A Feel Good Baseball Story

I have to admit, I'm pretty much a fair weather fan when it comes to the Colorado Rockies.

When I lived in Colorado, I followed them quite a bit. I had the privilege of being at the first regular season game in Coors Field history, which was awesome. I still have a pennant from their first playoff appearance (and their last before this season) in 1995, and probably ten Rockies baseballs. But since I've left Colorado in 2000, I haven't paid too much attention to them. They have pretty much stunk since then, so it hasn't been hard to forget them.

But I've been following them this year, especially at the end as they made their run to the wild card. And now they're up 2-0 in their series against Philadelphia, which is great.

But another reason for everyone else to root for the Rockies this year, is the decision they made this week: to give a share of their playoff player revenue to the widow of a minor league coach for the Rockies who was killed during a minor league game by a ball hit to his head. He died leaving two boys, ages 3 and 5, as well as a pregnant wife.

I think it's pretty cool to have the players on the team decide this. The deceased man's name is Mike Coolbaugh, and his two sons are throwing out the opening pitch on Saturday.

Way to go, Rockies.