Dave Baker’s Baseball Dream Tour: Stadium #26, Coors Field, Denver

This morning we flew from Houston to Denver. It was a 2 1/2 hour flight. It is Dottie’s birthday today, I had previously taken care of her birthday present the day I was home, so the group sang Happy Birthday to her on the ride to the airport. This is not the first day that she has spent her birthday traveling to a baseball game, as well as Memorial Day, July 4th, our anniversary day, and Labor Day all have been celebrated in baseball parks before. She is very patient with me and has become accustomed to my ways. Coors Field was a part of the wave of fan friendly retro parks that were opened in the 1990′s. It is a downtown ballpark and greatly contributed to the redevelopment of the Lower Downtown area when it was constructed. The ballpark gained a reputation as a launching pad because of the way that balls flew out of the place in the thin air at one mile above sea level. In the upper deck the 20th row of seats is painted purple to designate exactly 5,280 feet above sea level. In the last few years the baseballs used in games are kept in a humidor to reduce the speed at which they come off the bat and cut down on the distance the ball will travel. The outfield area is probably the largest in MLB. It is a must that outfielders have the speed to cut down balls in the alleys and rundown down long fly balls in this ballpark. There are a lot of balls that drop in for base hits here that would be caught in other parks. The game had several examples of this type of hit. The outfielders have to play so deep to try and stop the extra base hits that they give up these kind of singles. The bleachers in centerfield called the Rockpile sit high above the fountains and pine forest area and are just barely within the Denver city limits but provide a great view of the Denver skyline and if you like panoramic baseball instead of being able to see the action on the field this would be the place for you to sit. We sat down the right field line six rows from the field. As the game was about to start the sun became a problem. The sun was right in our face and was an annoyance until the 6th inning. Even with sun glasses this was problem. The out of town scoreboard is a manual board on the right field wall which is about 15 feet high. The stadium is a 3 tier arrangement with a suite level. It was Carlos Garcia give away night and we got a CarGo Bobblehead as we entered the stadium. For dinner we had a grilled chicken sandwich which was tasty but small in size. A Diet Coke was consumed quickly on a warm 75 degree evening. It was a typical Coors Field game with the Rockies piling up 16 hits and smothering the Dodgers 6-0. In the 9th inning the Dodgers put together 5 hits and 5 runs before the Rockies could get the final out. In the 9th inning there was a Steve Bartman like play where the Rockies right fielder came over to the right field corner to catch a foul ball and an excited Rockies fan took the ball away from him. As you might guess this move by the fan was not met with gleeful acceptance. As the inning went on his need for protection became greater and greater. Coors Field is a fun place to watch a game and there is usually a lot of runs scored by one or both teams.

Game: June 9
Ballpark: Coors Field, Denver
Final: Rockies 6, Dodgers 5

Accessibility – 8
Stadium Personnel – 9
View – 7
Food – 8
Overall Stadium Experience – 8