Colorado Rockies Play First Home Game

On April 9, 1993, the Colorado Rockies play their first home game in franchise history and record their first victory in franchise history, in an 11-4 win over the Montreal Expos.

Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado was the home for the Rockies in their first two-seasons in the MLB.

Denver had long been a hotbed of minor league baseball and many in the area desired a major league team. Following the Pittsburgh drug trials, an unsuccessful attempt was made to purchase the Pittsburgh Pirates and relocate them.

However, in 1991, as part of Major League Baseball's two-team expansion (they also added the Florida (now Miami) Marlins), an ownership group representing Denver led by John Antonucci and Michael I. Monus were granted a franchise; they took the name "Rockies" due to Denver's proximity to the Rocky Mountains, which is reflected in their logo.

They began play in 1993, sharing Mile High Stadium with the National Football League's Denver Broncos their first two seasons while Coors Field was constructed. It was completed for the 1995 Major League Baseball season.

Outside of Coors Field in Denver, Colorado where the Rockies have called home since 1995.

In 1993 they started play in the western division of the National League. Since that date, the Rockies have reached the MLB postseason three times, each time as the National League wild card team. Twice (1995 and 2009) they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. In 2007 the Rockies advanced all the way to the World Series, only to be swept by the Boston Red Sox.

Matt Holliday won the 2007 NLCS MVP award en route to the Rockies first World Series appearance.

In 2007 the Rockies won the Warren Giles Trophy for the National League champions and the Baseball America Organization of the Year award.

The Rockies play their home games at Coors Field. Their newest Spring Training home, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, opened in March 2011 and is shared with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Inside of Coors Field, the home of the Rockies in Denver, Colorado.

The Rockies have only retired one number in franchise history, and that is no. 42, which was worn by Jackie Robinson. His number has been retired league wide in honoring the first African-American baseball player to make it to the Major Leagues.

Though not retired, Larry Walker's number 33 has not been issued since he was traded during the 2004 season after 10 years with the Rockies.

The Rockies have had one MVP, Larry Walker in 1997, when he hit .366 with 49 home runs, 130 RBI, 33 stolen bases, and 409 total bases, en route to becoming the first Canadian player to win the MVP Award. He became and remains the only player to have at least 25 stolen bases and a slugging percentage of more than .700 in a season.

Walker's 409 total bases in 1997 were the most in an NL season since Stan Musial's 1948 season, although the mark was bettered by Barry Bonds in 2001 (411).

Combined with 12 outfield assists, the season remains one of the finest all-around performances in recent baseball history. Even more impressively, Walker's breakout season came just one year after various injuries limited him to 83 games and 272 at-bats, although the NL Comeback Player of the Year award went to Darren Daulton.

The Rockies have also had one Rookie of the Year winner, Jason Jennings in 2002.

The Rockies have boasted 11 different Silver Sluggers including Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla, Andres Galarraga, Eric Young, Ellis Burks, Mike Hampton, Todd Helton, Matt Holliday, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Walker.

The Rockies have had one Hank Aaron Award winner in Helton, and five Gold Glove winners including Neifi Perez, Helton, Gonzalez, Tulowitzki and Walker.

The Rockies have had the Manager of the Year Award given to their skippers twice in 1995 to Don Baylor and 2009 to Jam Tracy.

United States Football League Debuts

On March 6, 1983, the USFL, United States Football League, plays their first game. The game featured the Washington Federals and Philadelphia Stars.

Three of the elite USFL quarterbacks from left: Doug Flutie, Jim Kelly and Steve Young.

The USFL which featured 12 teams in its first year of play, 1983, expanded to 18 in its second year of play.

However the USFL, after three years of play had most of their teams fold due to going into severe debt not being able to fill their stadiums.

Some teams like the Oakland and Los Angeles franchises suspended operations for a year, in 1986, hoping to rebuild capital.

Finally four teams merged into two during 1986,, the Denver and Jacksonville franchises merged to play in Jacksonville and the Houston and New Jersey franchises merged to play in New Jersey.

With all of these changes the USFL was doomed and were never able to get back on track with competing against the NFL, and closed their doors a year later in 1987.

Colts Win On Monday Night Football

On Oct. 31, 1988, the Indianapolis Colts host their first Monday Night NFL game in Indianapolis. The Colts end up winning, beating the Denver Broncos 55-23.

The Colts were members of the National Football League from their founding, however, they were one of three teams to switch to the AFC following the 1970 merger.

While in Baltimore the team advanced to the postseason ten times and won three NFL Championship games in 1958, 1959 and 1968.

The Colts had two Super Bowl appearances while in Baltimore, losing to the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, while defeating the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V.

The Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984 and have since appeared in the playoffs fourteen times, with two conference championships and one Super Bowl championship coming against the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

It was under quarterback Peyton Manning that the Colts saw their greatest success since relocating to Indianapolis, with the team appearing in the playoffs nine consecutive seasons, tying a league record.

Following Manning's departure in 2012, the Colts drafted Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as their new franchise quarterback.

The Baltimore and Indianapolis Colts have played in 34 Monday Night Football games, winning 20 and losing 14. Their .606 winning percentage is good enough for the fourth highest winning percentage on Monday Night Football trailing only the Seattle Seahawks, .703, Pittsburgh Steelers, .634 and the San Francisco 49ers, .632.

The Colts last appearance on Monday Night Football came this year as they lost to the San Diego Chargers on Oct. 14 in a 19-9 contest.

Replacement Players In NFL

On Oct. 4, 1987, the NFL has replacement players play for the first time. The replacement players would last three weeks before the regular players would return. Most teams saw record low attendance during the replacement player games.

The 1987 NFL season was the sixty-eighth regular season of the National Football League. A 24-day players' strike reduced the 16-game season to 15. The games that were scheduled for the third week of the season were canceled, but the games for weeks 4–6 were played with replacement players. 85% of the veteran players did not cross picket lines during the strike.

The replacement player teams were given mock names like "Chicago Spare Bears", "San Francisco Phoney Niners", "New Orleans Saint Elsewheres", "Washington ScabSkins", and "Seattle Sea-scabs".

Final television revenues were down by about 20 percent, a smaller drop than the networks had expected. The defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants went 0–3 in replacement games, ultimately costing them a chance to make the playoffs and repeat their championship.

After the season the St. Louis Cardinals' owners announced they would be leaving Missouri for Tempe, Arizona and become the Phoenix Cardinals for 1988.

The season ended with Super Bowl XXII when the Washington Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos 42-10 in Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. The Broncos made their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance while the Redskins were returning for the first time since they advanced to Super Bowl XVIII four seasons earlier.

Nomo No-Hits Rockies At Coors Field

On Sept. 17, 1996 Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo no-hits Colorado Rockies, 9-0 at Coors Field.

Before coming to the Major Leagues here in America, Nomo pitched in Japan for five seasons racking up a record of 78 wins and 46 losses with a 3.14 earned run average and 1,204 strikeouts. After a successful five years in Japan, where he earned such awards as the 1990 Pacific League MVP, and Rookie of the Year, Nomo moved over to the United States, where he enjoyed a great career in the MLB.

Nomo finished his 14-year career in the MLB with 123 wins and 109 losses, a 4.24 earned run average and 1,918 strikeouts.

Nomo finished his career with two no-hitters, one in the National League and one in the American Leagues, making him only one of five pitchers to ever complete the rare feat.

To date Nomo is the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter at Coors Field in Colorado, as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, against the Rockies. His second no-hitter came at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 4, 2001 as a member of the Boston Red Sox, against the Orioles.

Broncos Victorious Over Patriots

On Sep. 9, 1960, the Denver Broncos defeat the Boston Patriots, 13-10, in the first ever game played in the American Football League. 

The Broncos had lost all five of their exhibition games and wouldn't experience a winning season until 1973 -- after they had already merged into the NFL. 

But on this Friday afternoon, it was Denver who was victorious. 

Patriots kicker Gino Cappelletti scored the league's first points with a 35-yard field goal to begin the game.

While the Broncos would remain in Denver, the Patriots eventually moved south to Foxborough. When they did, the team was temporarily renamed the "Bay State Patriots," much to the chagrin of many sports writers. "When I came here in February of 1971, they were the Bay State Patriots," Upton Bell, then the General Manager of the Patriots, told the Boston Globe in 2009. "The first newspaper headline I saw read, ‘BS Patriots.’ I said, ‘Oh, no. The ‘BS Patriots’? Like the ‘bull [expletive] Patriots'?

"Everybody was making jokes about us. I figured, ‘We’re not in Boston, and we’re in the middle of New England -- why not become the New England Patriots?" 

The team did just that in March, only a month after becoming the BS Patriots.

Rice Sets A New Touchdown Record

On Sept. 5, 1994, Hall of Famer and San Francisco 49ers great Jerry Rice catches an National Football League (NFL) record touchdown with career touchdown reception 127.

Rice would go on to catch another 70 touchdowns over his career ending his career as the player with the most receiving touchdowns of all time with 197 touchdown receptions.

Over his career Rice played for the 49ers, Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. However, he never actually played a regular season game with the Broncos, just playing with them in the preseason before being cut.

Rice still holds nearly every possible receiving record for both regular and post-season performance.
Including being the NFL’s all-time leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns. In his 20 NFL seasons, Rice missed only 10 regular season games, seven of them in the 1997 season, and the other three in the strike-shortened season of 1987. His 303 games are by far the most ever played by an NFL wide receiver.

Rice finished his regular season career with 1,549 receptions for 22,895 yards with 208 touchdowns for a total of 1,256 points scored. Of the 208 touchdowns Rice scored 10 of those are rushing and one is passing with the majority, 197 coming as receptions.

Six times Rice led the league in receiving yards and touchdown receptions with his highest single season totals coming in 1995 and 1987 respectively.

His 1,848 receiving yards in 1995 was the highest single season total until 2012 when Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions broke the record with 1,964 receiving yards.

His 22-touchdown reception season of 1987 was the highest single season mark of any receiver until then New England Patriots Randy Moss broke the mark in 2007. However, Rice caught 22 in 14 games while it took 16 games for Moss to catch 23.

Rice also led the league in receptions twice, with his highest single season total coming in 1995 with 122, although he did not lead the league in receptions that year.

Rice’s 20-year career saw him make 13 Pro Bowl appearances, including 11 consecutive appearances from 1986-1996. In 1995 Rice was the Pro Bowl MVP. He was a 12-time All-Pro selection, including 11 consecutive times from 1986-1996. He was a two-time NFC Offensive Player of the Year in 1986 and 1987. He was a two time AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 1987 and 1993. He was the UPI NFC Player of the Year in 1988 and also the PFWA MVP that same year. Rice was the Bert Bell Award winner in 1987. Rice was also the UPI NFL-NFC Rookie of the Year in 1985.

Rice helped the 49ers to three Super Bowl Championships in Super Bowl XXIII (23), XXIV (24) and XXIX (29). He was named the Super Bowl MVP for Super Bowl XXIII (23).

Rice has been named to the NFL 1980’s, 1990’s All-Decade Teams, and was named to the NFL 75 Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994.

Rice was inducted into Canton’s Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

The San Francisco 49ers retired his no. 80 jersey.

Rice is rated the no. 1 NFL Player of all-time by NFL.com, which is no wonder why his nickname is the “G.O.A.T.” or the Greatest of All Time.