Former Rockies Legend Returns To Colorado In Highly Coveted Role
Thirty years ago, I can remember clear as day what it was like to head to the old Mile High Stadium and soak up your first Colorado Rockies and Major League Baseball experience in Denver.
It was April 9, 1993, and the Colorado Rockies' first home opener took place at Mile High against the Montreal Expos. More than 80,000 people were packed into the stadium as the leadoff hitter, Eric Young stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the first inning and promptly hit the first home run in franchise history. It. Was. Awesome.
I was all in back then. The peanuts, the keeping track on a scorecard, and even - begrudgingly - participating in the "wave" that would take place around the stadium. Purist baseball fans in other cities made fun of us for that because it was a football thing, not a baseball thing. But at the time, most of us only knew the Broncos and the wave was just a thing you did at Mile High.
Baseball got amazing in Denver pretty quick as Coors Field opened a couple of years later and the Rockies became really fun to watch with names like Andres Gallaraga, Dante Bichette, Larry Walker, and - wait for it - Vinny Castilla became known as the "Blake Street Bombers" and tore the covers off many, many baseballs in the '90s.
And one of them is back in Colorado to celebrate the 30th anniversary of that team - well, sort of. Vinny Castilla has served as a special assistant for the Rockies on and off over the years since he retired, but now for the 2023 season he has taken on a highly coveted role amongst Colorado's sports legends: the voice of the DIA train!
It's something everyone who's ever spoken into a microphone in this state aspires to be. You've made a big time now, Vinny.