Coors Field

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Coors Field
Coors Field
Location 2001 Blake Street
Denver, Colorado 80205-2000
Broke ground October 16, 1992
Opened April 26, 1995
Owner Denver Metropolitan Baseball Stadium District
Surface Grass
Construction cost $300 million
Architect HOK Sport
Tenants Colorado Rockies (MLB) (1995-present)
Capacity 50,445
Field dimensions Left Field - 347 ft / 106 m
Left-Center - 390 ft / 119 m
Center Field - 415 ft / 126.5 m
Right-Center - 375 ft / 114 m
Right Field - 350 ft / 107 m
Backstop - 56 ft / 17 m

Coors Field, located in Denver, Colorado, is the home field of the National League's Colorado Rockies. It is named for the Coors Brewing Company of Golden, Colorado, which purchased the naming rights to the park prior to its completion in 1995. The Rockies played their first two seasons, 1993 and 1994, in Mile High Stadium before moving to Coors Field, two blocks from Union Station in Denver's Lower Downtown (or LoDo) neighborhood. The park includes 63 luxury suites and 4,500 club seats.

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[edit] Reputation as a home run-friendly park

Coors Field once had a reputation as a home run-friendly park that at one point, arguably, equaled Chicago's venerable Wrigley Field, and earned it the nickname "Coors Canaveral" among critics [1] (a reference to Cape Canaveral, from where NASA launches spacecraft). Before the introduction in 2002 of a large humidor used for baseball storage, Denver's dry air tended to dry out baseballs, which made the balls harder and caused them to travel farther.[2]

Stadium designers knew beforehand that Coors Field would give up a disproportionate number of home runs because of its high elevation and dry air, and acted accordingly by placing the outfield fences at an unsually far distance from home plate; thus creating one of the largest outfields in baseball today. The result was a ballpark that, for many years, not only gave up the most home runs in baseball, but also gave up the most doubles and triples as well.[3] With the introduction of the humidor Coors Field has fallen into the middle of the pack in terms of home run prevalence.

[edit] Development and construction

Coors Field was the first new stadium added in a six year period in which Denver's sports venues were upgraded, along with Pepsi Center and INVESCO Field at Mile High. It was also the first baseball-only National League Park since Dodger Stadium was built in 1962.

As with the other new venues, Coors Field was constructed with accessibility in mind. It sits near Interstate 25 and has direct access to the 20th Street and Park Avenue exits. Nearby Union Station also provides light rail access.

Coors Field was originally planned to be somewhat smaller, seating only 43,800. However, after the Rockies drew almost 4.5 million people in their first season—the most in baseball history—plans were altered during construction, and new seats in the left field upper deck were added. The center field bleacher section has its own informal name: "the Rockpile."

During construction, workers discovered a number of dinosaur fossils throughout the grounds. Because of this, "Jurassic Park" was one of the first names to be considered for the stadium. This later led to the selection of a dinosaur as the Rockies' mascot, "Dinger." [1]

[edit] Features and notable events

While most of the seats in Coors Field are dark green, the seats in the 20th row of the upper deck are purple. This marks the city's one mile elevation point.

Unlike most baseball stadiums, where home plate faces east or northeast (so as to prevent sunsets from disturbing the batter), Coors Field faces due north, resulting in the sun shining in the first-baseman's eyes during sunset.[4]

The only no-hitter at Coors Field was thrown by Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 17, 1996.[5]

The 1998 Major League Baseball All-Star Game took place in Coors Field.

There have been five 1-0 games in Coors Field history, as of 6/12/2008, all since the humidor was in use:[citation needed]

The longest scoreless tie in Coors Field history also occurred on June 11, 2008, when the Rockies and Giants played scoreless baseball until the bottom of the 9th inning. The tie was broken up on a walk off sacrifice fly by Yorvit Torrealba, which scored Garrett Atkins from third.

Games 3 and 4 of the 2007 World Series were held at Coors Field.

The Sandlot Brewery is a microbrewery that is behind the Right Field Stands, with an entrance from Coors Field, and from Blake Street. The brewery is operated by the Coors Brewing Company, and experiments with craft beers on a small scale. Every year, they receive awards at the Great American Beer Festival in many different categories. The popular Blue Moon, a Belgian-Style Wheat beer was invented here, and is now mass produced by Coors.

[edit] The "Voice" of Coors Field

Alan Roach was the main PA announcer since Coors Field opened in 1995. In the spring preceding the 2007 Rockies season, Roach announced his retirement from his post at Coors Field to spend more time over the summer with his family.[6] Roach is also the PA announcer for the nearby Colorado Avalanche hockey team of the NHL and provides voice-overs for local sports introductions in the region, in addition to hosting a local sports talk radio show. He is also one of the voices of the train system at Denver International Airport, and has also been heard as the PA announcer at recent Super Bowls. Reed Saunders, 23, was chosen to be the new voice of Coors Field on March 16, 2007.

[edit] Gallery

Panorama of Coors Field on the night of game 4 of the 2007 World Series
Panorama of Coors Field on the night of game 4 of the 2007 World Series

Coors Field Aerial

Coors Field main score board as of June 2007

View from the rockpile

View from left field corner

Satellite view in April 2004.

Sell out crowd at Coors Field - October 1, 2007.

At night

Coors Field Main Entrance

The purple seat line signifying one-mile above sea level.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3689029
  2. ^ Troy E. Renck (2006-06-21). More humidors likely on horizon. Denver Post. Retrieved on 2007-06-12.
  3. ^ Lowry, Phillip (2005). Green Cathedrals. New York City: Walker & Company. ISBN 0802715621. 
  4. ^ baseballpilgrimages.com
  5. ^ Coors Field
  6. ^ Rich Draper (2007-02-26). Roach steps down as Rox PA man. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-12.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Preceded by
Mile High Stadium		 Home of the
Colorado Rockies
1995 – present		 Succeeded by
Current
Preceded by
Jacobs Field		 Host of the
All-Star Game
1998		 Succeeded by
Fenway Park

Coordinates: 39°45′21.14″N, 104°59′39.02″W

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