Area of fair territory: 117,000 sq. ft.

Area of foul territory: A little below average

Fences: LF to RC: 8 ft

             RC to RF: 14 feet

Elevation: 5,280 feet

Tenant: Colorado Rockies (NL)
Opened: April 26, 1995
Surface: 120,000 sq feet of sod that covers the field is grown at Graff Turf Farms in Fort Morgan, Colo. It's a mixture of four bluegrass and two ryegrass strains. The playing field has 45 miles of wire that provides an underground heating system which enables groundskeepers to quickly melt any snow accumulation.

Capacity: 50,200 (1995); 50,381 (1999)

Architect: HOK Sport (Kansas City)
Construction: Mortenson and Barton Malow (Southfield, MI)
Owner: Denver Metropolitan Baseball Stadium District
Cost: $215 million
Public financing: $168 million ( 78 %) from a one-tenth-of-a-percent sales tax in a six-county region
Private financing: $47 million (22%), from Rockies owners

History

     This $215 million park was originally designed to seat 43,800 but after Mile High Stadium had experienced record numbers in 1993-1994, Rockies ownership paid to increase the capacity to 50,200. This was the first new stadium in the National League since Montreal’s Stade Olympique opened in 1977, and it was the NL's first new park built exclusively for baseball since Dodger Stadium in 1962.

     The Rockies spent their first two seasons in the Denver Broncos' Mile High Stadium, where they set 12 attendance records. Built two blocks from Union Station in Denver's Lower Downtown, Coors offers some unique qualities like the old-time ballparks while using all the modern technologies available. The hand-laid brick construction and old-fashioned clock tower atop its main entrance, plus the asymmetrical walls give the ballpark a traditional flair. The two bullpens, elevated next to the scoreboard in right-center, are a nice touch.

     But the park also has some modern touches. The natural grass field can drain 5 inches of water per hour, and there is a heating system under the field that melts snow the moment it hits the ground. Concession stands in the concourse are laid out so that a fan can walk 360 degrees around the stadium and never lose sight of the field.

Coors Field Firsts
Official Game - April 26, 1995(Colorado beat Mets, 11-9)
Pitch - Bill Swift to Brett Butler at 5:38 P.M
Batter - Brett Butler
Hit - Brett Butler
Homerun - Rico Brogna
Grandslam - Todd Hundley
Stolen Base - Eric Young
Complete Game - Tom Glavine
Extra-Inning Game - April 26, 1995 vs New York Mets (Bichette hit a 3-run homer in the 14th)

Analysis

     The altitude of Coors distorts baseball in ways that could not have been foreseen. For example, a home run ball that flies 400 feet at sea level would travel 430 feet in this ballpark. In 1999, Coors became the most prolific offensive ballpark ever created. The Rockies and their opponents combined for 303 homeruns, the most ever in a season at one stadium with one or more tenants. The longest homerun ever in Coors field was a 496 ft bomb by Mike Piazza.

     The park factor in 1996 still ranks as the highest of all time for a ballpark in a single season, while the park factors in 1995, 1999, and 1998 rank third, fourth, and fifth all time. (Only the 1877 season of the Louisville Baseball Park breaks Coors' dominance).

     Why exactly is Coors so prolific? There are five principal reasons:

1) The ball travels as much as 10 percent farther in the thin air;

2) Curve balls break as much as 25 percent less in the thin air;

3) The ball travels to the outfield more quickly, leaving fielders less time to react (the range of an outfielder may be reduced by 8 feet, while the range of infielders is reduced by 8-12 inches); 

4) Coors has a hard infield and hard, straight, quirky walls, so balls skip through the infield as if they were hit on cement.

5) The outfield is one of the biggest in the majors, so that routine pop-ups fall for singles and line singles roll for doubles or triples.

     More than just home runs, the park also yields more triples than any other ballpark.  In part, this is due to the thin air, but the long distance to the right field corner (350 feet) gives runners an extra two seconds to get to third base compared to a park with a 325-foot right field wall.  The quirky walls and extensive right-field foul territory means that the ball doesn't bounce straight back to the outfielder; the ball caroms off the hard walls at odd angles.

     There is also a little nook in the right field wall, about ten feet from the corner, where two sections of the fence come together. At that point, the wall takes a sharp turn; if the ball hits to the left of that nook, it can bounce back towards the infield, but if it hits to the right of thae nook it will carom towards center field. Right fielders tracking baseballs into that nook face a dilemma as to how play the ricochet - more than one has run all-out to the corner, only to have the ball come back past them at impossible speed.

Defense: Coors places a premium on speed because of it's spacious dimensions.  The infield is so hard, and the grass so short, that the infielders feel like they're playing on artificial turf.  The team has been planning to grow the grass a little longer and give the pitchers an element of support. 

Who benefits: Anyone with a bat.  The Rockies hit 77 points higher here than on the road, and belted 144 of 223 team homers here in 1999; the park has turned great players like Larry Walker into MVPs and mediocre players like Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla into All-Stars.

     No one benefits more than Jeff Cirillo, whose gap power is perfectly suited to the large outfield.  In 2000, he hit .403 at home and .299 on the road; last season, he hit .362 at home and just .266 on the road.  Larry Walker has also been a major major beneficiary - last season he hit .406 at home and just .293 on the road; in 2000 he hit .359 at home and .259 on the road.  

Todd Helton has also been a - last season, he hit 98 points higher at home and hit 27 of his 49 HR here; in 2000, he hit 38 points better and clocked 27 of 42 homers at home.  Larry Walker  

Last season, Neifi Perez (.323 vs.  

     Overall, the Rockies had a home-road differential of +178 in runs scored.  The next highest in the National League was Arizona, in lively Bank One Ballpark, with a +58.

Who gets hurt: Anyone who has to eventually throw to anyone with a bat.  In 1999, the Rockie's ERA was 2.27 runs higher at home than on the road.  They yielded 159 of the 237 opponent home runs at home.

     The park seems to ruin good pitchers in their road performances as well.  Mike Hampton and had trouble adjusting in his first season in the thin air, after signing a $121 million, 8-year contract; after starting the season by going 9-2, with a 2.98 ERA, he faded in the second half and gave up a career high 31 HR.  Oddly, hust 8 of those 31 were at home, and he hada 5.10 ERA outside of Coors.  Denny Neagle also struggled, posting a 5.11 ERA on the road and a 5.70 ERA in Denver.  Brian Bohanon and Scott Elarton (a 17 game winner with Houston) both had ERAs of over 7 at home and around 5 on the road.

Park Factors

© 2001 STATS, Inc.

Location

   The main entrance is on 20th and Blake Streets. The third base side, to the SW, is on 20th St.; first base (SE) borders on Blake Street. Left field, to the NW, borders on the Union Pacific RR tracks and I-25. Right field, to the NE, is on Park Avenue.

Seating Chart

Dimensions

Left field: 347 ft.

Left-center: 390 ft.

Center field: 415 ft.

Right-center: 375 ft.

Right field: 350 ft.

Backstop: 56 ft.

Foul territory: A little below average.

Fun Facts

• Highest run, average, hit, LHB avg, RHB avg factor in NL in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 in NL
• Highest HR, LHR, and RHR factor in NL in 1998, 1999, and in 2000
• Second highest HR, RHR factor in NL in 2001 (behind Arizona's BOB)
• Lowest strikeout factor in 1998, 1999 and 2000
• Second-highest error and infield error factor in NL in 2000
• Third-highest doubles and triples factor in NL in 2000
• Second-highest doubles and triples factor in NL in 1999
• Highest error factor in NL in 1998

• Located approximately two miles from Mile High Stadium, home of the Rockies in 1993 and 1994.
• Originally designed to include 43,800 seats, record crowds in 1993 convinced Rockies ownership to expand the original plans. The updated park holds 50,000 fans, including 63 luxury boxes and 4,500 club-level seats.
• A row of purple seats ring the park to mark a spot that it is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level.
• Financed by the taxpayers of the Denver Metropolitan Major League Baseball District and leased to the Rockies. The District will own the stadium and all operating and maintenance costs will be paid by the Rockies.