Coors Field is the second baseball stadium to share a name with a beer (Busch Stadium in St. Louis being the first; Milwaukee's Miller Park soon to be the third) and the fourth stadium to follow the trend towards neo-traditional, urban ballparks begun by Camden Yards and soon followed by Jacobs Field in Cleveland and The Ballpark in Arlington. This 50,000 seat park has the most curb appeal of the quartet (possibly reflecting an architectural learning curve), with well-detailed dark brick exterior walls, a visible steel upper structure, and some exterior art.

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Inside, the field seems large (347'-414'-350'), but in practice, the dimensions are not nearly enough to offset the hitter's advantage created by a 5,200-foot field elevation. The equivalent sea-level dimensions are a substandard 315'-377'-318'. Consequently, this is the most offense-favorable stadium designed for major-league baseball in at least 80 years, increasing runs and home runs by more than 50% each. It turns average batters into apparent sluggers, and gives good pitchers stratospheric earned run averages. In 1996, it helped a quartet of Rockies sluggers -- Andres Galarraga, Ellis Burks, Vinny Castilla, and Dante Bichette -- to hit 158 homers, 54 on the road and 104 at home.

Coors is situated in such a way that its turns its back on a potentially spectacular downtown view in order to spare batters the very real danger of squinting into the sun. From some seats, however, one can catch an oblique glimpse of the distant Rocky Mountains. The park is located in an old warehouse district near Denver's railroad station, and has generated a lively street life on game days.

Within the stadium, a horizontal row of purple upper deck seats marks a plane that is exactly a mile above sea level. In center field, a detached elevated bleacher section dubbed "The Rock Pile" is home to $1 seats sold only on the day of the game. While Coors' crowds will never approach those at 76,000-seat Mile High Stadium, the park has drawn well over 3 million fans each year. (JP)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » October 16, 1992: Groundbreaking ceremonies are held in Denver for Coors Field, the future home of the Colorado Rockies. » July 3, 1995: Colorado downs Houston by a score of 15-10 at Coors Field. The Rockies' attack is led by 1B Andres Galarraga, who strokes three singles, a double, and two home runs, while driving home five runs and scoring 4. The victory moves Colorado one game ahead of the idle Dodgers for 1st place in the National League West. » August 18, 1995: In a slugfest at new Coors Field, the Cubs defeat the Rockies by a score of 26-7. A two 1/2 hour rain delay interrupted the contest which takes more than six hours to play. OF Luis Gonzalez drives home six runs for Chicago while Sammy Sosa goes 4-for-4, with four RBIs and four runs scored. Several ML records are tied by the Cubs: nine teammates each score two or more runs (Scott Servais and Sosa score 4, while Mark Grace plates 3); 14 Cubs hit safely, and 26 RBIs (ties the National League mark) are collected. The Cubs now have scored 20 or more runs 39 times, extending their ML record. Kevin Foster pitches the first three innings for Chicago, allowing only a Andres Galarraga homer before departing to rest with the Cubs up 9–1. Anthony Young picks up an easy win with one 1/3 innings of relief. » June 12, 1996: Marvin Freeman pitches seven shutout innings as he and two relievers pitch the Rockies to an 8–0 shutout of the Astros in Denver. It is the Rockies' first shutout at Coors Field in 103 games. » June 14, 1996: In Denver, the Rockies beat the Phils, 10–6, helped by Ellis Burks' inside-the-park homer, the first ever hit at Coors Field. » July 23, 1996: In the pitchers' hell known as Coors Field, the Rockies take a pair from the Mets, outslugging them 10–7 and 11–10. The two games feature 59 hits, including eight home runs, off 17 pitchers. In the first inning of the nitecap, Dante Bichette, Andres Galarraga, and Vinny Castilla hit consecutive homers off Pete Harnisch. Galarraga hits another in the 3rd, one of his six hits for the day. » September 17, 1996: Dodgers' P Hideo Nomo hurls a 9-0 no-hitter against the Rockies in hitter-friendly Coors Field. Nomo fans eight and walks four in winning his 16th game of the year. » May 8, 1997: Jason Kendall's 3-run double leads Pittsburgh to an 8-run 4th inning as the Pirates outslug the Rockies, 10–8. Al Martin and Kevin Elster homer for the Bucs, who have scored 24 runs and 31 hits in their two games at Coors Field. » May 26, 1997: Andres Galarraga hits a 469-foot two-run homer and Vinny Castilla chips in with a solo shot as the Colorado Rockies overcome a 6-run deficit to beat the Cardinals, 9–7. Galarraga has four RBIs and his moon shot, off Mark Petkovsek, is the third-longest homer in the three-season history of Coors Field. » May 19, 1999: In a record-setting outing, the Reds outslug the Rockies, 24-12, stroking 28 hits in the process. The 36 runs sets a Coors Field record. Jeffrey Hammonds hits three home runs for Cincinnati, as seven players in the Reds lineup get three or more hits apiece. Teammate Sean Casey hits a pair of 3-run homers to drive in six runs and reaches base in all seven plate appearances, tying a 20th century record. The 36 runs scored in the contest is the 3rd-highest total in the major leagues since the turn of the century, while the 81 total bases sets a new major league standard. OF Mike Cameron ties a major league mark with eight plate appearances in a 9-inning game. With 28 hits, the Reds tie a mark originally set on May 13, 1902 and tie the NL record with seven players with 3+ hits, Pirates , June 12, 1928, and Reds, August 3, 1989). The Rockies became the 1st team to score 12+ runs in a game and lose by 12+ runs in the same game since the Giants beat the Reds, 25-13 in 1901. Larry Walker extends his hitting streak to 20 games and raises his average to .431. » June 14, 1999: With a 3-run double in the bottom of the 8th, Todd Helton leads the Rockies to a 5-4 win over the Giants. In the 5th, the Giants turned a 5-4-3 triple play—the 1st triple play in Coors Field history. » May 1, 2000: The Rockies defeat the Expos, 15-8, as OF Todd Helton slams three home runs for Colorado. The two teams combined for a Coors Field record 10 homers in the game. » June 5, 2001: At Coors Field, Mike Hampton (8–2) beats Houston, 9–4, and hits a pair of homers. Hampton, who came into the season homerless, now has four dingers: The Mets, Hampton's team last year, have a combined five homers from their outfielders. » June 12, 2001: The Mariners defeat the Rockies, 10-9, as nine home runs are hit at Coors Field, six by Seattle and three by Colorado. Mike Cameron, drilled in the 7th inning following Bret Boone's 2nd home run of the game, hits the go-ahead homer in the 9th. The M's bullpen blows a lead and Aaron Sele (8–0) misses a W. » July 22, 2001: Shane Reynolds, Octavio Dotel, and Billy Wagner become the first Astros pitchers to throw a shutout at Enron Field as they combined to blank the Cubs, 3-0. It took 132 games before the home team calcimined an opponent at Enron, which opened on April 7, 2000. That shutout drought at a new facility tops the old record of 103 games set by the Colorado Rockies after moving into Coors Field in 1995. Last season, Astros hurlers threw only two shutouts, both on the road. » April 30, 2002: The Colorado Rockies, with permission, are storing their balls in a humidity– and temperature–controlled room, according to Rockies president Keli McGregor. The room keeps the humidity at 40 percent, compared with 10 percent or less humidity often felt in the mile–high city. In their first seven Aprils, the Rockies and their opponents combined to average 15.1 runs per game. This April, the average total score at Coors Field was 9.8 runs—a 35.1 percent decrease. Through the first 16 games at Coors, scoring is off 4.69 runs a game—2.15 runs a game greater than the park with the second–biggest run decrease, San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. However, once the warm weather—and the Yankees—hits, run production will jump. » November 4, 2002: Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Eric Hinske is named Rookie of the Year in the American League, and Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings is named the National League's top rookie. Hinske, 25, was acquired from Oakland in the Billy Koch deal, and hit .279 with 24 homers. He had 122 points to finish ahead of Orioles pitcher Rodrigo Lopez (15–9) with 97 points. Jennings had 150 points to runner–up Brad Wilkerson with 59 points. Jennings was 4–1 in 2001, and posted a 16–8 record this season, including 9–4 at Coors Field. He is the first Rockie to win the award.