DENVER – Full stands at Coors Field while something utterly strange but totally pleasing occurs on the field. That’s the best in Rockies baseball.
A dazed Matt Holliday and a delirious fan base represent the top moment in Rockies history.
Holliday’s slide that ended Game 163 in 2007 with a 9-8 victory over the Padres and sent the Rockies to the postseason stands as the greatest moment in Rockies history. That magical team made a memorable late-season run, nosed past the Padres in an ending that will be disputed forever in San Diego, and swept the Phillies and Diamondbacks before falling to the Red Sox in the World Series.
None of that would have happened had it not been for Holliday’s headfirst slide into the shin guards of Padres catcher Michael Barrett. The crash left Holliday’s chin bloodied and his senses shaken, but it made Denver quite dreamy.
Here is a top 10 list that might settle arguments and might spark some. Either way, enjoy:
1) Game 163 lives forever
Folks, we could recant all the wild details and questions raised by that game.
- Did Holliday touch the plate?
- Was Garrett Atkins’ seventh-inning drive to left-center really a home run?
- Why weren’t replay challenges in the rule book before then?
For his part, Holliday – who tied the game with an RBI triple before scoring the winning run – can laugh and quip about the whole thing. And you can relive it all on YouTube through #MLBATHOME.
2) A wild no-hitter
The Rockies and great pitching are rarely linked, given having to pitch at game-altering altitude and at sea level. But on April 17, 2010, Rockies right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez mastered the elements at Turner Field in Atlanta and vanquished the Braves for the only no-hitter in club history.
Jiménez had such dramatic pitch movement that night that the best the Braves could do is wait for gifts. He offered a few, walking six in the first inning and throwing 42 balls to 41 strikes over the first five frames. At the behest of pitching coach Bob Apodaca, Jiménez abandoned the windup for the stretch. Only Dexter Fowler’s reach and roll to grab Troy Glaus’ fly ball to deep left-center to open the seventh inning came close to landing for a hit.
3) Heart, soul and happiness
The 2007 march to the World Series can be summed up in one shot – first baseman Todd Helton, hands and face raised to the heavens after catching shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s throw to retire a headfirst sliding Eric Byrnes for the final out of the sweep over the Diamondbacks.
The moment was a deserved moment of glory for Helton, who spent his entire 17-season Hall of Fame career with the Rockies.
4) ‘It is a Mile High and outta here!’
Having a bad day, Rockies fan? Just click on this video from the inaugural home opener on April 9, 1993, at Mile High Stadium. Eric Young faced a full count against the Expos’ Kent Bottenfield, and delivered a homer that gave a huge crowd its first chance to truly welcome the new team.
And broadcaster Charlie Jones boomed a call that will live forever.
5) Stay ’til the end
No expansion team had made it to the postseason in just three years before the Rockies, under manager Don Baylor and with eventual Hall of Famer Larry Walker on board, entered the 1995 season’s final game needing a win over the Giants. The Rockies fell behind, 8-2, but flipped that and won it, 10-9, at Coors Field to clinch that NL Wild Card berth.
6) Blood, sweat and absolute joy
Coors Field and Fenway Park enter 2026 tied for the most cycles at any MLB ballpark – 18 – but Boston’s hallowed ground had an 83-year headstart. Still, there is nothing common about a cycle anywhere. And Nolan Arenado’s feat on Father’s Day 2017 was even more special.
Timing was the key. The Rockies trailed by a run in the bottom of the ninth when Arenado completed his entry into the books with a three-run homer. In the celebration, the helmet of teammate Charlie Blackmon clipped Arenado above his left eye. It made for one iconic picture.
7) Late but happy ending
Coors Field hosted its first Rockies game in biting cold on April 26, 1995. The place was packed, but by the end of this wild game with the Mets many had left for warmth.
Those who stayed had a golden memory of Dante Bichette winning the game with one out in the 14th with a three-run homer.
Those who made it in front of the television heard Jon Miller’s classic commentary on ESPN:
“And there’s the storybook ending for the Rockies.”
Live or on the screen, Bichette’s immediate turn and fist pump toward the dugout – long before his shot to left field landed – summed up the moment.
8) How many outs do you need?
One of the earliest special moments of 2007 occurred on April 29, with right-hander Zach McClellan facing Braves star Chipper Jones with no outs and two on in the seventh.
Jones lined a pitch to Tulowitzki at shortstop, and just like that, the inning was over. Tulowitzki stepped on second for the second out and tagged Edgar Renteria to complete the unassisted triple play.
Just to make sure, Tulowitzki stepped on second again and threw to Helton at first base.
9) Air CarGo
Arenado’s walk-off cycle in 2017 was golden, but it wasn’t the Rockies’ first.
Carlos González ended a 6-5 victory over the Cubs with a third-deck homer to complete his cycle.
10) A baker’s dozen of bases
Those who remember Walker’s outstanding tenure with the Rockies will tell you they perked up when they heard the walk-up song he used the most: “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne.
Well, on May 21, 1996, Walker made the basepaths at Coors Field one wild railway. Walker went 4-for-5 with two home runs, a triple and a double. That’s 13 total bases.
Interestingly, Walker had a chance at a cycle. When he came to bat in the seventh, he joked with home-plate umpire Tom Hallion that he should drop a bunt. He had the speed to beat it out. Instead he went deep for a two-run homer for the last of his six RBIs. The Rockies needed them all in their 12-10 victory over the Pirates.