www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 052014 092014 Editor Matt Tustison Copy Editor Nicholas Cafarelli Interior Design and Production Carol Castro Cover Design Christa Schneider Photo Credits David Zalubowski AP Images cover David Zalubowski AP Images title 4 9 12 40 42 top 43 top and bottom 47 Jack Dempsey AP Images 7 30 34 42 bottom 43 middle Eric Gay AP Images 11 Carlos Osorio AP Images 15 Ron Frehm AP Images 16 Mark Reis AP Images 18 42 middle Photo by Rogers Photo Archive Getty Images 21 Getty Images 23 Otto Greule Jr Allsport via Getty Images 25 Joe Mahoney AP Images 26 Ed Andrieski AP Images 29 33 Lenny Ignelzi AP Images 37 Gene J Puskar File AP Images 39 Susan Sterner AP Images 44 Library of Congress Control Number 2014932906 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Howell Brian 1974 Colorado Rockies by Brian Howell p cm Inside MLB Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-62403-468-8 1 Colorado Rockies Baseball team History Juvenile literature I Title GV875 C78H69 2011 796 357’640978883 dc22 2014932906
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Rocktober 4 Chapter 2 Baseball in the Mile High City 12 Chapter 3 A Grand New Ballpark 18 Chapter 4 Powerful Hitters 26 Chapter 5 Building a Winner 34 Timeline 42 Quick Stats 44 Quotes and Anecdotes 45 Glossary 46 For More Information 47 Index 48 About the Author 48
CHAPTER 1 ROCKTOBER
M any fans of the San Diego Padres that would argue the greatest moment in Colorado Rockies his tory really should not count Those Padres fans might be right When the 2007 regular sea son came to a close the Padres and the Rockies were tied with 89 73 records One of them would be going to the National League NL playoffs as a wild card team The other would be going home for the winter To determine which team would make the postseason they played a one-game playoff on October 1 in Denver Colorado That night in the bottom of the 13th inning the Rock ies Jamey Carroll hit a fly ball to right field After San Diego’s Brian Giles caught the ball Colorado’s Matt Holliday sprinted toward the plate and slid head first He was ruled Todd Helton watches his home run during the Rockies 9 8 13-inning win Todd Helton watches his home run during the Rockies 9 8 13-inning win over the Padres in a one-game NL West playoff on October 1 2007 over the Padres in a one-game NL West playoff on October 1 2007 ROCKTOBER 5
