First off, I know all of what I'm about to say pales in comparison to what happens on the field.  I understand that.  I just wanted to open up a discussion.

I took a trip to the Altar of the Purple on Monday to watch the Rockies play...er, take on...er, put up a valiant effort against...er, put on uniforms and go out onto a field against the Braves.  A fun game - not only was it the first Rockies game for one of my rommmates, but my dad and brother got upgraded seats through my dad's company (Loaf and Jug) and got to sit 4 seats away from the Rockies dugout in the first row.  All of that, and I got my "mini" trophy, which actually eclipses most of my desk decorations.

But I digress.  While I was at Coors Field on this trip, I began thinking about certain things.  The ballpark is beautiful, the team is (mostly) fun to watch, and it's all in all a great atmosphere.

So why does it feel like the Rockies are a minor-league club playing in a major-league ballpark?

I think it can be summed up in this: there is no sense of tradition at Coors Field.  Sure there are all those baseballs crammed into the entryway at homeplate that list off the team's milestones, and sure, there's that big white flag-lookin' thing below our neon sign.  But there's no real sense that Coors Field is a Rockies destination.  It feels more along the lines of "the place where the Rockies play".

Through the magic of Photoshop, I have a few suggestions.  Please throw your own in here, as well, as I'm rather curious if other fans feel the same way.  Alright, first off...

General Qualms

Nooks and Crannies

Quiz time: Where is the Rockies 2007 NL Pennant?  Easy one, it's above the video screen.  How about the flag that says the same thing?  Easy again, on the flagpole, near the left field foul pole.  Alright, how about the Warren C. Giles trophy?  Ah, a little tougher.  It's in a display window over in the left field Buckaroos team shop (and it's unlabeled).  How about #42 for Robinson?  Pretty easy, on the RF wall, near the out-of-town scores.  How about #57, for Darryl Kile?  If you've been a fan long enough, you know it's above the Rockies bullpen.  How about the recognition of all the Rockies feats over the years?  They're lining the walls of the home plate entrance, of course.  Find me where Larry Walker's batting title baseball is, then.  That one is tough...you have to sift through every single one of the baseballs, which all look pretty much the same, to find the one you're looking for.

My point is this - a lot of things at Coors Field seem like they have been placed either arbitrarily or just "fit in" wherever there was space.  They had to have somewhere to stick that pennant, so why not above the video board?  Never mind that there's no room up there for more than one.  Where should we stick #42?  Oh, it'll look awesome right here.  Where would we fit our next number?  Ah, we'll worry about that later.  Nothing seems to have been placed with anything specific plan in mind - things just happened, and there we go.  It makes for a really awesome scavenger hunt, but if I was a visiting fan and I wanted to see the NL trophy, I'd have no idea it's in an unlabeled window out in left field.

Onto more specific things...

Retired Numbers

I know this has been brought up before, but it bears mentioning again.  When Joe Sakic retires from the Avalanche (probably sooner rather than later), the Avs will have 2 numbers retired (technically 3, but I don't count Borque since he only had one year of service to the team).  Assuming Sakic's number is retired, the Avs will have retired 2 numbers over the span of 12 (give or take) years.  The Rockies, operating since 1993 (15 years now), will have retired 0.  While I can appreciate the Denver Broncos approach (retired numbers must fall into "greatest of all time" category as to not loose their luster), the Broncos have something the Rockies don't, which is a fan base that has sold out their stadium since 1960.  The Rockies fan base is disconnected from the ballclub, especially in recent years.  A link to the past, like retiring a number, can provide to the fans a link to the team; if the older guy can support the younger guys, then why shouldn't I?

Besides, what a boon for ticket sales!  Do you remember Patrick Roy night for the Avalanche when they hoisted his number to the rafters?  It was the hottest ticket in town.  The Rockies are perfectly capable of holding a "Larry Walker" night or a "Vinny Castilla" night (let's not get into the semantics of who deserves it right now) that would sell out the stadium.  This is, of course, assuming they would do the ceremony right.  Not 20 minutes before the game, with a 2 minute video tribute and that's it.  It would have to be post-game, and probably built-up between innings.  Win or lose, the ballclub, fans, and city of Denver would win that night.

But where do they go?

As I imagined seeing a number unveiled in the stadium, I realized a critical flaw in my plan - there's no space to actually retire a number in Coors Field.  Jackie Robinson's 42 has some prime real estate next to the out-of-town scoreboard, and in fact, it's got the only real estate.  If we retire numbers with the same size as Robinson's, our options as to where to actually put the numbers are limited.  This will especially be true if we all the sudden start retiring numbers and take the NL Pennant approach of placing them where we have room.  The numbers all belong together, and should all stay together.  Here was a solution I thought up:

Click me for a picture!

Take Robinson's number and place it on a sturdy metal backing, and mount it on the edge of the seats.  Do the same for subsequent numbers.  Advantages?  We can have close to 20% of the available numbers retired before we run out of space, and they're very visible.  I also took the liberty of including a purple-backed number for Helton, more as a demonstration than what I want to happen.  The black on purple is hard to see, I know, but I think that some distinction needs to be made between the players.  Boston has it the most right, in my opinion - all the Red Sox numbers are in red, and in the signature Boston number font, while Robinson's is in Dodger blue and in the traditional block font he wore.  If we must leave Robinson's the same, so be it, but then make the future ones noticeably "Colorado", and not just another number out there.  Even keep the black on pinstripes, if we must.  Change Robinson's to blue and blocky, then.  Some way to show the difference between them.  Years don't need to be on there, either (I think that drifts too much into hockey and basketball), I just included them to give a general idea.

Anyway, retired numbers, and where to stick them.  Thoughts?

Celebrating What We've Earned

Pennants

I admit, I didn't like the pennant, and it's still taking a real hard time growing on me.  But I can say one good thing for it, and that is that it is there.  For some reason, our team insists on only celebrating the highest achievements.  Against a great deal of odds in 1995, we won the National League Wild Card.  An adornment for this accomplishment hung in left field, until it was taken down, presumably so the team doesn't celebrate mediocrity.  Apparently, then, the team decided to forget that the 1995 ballclub was in 1st place in the NL West as late as Sept. 26th, lead the NL in hits (3rd overall), and lead the NL in home runs (2nd overall), all while giving Denver its first taste of professional playoff baseball.  Why aren't we celebrating this?  We all know the exploits of the 2007 squad, who were only a half a game away from the best record in the NL.  Some may argue that recognition of the team's Wild Card win in 2007 is redundant, since we have an NL Pennant to trump it.  But why not celebrate what we've done?

So many pennants, so little wallspace...

The main issue I have with our current pennant, aside from the fact that it looks like it was bought on the cheap, is that it is, like everything else, stuck in a nook.  Where else are we going to hang our future (or past) pennants?  If we win another NL championship, do we hang that one there and relegate the 2007 feat to a baseball in the entry hallway?  Surely there has to be a more dignified way to do it.  I found myself a little stumped with this one, here's what I came up with:

Click me to see

We're not doing anything with those square girder things out there, so why not make use of them?  Mount the big NL one on the front corner of one, and make two smaller ones for the Wild Cards and place them on the other one.  This is, however, a stop-gap measure, as there have to be better places to hang these things.  Part of me really wants to make use of the girder space around the scoreboard, but if they were squeezed inbetween the ads, it'd look worse than it does now.  I think that, if that were to happen, we'd have to get rid of one of the advertisers (or move their ad somewhere else), and use the space for the team.  And I mean, really, if an advertiser raises a ruckus about being asked to move their ad so that the team can celebrate, should they really be one of our sponsors?

Memories

At US Cellular Field on the south side of Chicago, all of the blue seats were torn out and replaced with green seats, save for two.  These two seats represented where balls landed that helped the White Sox win the 2005 World Series.  Coors Field has a unique feature as well, the purple row, but the stadium has nothing similar to what exists in Chicago and other ballparks.  The only thing that comes close is not even near Coors - in the parking lot for Invesco Field at Mile High, a marker is placed where the home plate inside the original Mile High Stadium was.  Granted, the Rockies do not have very many walk-off World Series-winning home runs, but we have our share of memorable landings.  Here are a couple of my suggestions, both coming from last year:

Click me, click me!

How about a marker that marks the spot where Holliday's triple to tie up game 163 landed?  I'd say that, aside from Carroll's ball which landed in a glove, that ball is one of the most significant balls to ever have landed somewhere inside Coors Field.  If not for Holliday hitting it there and Giles missing the grab, we probably wouldn't need to be talking about where to put a pennant.  Why not commemorate what happened in one of the most memorable Rockies games of all time with something that will last forever?  Something a parent can point out to their kid and say, "you know that video I showed you?  That's where it landed."

Click for a present!

This one might not level up to the significance of winning a World Series, but I think it still deserves to be recognized.  Helton's blast off of Saito to start the run last September is, aside from Holliday's slide to the plate, the defining moment of the 2007 season.  One of, if not the most recognizable Rockie, who will more than likely have his number sitting next to Robinson's, sparkplugs the Rockies on a ride of a lifetime.  The seat doesn't even have to be painted - maybe a small plaque on the seat.  Maybe instead of a number on the back of the seat, make it a baseball.  Something, anything.

It's little touches like these things that make a ballpark more than just a stadium, and turn it into more of a "home", for both the ballclub and the fans.

Alright, I think I've rambled on enough for you to see my point.  I am very curious to see the thoughts of other Rockies fans, though.  Do you think the team does enough to honor the past?  Do you think the team should honor the past at all?  I would love to hear your thoughts.  Who knows?  Maybe it'll make the time until the next first pitch pass a bit faster.

Oh, and as always, Go Rockies!