The Colorado Rockies

The Colorado Rockies are a baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. Established in 1993, the franchise plays in the West Division of the National League. The team is named after the Rocky Mountains, which pass through Colorado, just west of Denver. The Rockies play their home games at Coors Field in downtown Denver.
Following multiple losing seasons, the Rockies won the National League Pennant for the first time in franchise history during the 2007 season.

Creation of the Rockies
After previous failed attempts to bring the Major League Baseball to Colorado (most notably the Pittsburgh Pirates nearly relocating to Denver following the Pittsburgh drug trials in 1985), by the early 1990s a team seemed to be a possibility in Denver. The Colorado Baseball Commission, led by banking executive Larry Varnell, was successful in getting Denver voters to approve a 0.1 percent sales tax to help finance a new baseball stadium. Also, an advisory committee was formed in 1990 by then-Governor of Colorado Roy Romer to recruit an ownership group. The group selected was led by John Antonucci, an Ohio beverage distributor, and Michael I. Monus, the head of the Phar-Mor drugstore chain. Local and regional companies—such as Erie Lake, Hensel Phelps Construction, KOA Radio, and the Rocky Mountain News—rounded out the group. On July 5, 1991, the National League approved Denver and Miami, Florida, as the sites for two expansion teams to begin play in 1993.
The Rockies joined the National League in 1993, along with the Southern Florida franchise, the Florida Marlins. The Rockies' first pick in the expansion draft was pitcher David Nied from the Atlanta Braves organization. Nied pitched 4 seasons for the Rockies.

Ownership issues
After a 1992 accounting and embezzlement scandal at Phar-Mor tarnished the reputation of Monus, both Monus and Antonucci were forced to sell their stakes in the franchise. Trucking-company executive Jerry McMorris became head of the ownership group and served as the initial public face of management. His relationship with the other partners was somewhat poor, and his role in the leadership of the franchise diminished over time, until he was finally bought out in 2005 (his situation was not helped by the 1999 failure of his trucking firm and subsequent related legal issues).
The team is currently controlled by chief executive officer Charlie Monfort (a former executive with his family's beef-exporting firm and also with ConAgra), and his brother Dick Monfort, who both bought out McMorris' stake.

2007: "Rocktober": A World Series berth
Main article: 2007 Colorado Rockies season
The Rockies began the 1st half of the 2007 season following the Dodgers, the Diamondbacks, and the Padres for most of the season. However, by August, Colorado showed a steady series of wins, while the Division-leading Dodgers began to struggle.
By September, the Dodgers were eliminated by the Rockies from playoff contention, and the Diamondbacks were expected to clinch the National League West division title, while the Padres held a steady lead on the National League wild card spot. The Diamondbacks eventually clinched the NL West division title, but the Rockies shot up with one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history. They were a major-league best 20-8 in September, after trailing 6 games on September 1st. They won their last 14 of 15 games, including 11 in a row, the most of any team in the 2007 season and an all-time franchise record. Their 90-73 regular season mark set a franchise record. They also finished ahead of the Dodgers in the division for the first time in franchise history. Furthermore, Colorado set the single-season MLB record for fielding percentage by one team (.98925). Despite the Rockies record-setting performance, the National League coaches and players didn't vote in any of Colorado's players for the NL Gold Glove award. The two most puzzling omissions were first baseman Todd Helton and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Both players had a better fielding percentage, more total chances, better zone rating, more putouts, more double plays turned, better range factor and more assists than their counterparts who won the award instead (Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee and Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins). Helton also had fewer errors (2) than Lee (7), while Tulowitzki had as many errors as Rollins (11), but did so on 834 total chances compared to Rollins' 717.
As a result of the Rockies' remarkable September run, the team finished the regular season tied with the Padres for the wild card spot in the playoffs. The two teams played a regular season play-off game at Coors Field on October 1 to determine the wild card. The game lasted thirteen innings, and although the Padres got two runs off of a Scott Hairston home run in the top of the thirteenth to break a 6-6 tie, the Rockies came back in the bottom of the thirteenth by scoring three runs off of closer Trevor Hoffman to win 9-8. Second baseman Kazuo Matsui started off the inning by hitting a double. Tulowitzki followed with a double of his own, thus, allowing Matsui to score. Left fielder Matt Holliday then came up to bat and hit a triple, scoring Tulowitzki. After an intentional walk to Helton, the Padres pitched to utility infielder Jamey Carroll, who then hit a sacrifice fly, allowing Holliday to score from third base. Matt Holliday's winning run came off of a controversial slide in which home plate umpire Tim McClelland called Holliday safe, despite replays being inconclusive as to whether Holliday had actually touched the plate. The Rockies completed the fifth greatest regular season comeback in Major League Baseball history.
With the win the Rockies made the playoffs for the first time since 1995, and went on to face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. Colorado won the first game in Philadelphia, 4-2. The Rockies also won the second game in Philadelphia, 10-5, with the help of Kazuo Matsui's 4th inning grand slam. On October 6, 2007, the Rockies completed a three-game sweep of the Phillies by winning 2-1 in Colorado. The three-game sweep was Colorado's first post-season series win in team history. The Rockies played in the NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who swept their own series against the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS. They won the first two games of the NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix, then won their third game against the D-backs in Denver on Sunday, October 14th. That pushed their combined late-season (September 16 and after) and post-season run to 20 wins and just 1 loss, the single loss coming against Arizona on September 28, the 160th game of the season. This made them only the third team in the last half-century, and the first in the National League since the 1936 New York Giants, to have a 20-1 stretch at any point of a season. NLCS Game 4 was won by the Colorado Rockies by a score of six runs to four. This series win earned Colorado's first National League Championship victory in franchise history. The Rockies became the first team ever to sweep both the division series and league championship series in the same postseason. The club moved to 21-1 over all games played after September 15. The Rockies faced the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 World Series, and lost the series after four games; the first game was 13-1, the second game was 2-1, the third game was 10-5, and the fourth and final game was 4-3.
Baseball America named the Colorado Rockies the "Organization of the Year" for their accomplishments during the 2007 season. "We knew they were bringing great talent through their farm system, but we certainly didn't expect it to pay off with big-league success so quickly," said Will Lingo, editor of Baseball America. "They won with homegrown players, have more talent on the way and have maintained stability in their front office, so they had pretty much everything we look for in an organization."

2007 World Series ticket controversy
On October 17th 2007, a week before the first game of the 2007 World Series vs. Boston, the Colorado Rockies announced that tickets would be made available to the general public via online sales only despite prior arrangements to sell the tickets at local retail outlets. Five days later on October 22nd, California based ticket vendor Paciolan, Inc., the sole contractor authorized by the Colorado Rockies to distribute tickets, was forced to suspend sales after less than an hour due to an overwhelming number of attempts to purchase tickets.
An official release from the baseball organization claimed that they were the victims of a denial of service attack. These claims, however, were unsubstantiated and neither the Rockies nor Paciolan have sought investigation into the matter. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has started its own investigation of these claims. Ticket sales resumed the next day, with all three home games selling out within 2 and a half hours.
As a result of the decision to sell tickets solely online, local fans of the Colorado Rockies were placed at a disadvantage, forced to compete with ticket brokers and ticket scalpers from around the world. Also at a disadvantage were the disabled and those unable to access or afford an internet connection. It is widely accepted that agents and scalpers purchased a majority of the tickets made available to the general public. Within an hour of tickets selling out the average price had inflated to over five times face value and by the next day soared to over 100 times face value.

2006 controversy over Christian rules
On June 1, 2006, USA Today reported that Rockies management, including manager Clint Hurdle, had instituted an explicitly Christian code of conduct for the team's players, banning men's magazines (such as Maxim and Playboy) and sexually explicit music from the team's clubhouse. The newspaper reported:
Behind the scenes, [the Rockies] quietly have become an organization guided by Christianity — open to other religious beliefs but embracing a Christian-based code of conduct they believe will bring them focus and success.
From ownership on down, it's an approach the Rockies are proud of — and something they are wary about publicizing. "We're nervous, to be honest with you," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd says. "It's the first time we ever talked about these issues publicly. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone because of our beliefs."
The article sparked controversy, including criticism in a column in The Nation, which stated:
San Francisco Giants first baseman-outfielder Mark Sweeney, who spent 2003 and 2004 with the Rockies, said, "You wonder if some people are going along with it just to keep their jobs. Look, I pray every day. I have faith. It's always been part of my life. But I don't want something forced on me. Do they really have to check to see whether I have a Playboy in my locker?"
Soon after the USA Today article appeared, The Denver Post published an article featuring many Rockies players contesting the claims made in the USA Today article. Jason Jennings, a Rockies' pitcher, said:
"[The article in USA Today] was just bad. I am not happy at all. Some of the best teammates I have ever had are the furthest thing from Christian," pitcher Jason Jennings said. "You don't have to be a Christian to have good character. They can be separate. [The article] was misleading."
While the initial USA Today article caused some controversy, the main claims have been repudiated by the ballclub and its players in the subsequent Denver Post story.

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