MLB Parks Tour #17 – Coors Field, Denver, CO – 2013

Our trip to Colorado in August was a bit of a last-minute thing. I (Harlan) had been offered a job at an agency in the metroplex, and it afforded us the opportunity to take a mini vacation between employment. We couldn’t decide initially where we wanted to go, but plane ticket prices eventually landed us in sunny Denver, Colorado, home to the Colorado Rockies. With the short-notice, we didn’t have a ton of time to prepare for the trip, which in the end proved an asset, as we spent a lot of time simply relaxing together and taking in the outdoors. (Except for the Duck Dynasty marathon we got sucked into, despite never having seen an episode prior to the trip.) During the trip, we explored a hiking trail, found a hidden castle, ate wild raspberries, fought off a bear (not really), explored the sanctuary of rock (Red Rocks Amphitheater), ate a stupid amount of gourmet pizza, and spotted the purple mile-high seats at Coors Field.

It was a great getaway before starting a new job. The only complaints we ever have about our baseball trips is that we won’t get to come back for a while.

Coors Field saw its first baseball in April of 1995, a 14-inning affair that the Rockies eventually won on a three run walk-off homerun by Dante Bichette. The Rockies won 11-9, and Bichette kicked off his legendary legacy with the Rockies that night, a love affair that continues to this day. Unfortunately, the ghost of Bichette didn’t prevail in a 7-5 loss to the Padres. We had a slightly skewed (in a positive sense) view of the stadium, as we had scored Club Level seats at upper deck prices. Gorgeous weather and relaxing with my family was the perfect capstone to a brilliant day.

The game:

San Diego Padres – 7
Colorado Rockies – 5

Tuesday, August 13, 2013, 6:40PM
Time of Game: 3:01
Weather: 72° F, Partly Cloudy.

Attendance: 30,366

Winning Pitcher: Tim Stauffer (2-1)
Losing Pitcher: Jeff Manship (0-2)
Save: Huston Street (23)

The hot dog:

(Hot Dog ratings are for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to hot dogs, either real or fictional, is purely coincidental.)

Like the Diamondbacks, we hadn’t heard much about the dogs at Coors Field. No disappointments, but nothing to write home about either. Bonus points for the club level concessions though…pretty swanky.

Score (out of 5): 3.5 Dogs

3.5 Hotdogs