SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- One man's get-me-started, first Spring Training outing was a big day in baseball history for an entire region.
On March 6, 1993, then-Giants pitcher Bud Black showed up for a start at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, Ariz. To Black, it brought back memories. But everything was new for the Colorado Rockies. It was the first Spring Training game for the franchise.
"I remember it," Black said Sunday morning at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, where he is conducting his first Spring Training as Colorado's manager. "It was against David Nied [a pitcher the Rockies selected first in the Expansion Draft].
"I wasn't aware that it was the Rockies' first-ever game. But I was thinking of going to Hi Corbett Field, because when I was with the Indians, that's where we trained. So the place brought back some good memories. But it's really cool that I was able to be part of the Rockies' first-ever Major League Spring Training game."
Jim Tatum had Colorado's first hit -- a single up the middle -- in the Rockies' 7-2 victory.