The long-awaited Colorado Rockies appeared in Denver in 1991, after many decades of hoping. However, they did not start to compete until 1993, and did not start to actually win until 2007. In 2007 they won the Rockies’ West Division Title, and went on to win the National League Pennant. Sadly, this performance did not become the norm for the team, and their play since has been patchy, with episodes of excellent play but never held consistently over a long period. Fans continue to hope that new talent will help to pull the team together and give them a chance at the World Series Championship. If they keep going in the directions they have been going it want be long.

Getting a Team

1991 was the final successful culmination of many failed strategies geared towards getting a Denver team together, which included seducing an existing team from the Majors to move to Denver. In 1985 it looked like this strategy would succeed, as the Pittsburgh Pirates drug trials almost had to leave their own city. However, plans fell through on that occasion, to the disappointment of Denver. Other plans were hatched but none got off the ground, until the late eighties when the voters of Denver approved a new sales tax, the proceeds from which would go towards building a new baseball stadium. The hope was that, having built a stadium, a team would appear to fill it.

The governor of Colorado in 1990 commissioned a special group to locate investors interested in backing and owning a brand new baseball team. This group succeeded in finding some wealthy businessmen to finance the endeavor, and all that remained was securing the approval of MLB for another expansion. Finally in 1991, the expansion was approved, and along with the Florida Marlins, the Colorado Rockies were born. The fans have been extremely supportive of the Rockies. Especially since their playoff run a year or so ago. You would have thought they had won the world series the way the Rockies fans were acting. But I guess they deserved their time to be proud.

Patience Rewarded

Like most brand new teams, victory did not come easily to the Rockies at first. Their first season was characterized by losses, but they did play very well at times also. Their first victory was against the Expos, a record breaking occasion with more than 80,000 fans in attendance, which is more than have attended any game before or since. Across the season, almost 4.5 million fans turned out to watch the Rockies play, another record-breaking statistic. After such a long wait, fans were determined to show Major League Baseball that the expansion had not been for nothing; with that many fans, Denver clearly deserved a team. The Rockies have really made Colorado fans proud. They give them something to unite about. It is great what sports teams can do for communities. So if you live in Colorado and you want to have a great family outing. Go out to the ballpark and see the Rockies.

Author Bio: Ivan Jamison is a big sports fan. You can check out his Colorado Rockies Watch or his Los Angeles Dodgers Watch or his New York Mets Watch

Category: Sports
Keywords: Colorado Rockies