R o c k i e s 5 CONTENTS CHAPTERS Mining Baseball Gold 6 Mountain Magic 16 Stuck in Third 22 Pining for Pitching 32 Reaching New Heights 36 AROUND THE HORN A Warm Welcome 12 The Mile-High Equalizer 21 30 30 Vision 24 Opening Day Fiesta 31 Double Triples 38 Lucky 13 43 ALL-TIME ROCKIES P Pedro Astacio 8 C Jeff Reed 13 1B Todd Helton 14 2B Eric Young 18 3B Vinny Castilla 23 SS Troy Tulowitzki 28 LF Dante Bichette 30 CF Juan Pierre 35 RF Larry Walker 39 M Don Baylor 40 Index 48
6 R o c k i e s MINING BASEBALL GOLD p until the 1850s very few Americans other than fur trappers had much interest in the Colorado area Then in November 1858 gold was discovered on the plains just east of the Rocky Mountains where Cherry Creek and the South Platte River come together and a town was quickly established there Town founders named the new settlement for James W Denver the governor of the Kansas Territory which included eastern Colorado During the next 2 years more than 100,000 gold seekers poured into the region When railroad lines were expanded into Denver even more settlers arrived and Denver quickly transformed from a dusty town into a gleaming city In the 1960s and 70s Denver also became an important American sports center when professional franchises in football Broncos basketball Nuggets and hockey Rockies and later a club called the Avalanche were established there The one sport that was missing was baseball That all changed in 1991 when Major League Baseball awarded expansion franchises in the National League NL to the cities of Denver U
Relatively isolated in its mountain locale Denver is a vital regional center as there is no bigger city to be found within 500 miles in any direction
