How Bad are the COLORADO ROCKIES ?
Not Bad. (answer in October 2007)
|
Season |
Win % |
Games Behind |
Finish |
Attendance:
Total millions
per game thousands |
COLORADO ROCKIES |
|
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007 |
41%
38%
54%
51%
51%
48%
44%
51%
45%
45%
46%
42%
41%
47%
55% |
37
7
1
8
7
21
28
15
19
25
27
25
15
12
1 |
6
3
2
3
3
4
5
4
5
4
4
4
5
4
2 |
4.5
3.3
3.4
3.9
3.9
3.8
3.5
3.2
3.2
2.7
2.3
2.3
1.9
2.1
2.4 |
55
58
47
48
48
47
43
41
39
34
29
29
24
26
29 |
1993-2007: 15 seasons
winning seasons: 4
playoffs: 1. 1995: lost 3-1 games to the Braves
2. 2007: won NL tiebreaker (Padres), playoff (Phillies),
THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT (Diamondbacks)
The Rockies lose the World Series 4-0
Attendance seems to have a direct relationship to the number of games won.
The Rockies of the mid-90s looked great. Where did they go from there? |
When I was growing up, I followed the Denver Bears avidly. They were
the AAA Baseball team. I remember listening to their games on my
transistor radio as I collected payments for my paper route. My dad
was a pharmacist, so he got free tickets from the Liquor Salesmen and
I got to go quite often. They were succeeded by the Colorado Zephyrs
(the ZZZs). When we finally got a Big League Ball club I really
looked forward to it. I went to several games in the first seasons,
first at Mile Hi Stadium (originally Bears Stadium), then at the
really cool ballpark Coors Field. We nearly named our dog after
Andres Gallaraga.
You can't afford tickets to the other Denver Sports Teams, the
Rockies need to be geared more to the common folk.
The only records the Rockies have are concerning sold-out games, they
did really great at first. Then they got their new stadium and even
(barely) made it into the playoffs in 1995. In 1996 and 1997 they had
winning seasons, but only 1 winning season (2000) since then, and now
2007. Rockies Fever has hit, as the Rockies finished tied for the
wildcard playoff slot. They really do draw good crowds when they have
something to watch. When the Yankees were in town earlier this
season, the city went crazy. You couldn't even get on a train to get
to the stadium on time.
Okay, 2007 they got some pretty good records: They were a
major-league best 20-8 in September, after trailing 6 games on
September 1st. They won their last 13 of 14 games, including 11 in a
row, the most of any team in the 2007 season and an all-time
franchise record. Their 90-73 regular season mark set a franchise
record. They also finished ahead of the Dodgers in the division for
the first time in franchise history. Furthermore, Colorado set the
single-season MLB record for fielding percentage by one team
(.98925). As they enter the World Series, they have won 21 of their
last 22 games. They call it Rocktober.
The only problem I ever saw keeping the Rockies from being a big
league franchise was the ownership. The original owners Monus and
Antonucci were caught up in the Par-Mor embezzlement scandal. It went
to Jerry McMorris, who was a prince of a fellow who got the money to
invest in the Rockies by declaring bankruptcy at his trucking company
and leaving all his drivers unpaid for long periods of service.
Currently the controlling partners are the Monfort Brothers, who have
had labor problems in their meat companies for many years (now
ConAgra), and tended to underpay all their (mostly legal) workers.
These are the guys who reportedly require their version of Christian
Ethics on the players, including no Playboy Magazines in the locker
room. Okay, now in 2007 they admit: they quit trying to buy the
already big name players and have groomed young players from the
draft. It seems to have worked, they went to the World Series in
October 2007. They lost 4 games to 0 to the Boston Red Sox. The
owners of the Rockies were booed by the fans, even at the height of
Rockies fever after winning the Penant.
See more about the Rockies at the.wikipedia
article on the Colorado Rockies.