April 9, 1993: For the first time, a Major League Baseball game is played in the Mountain Time Zone. The Colorado Rockies play their first home game, beating the Montreal Expos, 11-4 at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado.
Pennants had been won in the Class B Western League by the Denver Grizzlies in 1900; the Class A Western League by the Grizzlies in 1911 and 1912; the Class A Western League by the Denver Bears in 1913 and 1952; the Class AAA American Association by the Bears in 1957, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1981 and 1983; and in the AA by the Denver Zephyrs in 1991.
Denver had tried and failed to get a major league team in the expansions of 1961-62, 1969 and 1977. In the 1977-78 off-season, a deal was in place to move the Oakland Athletics to Denver. With the success of the Denver Broncos and their "Orange Crush" defense, people joked that the A's should be renamed the Orange Sox. But the deal fell through. Finally, in 1991, Denver, along with Miami, received a National League expansion franchise to begin play in 1993. They would share Mile High Stadium with the Broncos for 2 seasons, until Coors Field was ready to open in 1995.
Eric Young, a graduate of New Brunswick High School and Rutgers University, hit the first home run in club history. His son Eric, a graduate of nearby Piscataway High School, now plays for the Rockies. Walt Weiss and Dante Bichette played in this game; now Weiss is the Rox' manager, Bichette is their hitting instructor, and Dante Jr. is a Yankee prospect. Bryn Smith, a former Expo, was the Rockies' starting and winning pitcher.
Attendance was 80,227. Although the Cleveland Indians topped that for doubleheaders and the 1948 and '54 World Series at Municipal Stadium, and the Dodgers for the '59 Series at the L.A. Coliseum before Dodger Stadium opened, this remains the largest crowd ever for a single regular-season MLB game.
The Rockies set records for most fans in a season and most fans per game in the 1993 season, and broke the record for most fans per game in 1994, although the season being cut short due to the strike prevented them from breaking the record they had just set for most fans in a season. With no current MLB stadium having a seating capacity higher than Dodger Stadium's 56,000, these records are probably unbreakable.
UPDATE: The Rockies do not have a team Hall of Fame, but they have retired uniform numbers: 17, for 1997-2013 1st baseman Todd Helton; and 33, for 1995-2004 right fielder Larry Walker, their 1st 2 players in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Honored alongside those numbers along the facing of the upper deck at Coors Field is a stanchion with the initials KSM. Keli McGregor had worked with the Rockies since their inception in 1993, rising from senior director of operations to team president in 2002, until his death on April 20, 2010.
Helton, Walker and McGregor have been elected to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. So have founding owner Jerry McMorris, founding manager Don Baylor, founding general manager Bob Gebhard, 1993-97 1st baseman Andrés Galarraga, 1993-99 outfielder Dante Bichette, and 1993-99 3rd baseman Vinny Castilla.
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April 9, 1993 was a Friday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-6 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Danny Tartabull, Jim Leyritz and Randy Velarde hit home runs, in support of a rare start by Bob Wickman, who pitched 5 innings for the win. Leyritz had 4 RBIs on the day. Don Mattingly went 1-for-5, and the recently signed Wade Boggs went 2-for-5.
* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 7-3 at Shea Stadium. Indicative of the bad year he would have, Anthony Young allowed 4 runs in the top of the 10th inning.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Pete Smith pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Mike Stanton a perfect 9th.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Florida Marlins, 2-1 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Cleveland Indians, 13-10 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Having recently left the Pirates through free agency, Barry Bonds was booed upon his return, but went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-7 at Royals Stadium (soon to be renamed Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Starting off his final season, George Brett went 2-for-5.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The California Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-5 at the Oakland Coliseum. Starting off his final season, Robin Yount went 2-for-5. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-5 with an RBI, but in midseason, the A's traded him to Toronto.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Erik Hanson allowed 6 hits over 6 innings, Rich DeLucia 1 in 2, and Norm Charlton 1 in 1, to complete a 9-hit shutout. Ken Griffey went 0-for-2 with 2 RBIs, 1 on a sacrifice fly, the other on a bases-loaded walk. Cal Ripken went 2-for-5.
There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 105-90 at the Boston Garden. Isiah Thomas led all scorers on the night with 43 points.
* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 122-113 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Alonzo Mourning scored 33 points.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks, 88-87 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Bullets, 114-95 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Orlando Magic beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 95-92 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Denver Nuggets, 98-97 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 109-105 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Sacramento Kings, 111-97 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Rangers, 10-4 at Madison Square Garden. This was the 16th of an NHL record 17 straight wins for the Pens. Mario Lemieux scored 5 goals, and Joe Mullen scored 3.
And the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 8-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary. Joe Nieuwendyk had 2 goals and 3 assists. Theo Fleury had 2 goals and 1 assist. Gary Suter had no goals, but 5 assists.
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