Marv Throneberry

Marv Throneberry played in the Mile High City before he went on to become "Marvelous". Marv was one of the most feared minor league sluggers of the 1950's. Playing in Bears Stadium as a member of the Denver Bears, Throneberry led the American Association in home runs and runs batted in for three consecutive seasons: 1955-56-57.

OBITUARY

It takes great "baseball people" to bring major-league baseball to a city like Denver and Bob Howsam was one of those. Bob was instrumental in Denver acquiring a franchise and consequently a new ballpark. Bob died Tuesday, February 19, 2008.

Robert Howsam Sr.
1918-2008

Born: Denver, Colorado
Lived: Sun City, Arizona, with his wife Janet Howsam.
* Became owner of the Denver Bears in 1947.
* Spearheaded construction of Bears Stadium.
* Co-founded the Denver Broncos in 1959.
* Helped form the American Football League that same year.
* St. Louis general manager when the Cardinals won the 1964 World Series.
* Joined the Cincinnati Reds in 1967; oversaw the Big Red Machine.
* Member of the Colorado Baseball Commission, which helped bring the National League's Rockies to Denver.

1993 Opening Day Lineup

Eric Young, 2b
Alex Cole, cf
Dante Bichette, rf
Andres Galarraga, 1b
Jerald Clark, lf
Charlie Hayes, 3b

Joe Girardi, c
Freddie Benavides, ss
David Nied, p

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Does anyone wear stirrups anymore?

It was an exciting time for Don Baylor. He was named manager of the brand new National League expansion team, the Colorado Rockies.

Don Baylor played for 17 years and was in three successive World Series for three different teams. But this was different and he wanted to get everything right down to the smallest detail. He wanted these brand new Rockies to not only play good but to look good doing it. So he had passed out rules on how the uniform should look. 


One of the small details pertained to the stirrups. Players still wore stirrups back in 1993. I am not sure how many actually wear stirrups now. But the Colorado Rockies had a fine pair of stirrups to wear with a silver and purple CR on each stirrup. And one of Don's rules was that the CR had to show on the stirrups.

Don Zimmer, the Rockies new bench coach even made it a point to check Don Baylor's CR every once in a while. The Rockie's stirrups were very attractive, but the CR disappeared after that first season. Now, even the stirrups disappear on most players.

Coors Field and the Colorado Rockies
The birth of a Major League franchise and ballpark.

How did we get to where we're at, Coors Field? Denver first tried to have a team through the Continental League of the late 1950's. Major League Baseball did expand but not in Denver. Charles O. Finley, in the late 1970's, tried to sell the Oakland Athletics to Marvin Davis, who would move the club to Denver but Oakland would not let the Athletics out of their lease.


In the late 1980's, Major League Baseball began discussing expansion again and Denver was always included in the discussion. But MLB had expansion guidelines that requested cities to have available a baseball-only ballpark. Denver's Triple-A team (the Bears, then the Zephyrs) played in 76,000+ seat Mile High Stadium, home of the football Denver Broncos. MLB didn't think Mile High Stadium would be a good long-term option for baseball.





In 1990, Denver passed a referendum to increase the sales tax in a six-county area by 0.1% for 20 years. The tax was to raise $168 million of the $215 million cost of a new ballpark and Rockies ownership would pick up the rest. The Coors family stepped up and purchased the naming rights to what became known as Coors Field for $15 million. Coors Field is owned by the State of Colorado but the Rockies have control of the revenues from the club seats, advertising, concessions and luxury suites. The Rockies pay all maintenance and operating expenses.

Coors Field Fireworks  July 3, 2008


The owners of the Colorado Rockies had a memorandum of understanding for a lease at Coors Field on March 14, 1991. The owners showed the agreement to National League officials 48 hours later. The arrangement impressed the league and in July of 1991 Denver was granted a team. The Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins were the two expansion teams granted to the National League in the Basic Agreement of 1985.

Construction of the ballpark: Coors Field
Coors Field is a mix of the old and the new.

Groundbreaking for Coors Field took place on October 16, 1992. HOK Sport (Kansas City) was the architect for Coors Field. The actual construction was awarded to Mortenson and Barton Malow (Southfield, Michigan). The owner of Coors Field is the Denver Metropolitan Baseball Stadium District.

The exterior appearance of Coors Field blends in naturally with the brick buildings of the surrounding Lower Downtown (LoDo) area. So Coors Field presents the old-time ballpark atmosphere with all the new conveniences of a modern day ballpark.

Seats along the first base line and right center grandstands are afforded dramatic views of the sun setting behind the Rocky mountains during night games. In the upper deck row 20, the seats are painted purple and mark a spot that is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level.



The impact of Coors Field on the surrounding area, LoDo.
LoDo becomes the place to be.

In 1988, the Denver City Council named the Lower Downtown Historic District also known as LoDo. The goal was to stop razing historic buildings and redevelop them into mixed use lofts, offices, restaurants and bars.

Coors Field has been instrumental in bringing in thousands of sports fans to LoDO's dining and nightlife spots. Union station, only two blocks from Coors Field is being renovated.



*************NEW PHOTOS ADDED EVERY WEEK**************

Denver Loves Baseball
Starting in 1886, fans continue to enjoy Organized Ball in Denver.

A minor league team called the Mountain Lions joined minor league ball in 1886 and won the pennant with an impressive 54-26 record. Denver won another pennant in 1888.

Denver's big time minor league ball started in 1947 playing in the old Merchants Park until August 14, 1948, when Bears Stadium opened. Originally it seated 16,000 but over the years it expanded several more times to eventually reach 76,000 seats. The facility was also the home of the Denver Broncos and was renamed Mile High Stadium in 1969.



The Colorado Rockies played their first two seasons at Mile High Stadium (1993-94) breaking dozens of attendance records. But in 1990, the voters from the six-county Denver area approved a 0.1 percent sales tax to fund a baseball-only stadium. In 1995 Coors Field opened with seating capacity of 50,000. The park currently seats 50,445 fans.

The pictures in this website illustrate the construction of Coors Field and the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood affectionately called LODO.

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