With Opening Day at Coors Field on Friday, April 7, we wanted to share eight secrets about the Rockies' home field that you may not have known previously.
It's time to go behind the scenes of the Colorado Rockies' home stadium, Coors Field. After recently
striking a deal to keep Coors Field as the team's home for the next 30 years,
we figured there's plenty of time for you to discover the secrets of the stadium we're about to share with you. Here are eight secrets about Coors Field you may not have known...
The Fountain Feature
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photo courtesy of Flickr[/caption]
There are seven fountains in center field that go off when the Rockies first step onto the field, when the Rockies hit a home run and during the 7th inning stretch. They can shoot water nearly 40 feet in the air! The water feature was first installed in 1996 and was meant to "bring a little piece of the mountains" to the stadium. The area includes seven different types of Colorado trees, in addition to Navajo ruby sandstone and granite marble boulders.
Brick House
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photo courtesy of The View from Home Plate[/caption]
It's a brick house. The stadium was constructed out of 1.4 million bricks, each with "Coors Field" engraved on them. With an average brick weighing about four and a half pounds, the ones used to build Coors Field together weigh over 3,150 tons combined!
Purple Row
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photo courtesy of The Baseball Collector[/caption]
Those purple seats located in the upper deck of the stadium aren't just there for decoration. Those 865 seats are 5,280 feet above sea level. Many folks in Denver like to think that the entire city sits evenly above sea level, however this is not the case. The purple seats are there as a reminder how far they actually have to climb to be at a mile high.
Private Kitchen
Players, coaches and staff have their own private kitchen. Head Chef Ray Dominguez says that he makes three meals a day – an arrival meal, a post-batting practice spread and a post-game spread – for about 55 to 65 people. The player's favorite meal? Chef Ray's Big League Bacon, which is so thick it's nine to 11 pieces of bacon per pound!
Holding Cells
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photo courtesy of Ballparks of Baseball[/caption]
There's always that one person we've sat next to at a game who has one (or five) too many beers and starts yelling profanities and other explicative at the opposing team. When said person then decides to take the field and show the players how it's done, they get thrown into a holding cell hidden in the stadium. While they're not real jail cells, they are there to be used by the Denver Police Department as they see fit.
Baseball Humidor
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photo courtesy of sfgate.com[/caption]
While it isn't much of a secret anymore, the Rockies keep their baseballs in a special storage room that maintains the same temperature and humidity as the Rawlins distribution warehouse. This has been the case since 2002. "Before the balls would dry out, get slick and get harder to grip. The boxes are dated – 1st ones in, 1st ones out," said Rockies team officials.
Heated Field
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photo courtesy of Business Insider[/caption]
Speaking of temperature, underneath the three-acre field are 45 miles worth of cables that not only melt snow off the field during the winter, but help to keep the grass green during the springtime. Living in Colorado though, there is always the possibility of getting snow in April and May, so officials at Coors Field are always prepared for the worst weather.
Dinosaurs at Coors Field
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photo courtesy of USA Today Sports[/caption]
Dinosaurs once called the area where Coors Field sits their home. When the stadium was first constructed, crews found fossils that could be 66 million years old. Those wondering why the Rockies' mascot is a purple dinosaur, well now you know!
What is your favorite fact from this list? Did we miss any? Share them with us in the comments!
Featured photo courtesy of Parachute by MapQuest.
