The Trading Post #142: Padrographs: Abner to Zimmer (Part 1: Stadium Club)

Right around the time pitchers and catchers reported to spring training 2020 (the first one, that is), Rod at Padrographs: Abner to Zimmer reached out and said he had a stack of Rockies cards to send my way. This was Rod's first time sending me cards, thus his first appearance in The Trading Post theme. His blog vastly predates mine, and he has a pretty sweet custom logo in his header. I just today noticed that the Swinging Friar is holding a Sharpie.

His niche is collecting autographs from all Padres who ever appeared on the team's active roster. In over a half-century, that's got to be quite a few players, but only a dozen have eluded Rod's collection. Despite that dedication, Rod still found more than enough Rockies to send my way, enough that I'm turning this into a three-parter.

2016 Stadium Club #23 Nolan Arenado

We'll kick things off with what might be the greatest Coors Field card of all time, possibly even eclipsing my 2016 Card of the Year. This being Memorial Day, I'm sure I would have been to a game or two by now. But not this year, for painfully obvious reasons. I'm missing Coors Field something fierce, so this card is a perfect addition to my collection.

I mentioned in that Card of the Year post that a Tornadough pretzel from the stand under the left field scoreboard is one of my favorite ballpark snacks. That's the red and yellow stand you see under the Coca-Cola sign. There's lots more to explore on the concourse. Flanking the Tornadough stand, I see what might be a cash-only beer stand on the right, and the #17 Helton Burger Shack on the left, which is partially obscured by the Stadium Club logo.

Trevor Story hits home runs up there sometimes, by the way.

Funny story about the cash-only beer stands. Throughout MLB, they cut off alcohol sales at the end of the 7th inning. I was running dry right around that time during a night game up on the third deck. The lines at the main concession stands looked long, so I tried one of the cash-only spots. It became clear that the 7th inning was rapidly drawing to a close, so the vendor told the few of us in line to put our money down on the table, thus completing the sale. Judging by the sound of the crowd, the inning abruptly came to an end, but the vendor had already "sold" his last few of the night, and he finished pouring those beers for us who had the quick reflexes to ante up without violating the letter of the law.

Back down on the left field concourse, if you walked a little further toward center field, you'd pass a small apparel outlet, the center field camera platform, the outdoor studio overlooking the concourse where the TV crew does the postgame recap (that's where you can get on TV!), and a walkway underneath the Rockpile, one side of which is adorned with plaques of all the construction firms that built Coors Field. I can't recall which, but my dad knew a couple of those companies back from his environmental remediation days. A few more steps and you'll come to the bullpens and a spectacular view of the Coors Field forest.

On the other hand, if you walked toward left field, you'd find the frozen yogurt stand, behind which is a small seating area and the perfect spot to see into the players' parking lot. There are always a lot of lifted Jeeps and pickups and such in there, but you'll see the occasional Porsche or Ferrari. One of the guys was driving a black Lamborghini Urus last time I looked. Returning to the concourse, you'll find an apparel shop, the Famous Dave's barbecue stand which occasionally obscures the scoreboard with smoke, and a playground. I'm too old for that now, but I was eleven when Coors Field opened. Maybe even then I was a little too old for a playground, but my nephew seemed to enjoy it last summer.

Yes, I know how much it shows that I miss going to games there.

Back to the card. Checking the scoreboard, this game against the Dodgers is just getting underway. There's no score yet, but the Rockies already have three hits in the bottom of the first. That means Nolan Arenado is likely batting with the bases loaded. The Dodgers visit Denver all the time, so it might be tricky to pinpoint this play, but we have one helpful clue. The clock on the scoreboard shows 6:27, and I've been to enough games to know that this is likely a Saturday game with a 6:10 start time. Unless it's very early in the season, weeknight games usually begin at 6:40. Checking the 2015 schedule, there was only one Saturday home game against the Dodgers, and that was September 26th.

Sure enough, Arenado was batting with the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning. Following his buddies getting on base with three singles, A.J. Ellis called for a pitch and Arenado blasted it over the center field wall for a grand slam, his 40th homer of the season. The Rockies would close the game in similar fashion, with Carlos Gonzalez hitting a walk-off shot in the bottom of the 9th, just a little bit to the right of where Nolan's landed.

This could be a post of its own, that's how much I could say about this card. But let's carry on.

2019 Stadium Club #5 David Dahl

David Dahl, a lefty, lets us see the other side of Coors Field. He's taking a warm-up swing as he prepares to step into the box. We don't have quite as much detail in this photo, but we can see the far edge of the Rockies dugout and the camera well on the first-base side. Above the seats beyond, you can see the bottom edge of the Mountain Ranch Club, a full-service open-air restaurant that overlooks the field. It's one of the very few places in Coors Field I haven't managed to set foot in.

Below that on the main concourse is the Sandlot Brewery, which I've mentioned before as the birthplace of Blue Moon. It's my favorite spot in the whole ballpark to grab a beer, and they have a much better selection than the few macrobrew options available at most of the concession stands. Although if that's what you're after, they sell $3 Coors Lights in The Rooftop area prior to first pitch.

Just below the Stadium Club logo is the start of the right field mezzanine. It's not my favorite spot to sit, as you can't really see anything that happens at the right field wall. It's pretty far away from the plate, too. But that's roughly where I sat for my first game at Coors, and it's a good spot for moms who want to take little kids to the game without worrying about incoming home run balls.

Let's be honest, there really isn't anywhere in Coors Field that a ball can't reach. but halfway up the second deck in right field is a pretty safe and somewhat shady area if you're there for a day game.

The last story I have for that part of the park happened just below the green beam at the base of the mezzanine, right about where I took this picture before the NLDS game in 2018. I mentioned it once before but in less detail. I was twelve, my second game ever at Coors, the Rockies were playing the Pirates. Former Rockie Charlie Hayes hit a home run to left field, though not as far as Trevor Story.

Anyway, before the game, my family and I were standing on the main concourse just below that beam. A batting practice ball came screaming in and bounced off it right toward where I was standing. I valiantly jumped up and tried to barehand it, but the next thing I knew, I was picking myself up off the concrete and looking up at two men high-fiving after making the catch.

It would have been a tough catch no matter what, but as best I can remember it I was basically body-slammed away from that ball by a couple of grown men. It probably wasn't as dramatic as that, but long story short, it would be another eighteen years before I finally snagged a foul ball. Christian Yelich fouled that one off, back when he was a Marlin and long before he reached MVP caliber.

2019 Stadium Club Power Zone #PZ-13 Todd Helton

Like Yelich and Dahl, Todd Helton was another lefty. There isn't much of Coors Field to see here, but it's a Stadium Club insert nonetheless. Power Zone inserts pop up quite frequently, but the wild design was toned down a bit in 2019, at least the foil portion. This background wouldn't be entirely out of place in Topps Fire.

The card back tells us all about Helton's heat map. He liked them up-and-in, and had an .879 slugging percentage on pitches in that part of the zone. Me, I liked them low and away, but I showed a little bit of opposite field power once or twice on pitches up in the zone. If only I had enough speed to leg out a home run. Those types of hits usually ended up just being triples for me in Little League and high school gym glass.

Helton remains the only Rockie with a retired number, although Larry Walker's retirement ceremony for #33 was supposed to happen over a month ago. I even had tickets. But if Helton gets his own burger shack, surely one of the many concession stands in Coors Field could bear Walker's name. Maybe one out in right field behind where he used to play, near where I almost caught a foul ball in 1996. But it would be tucked away under the stands and unlikely to ever make an appearance on a card.

I originally intended for these three to be part of a post with the rest of the Topps cards I picked for the blog, but this got way out of hand. I'll save those cards for another post, and bask in the memories of the 87 games I've attended at Coors Field, jogged just a bit by Topps Stadium Club.