Colorado Rockies Tickets

Colorado Rockies History And Information

Colorado Rockies, one of five teams in the West Division of the National League. Named after the mountains that stretch through Colorado, the Rockies play at Coors Field in Denver and wear uniforms of purple, white, black, and silver.

In 1995 the Rockies set a record for an expansion team by reaching the playoffs by their third season. The Rockies led the NL in home runs and batting averages in 1995 and 1996, in part because the ball takes on less friction in the thin air at Denver’s high altitude and therefore travels farther. Four Colorado players each hit more than 30 homers in those two seasons.

The Rockies joined the NL as an expansion team in 1993. That year Andres Galarraga, a veteran first baseman, led the league with a .370 batting average. The Rockies had 67 wins in 1993 setting a new NL standard for first-year franchises, plus the club drew 4.5 million people to its home games that year, setting an attendance record for the MLB.

The Rockies led all NL teams in batting averages (.282), home runs (200), hits (1406), and runs scored (785) in 1995 as manager Don Baylor took the club to a wild-card playoff berth. Outfielder Dante Bichette took the league in home runs (40), runs batted in (RBIs) (128), and hits (197). Bichette, Galarraga, shortstop Vinny Castilla, and outfielder Larry Walker all collected at least 30 home runs and 90 RBIs. The Rockies’ pitching was not as strong—its collective ERA of 4.97 was the highest in the league and its top pitcher took just 11 games. In the playoffs Colorado fell to the Atlanta Braves, who went on to take the World Series.

In 1996 Castilla, Galarraga, and outfielder Ellis Burks became the first teammate threesome since Hank Aaron, Darrell Evans, and Davey Johnson of the ‘73 Braves to hit at least 40 home runs in the same season. Five of Colorado’s eight regular players hit over .300 as the Rockies hit a league-best .287—the highest National League mark since the St. Louis Cardinals batted .294 in 1939.