History
Denver had long been a hotbed of minor league baseball and many in the area desired a major league team. Following the Pittsburgh drug trials, an unsuccessful attempt was made to purchase the Pittsburgh Pirates and relocate them. However, in 1991, as part of Major League Baseball's two-team expansion (they also added the Florida (now Miami) Marlins), an ownership group representing Denver led by John Antonucci and Michael I. Monus were granted a franchise; they took the name "Rockies" due to Denver's proximity to the Rocky Mountains, which is reflected in their logo. They began play in 1993, sharing Mile High Stadium with the National Football League's Denver Broncos their first two seasons while Coors Field was constructed. It was completed for the 1995 Major League Baseball season.
In 1993 they started play in the western division of the National League. Since that date, the Rockies have reached the MLB postseason three times, each time as the National League wild card team. Twice (1995 and 2009) they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. In 2007 the Rockies advanced all the way to the World Series, only to be swept by the Boston Red Sox.
The Rockies play their home games at Coors Field. Their newest Spring Training home, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, opened in March 2011 and is shared with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Read more about this topic: Colorado Rockies
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“These anyway might think it was important
That human history should not be shortened.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)