NOW AND THEN
Coors Field sits empty on annual LoDo holiday that is Rockies’ opening day
Top: Streets around Coors Field in LoDo are nearly empty Friday. The Colorado Rockies’ home opener against San Diego was erased by coronavirus-caused restrictions.
Friday dawned cold and gray, but by noon the sun peeked through and the morning snow was a memory.
By 2:10 p.m., the first-pitch temperature at Coors Field had inched up to 39 degrees, not ideal for baseball, but not too bad for an early April day in Colorado.
Except that there was no first pitch. The coronavirus pandemic wiped out the Rockies’ home opener, just as it has altered so many aspects of our lives.
LoDo wasn’t completely a ghost town Friday. Construction workers hammered away on high-rises, a few cars streamed by on 20th and Blake, and a young woman jogged by the ballpark, led by her black lab.
But overall LoDo was a lonely place, especially compared to the opening-day holiday fans have come to love. Typically, more than 49,000 fill the ballpark and tens of thousands more pile into the LoDo bars and restaurants. The party begins at breakfast and lasts past dinner.
Things are different this year. Following are snapshots of five people who weathered Friday without baseball while crossing their fingers that the sport will return at some point this summer:
The bartender
Of course, Lindsay Wiener misses the cash. During a typical home opener, she pockets several hundred dollars. Slinging beers and concocting mixed drinks for baseball-starved Rockies fans can be lucrative.
But it wasn’t just money that Wiener that longed for Friday. The Blake Street Tavern was empty and that left her feeling a little hollow.
“It’s such a special day and just so much fun,” said Wiener, 34, a Colorado native and Cherry Creek High graduate who’s worked at Blake Street for eight years. “It’s always body-to-body in the bar, inside and outside. It starts early and goes on all day long. I miss that.”
Opening day is Wiener’s annual reunion.
“What stands out for me is that year after year, I see all of these diehard Rockies fans,” Wiener said. “We see them all of the time during the summer, then when the season ends I don’t see them for a long time. Sports bars are very seasonal that way. So on opening day, it feels invigorating. I really love that part of it.”
She feels for her fellow bartenders, servers and cooks in the restaurant business, and looks forward to the warmth of summer and, perhaps, a delayed Rockies’ opener.
“It’s so sad from a financial standpoint and it hits all of us hard,” she said. “But I’m in the
business of people and I’m going to miss not seeing those people. Opening day is the universal kickstart to summer and everyone is so happy. I’m missing that.”
The fan
The Rockies have hosted 27 openers and Bill Matzinger has been to every one of them, from Eric Young’s leadoff home run at Mile High Stadium in 1993, to Dante Bichette’s 14th-inning walk-off to christen Coors Field in 1995, to Charlie Blackmon’s six-hit extravaganza in 2014.
“My favorite? It has to be the very first one when EY hit that homer,” said Matzinger, 57, a Lakewood High graduate who now lives in Littleton. “We had waited so long for baseball and we finally had it. There were 80,000 people in the stands and I remember standing up when EY hit that home run. You can’t imagine the excitement.”
Matzinger shares season tickets with his longtime friend, Steven Hays. They sit 20 rows up from the field in section 123 at Coors. They endured 2018’s snowy opener when the first pitch finally came at 3:11 p.m. and it was 27 degrees.
Friday’s chilly weather wasn’t ideal either, but Matzinger would have kept his streak alive if given the chance.
“I’m heartbroken, really,” he said. “To me, the home opener is so many things. It’s the unofficial kickoff of spring and summer. Every year, a group of 6 to 12 of us would go down to LoDo about 10 o’clock, eat some early lunch and drink Bloody Marys and go to Coors. I miss that.”
The vendor
Ever since Coors Field opened, Joel Watkins has set up his hot dog cart on the southwest corner of 19th and Wynkoop streets. “Diamond Dogs,” adorned with a purple umbrella and spiced by Watkins’ engaging personality, is a LoDo institution.
“Opening day is probably my favorite day of the year,” said the 59-year-old Watkins. “I love the life and energy it brings to downtown.”
On his best opening day, Watkins can gross $1,500. That’s a brisk business considering that he’s raised the cost of a hot dog just 50 cents since 1995, meaning loyal customers pay $2 for a dog and $4 for a brat.
“Opening day kind of shakes me out of the gloomy winter,” he said. “But this year, I really don’t have plans. Some friends were talking about a barbecue with brats and baseball and stuff. But you can only watch so many reruns of games. But I don’t know. It’s pretty upsetting, but I don’t want to get too depressed about it.”
The broadcaster
Mike Rice has been a staple at KOA radio since 2002, working the “Colorado Morning News” and fielding calls from irate fans after Broncos games. He’s filled in behind the mike at Rockies game for years, usually calling about six games a year.
Teaming with Jack Corrigan, this was supposed to be Rice’s first call of a Rockies’ home opener. Rice, 51, was chosen to replace the popular Jerry Schemmel, who was laid off this winter when iHeartMedia made massive job cuts around the country.
“Friday was something I was really looking forward to, of course,” Rice said. “I was down at spring training and I saw the Rockies gearing up and I was seeing some momentum beginning to build. So, hopefully, we’ll still have a season.”
But Rice keeps things in perspective.
“So many people are facing so much adversity right now,” he said. “I don’t want to make this sound like I have some selfless attitude, but I haven’t spent too much time dwelling on (missing opening day). This crisis has become so all-encompassing.”
The player
This is supposed to be David Dahl’s year.
The 25-year-old outfielder, whose career has been tripped up by so many injuries, was a first-time all-star in 2019, even though his season ended in early August because of a severely sprained ankle.
“I was really excited for this season to start,” Dahl said from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. “I’ve put in a lot of work and was ready to play a full season.”
During last year’s home opener vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dahl started in left and batted second. It marked the first time he was introduced on opening day, enabling him to stand along the firstbase line as the giant American flag unfurled in the outfield and jets roared overhead.
“You look forward to that moment,” Dahl said. “You have the whole city out supporting you. You wake up with all of the adrenaline. It’s a great time. You get the butterflies in your stomach and you can’t wait for your turn at-bat. It’s an unreal experience.”