SPORTS ROCKIES’ PLAYERS, BOSS RECALL OPENING DAYS
Black, Story, Blackmon won’t forget how they began seasons
Rockies manager Bud Black can relate to the Yankee Clipper’s sentiments, as can shortstop Trevor Story and center fielder Charlie Blackmon. All three Rockies have partied on opening day, and the wonderment of the moments will live on long after they have hung up their jerseys.
“Man, I don’t care how many times you’ve done it, when you stand on the base line on opening day and they announce your name, it’s something special,” Black said. “And if you go out and do something really special, that sticks with you.”
The Rockies and Diamondbacks get a chance to fulfill the opening-day dreams when they open the 2018 season Thursday night at Chase Field.
No one has ever matched what Story did in this ballpark two years ago, when he became the first player in major-league history with a multihomer game in his big-league debut on opening day. He crushed a threerun home run off Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke in the third inning, then followed up with a solo shot to left-center off Greinke in the fourth in Colorado’s 10-5 victory.
“My first at-bat, I was really nervous,” Story recalled. “I remembered that I toetapped in the batter’s box, and I don’t toetap. I was pretty amped up, but after that it was just another game.”
Story hung on to the bat from that game as a keepsake.
“Afterward, it was kind of a surreal feeling,” he said. “You never dream you will start out your career like that, and thank God that I did. It was one of my favorite moments, and I love looking back on it.”
Black must go back much further for his best opening-day anecdote. It was April 3,
Joe DiMaggio knew what he was talking about. PHOENIX» ¶ “You always get a special kick on opening day, no matter how many you go through,” DiMaggio once said. “You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.”
1984, at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., to be precise. That’s the day that the mustachioed, 26year-old left-hander started for the Royals vs. the Yankees and all-star Ron Guidry.
“When I got into high school and college, that’s when Guidry started doing his thing with the Yankees, and I always liked the way he threw,” Black recalled. “I didn’t model my mustache after his, but that was sort of cool, to pitch against the Yankees and Ron Guidry. And we won the game, and I did OK.”
Better than OK, actually. Before a crowd of just 10,006, in a game that took a mere two hours to complete, Black pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on two hits in K.C.’s 4-2 victory. Black’s only big mistake was giving up a two-run homer to Hall of Famer Dave Winfield in the fifth inning.
Blackmon’s first opening-day start in the majors — March 31, 2014, at Marlins Park — was not particularly memorable. He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout as Miami drubbed the Rockies 10-1. Jose Fernandez, the late Marlins ace, pitched a six-inning gem, striking out nine.
Blackmon had to wait four more days for his memory-maker at Coors Field. In the Rockies’ homeopening 12-2 victory over Arizona, he went 6-for-6 with three doubles and a home run. He became the second Rockies player to go 6-for-6 in a game, the other being Andres Galarraga in 1995. Blackmon was the first player in major-league history to go 6-for-6 with a homer and three doubles.
“Things lined up perfectly for me,” Blackmon recalled. “It seemed like every time I hit the ball, it went exactly to where they weren’t. It was a fun day. I do remember that.”
If Blackmon has any keepsakes from the special day, he doesn’t know where they are.
“I’m not a guy who retires stuff. I don’t keep a whole lot of stuff,” he said. “I’m still using the plastic shin guards from last year.”
But years from now, when he might want to tell his kids about his grand opening day, what’ll he do then?
“Hmm,” he said. “I might have to save some proof. They might not believe me.”