Everything the organization represents was developed from President Keli McGregor, who tragically passed away Tuesday in his hotel room in Salt Lake City.

I didn’t know Mr. McGregor; I’ve never even met him. I did hear him speak once and have recently read several articles and heard numerous stories about the man he was. While I didn’t know him, when you follow a team as closely as I do the Colorado Rockies, something like this hits home like it would with a family member.

Maybe that’s because that’s what this organization is–a family.

Starting during their postseason run in 2007, stories began to develop about the chemistry of the Rockies’ players and front office. The bond is like nothing I’ve seen in professional sports. Players like Jason Giambi and Joe Beimel recently said they wanted to sign as free agents with the Rockies because their teammates are like a second family to them.

The Rockies organization is filled with human beings full of character, class and respect. It’s not a team housed of just good athletes but also good individuals.

Too often today, athletes are represented negatively as drug users, cheaters and criminals with mug shots on the front page of newspapers. The Rockies are seen as modest, humble and class acts.

They’ve sometimes been criticized for things like banning subjective magazines and music in the clubhouse and having team-led Bible studies.

I take pride in the fact, however, that the team I cheer for is also made up of people I can look up to. It takes away some of the stardom that athletes generally carry, making me realize that they are down-to-earth individuals similar to myself.

Keli established this.

From what I’ve read, he was a first-class guy with nothing but positive things said about him. He was a selfless individual, always with family-first and team-first mentalities. One poster today said that the only thing Keli lacked was an ego. Another noted that he acted nothing like a president, treating even the ushers and first-time fans with utmost respect.

Today truly is a tragedy for the Rockies organization and all of Major League Baseball.

His passing comes at an interesting time. It comes at the beginning of Colorado’s most anticipated season, with many analysts projecting the Rockies to be one of the best teams in baseball this year and in years to come. It was developed by Keli.

It comes just days after one of the Rockies’ most memorable moments in team history, when Ubaldo Jimenez threw the first no-hitter in club history.

It also comes just days after all of the Rockies community is still heated over a balk and missed call that eventually led to a loss Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.

But while Keli’s competitive nature strives to win, I’m sure, something like this makes us pause and reflect on the important things in our lives. Keli left a wife, four children and a distraught organization.

The Rockies have fed off of Keli’s character to become the individuals and the organization they are today. Keli has built an organization in Denver that we can be proud of, one that is starting to receive recognition for its potential and winning, but also for the group of men they are.

Let’s honor Keli’s legacy by continuing to field a team we can be proud of, a team full of character–character like Keli’s.

“We’ve lost somebody in this organization that is going to be greatly missed. He embraces, in my opinion, everything, and has been in the forefront of everything that the Colorado Rockies are about and that they represent.” – Manager Jim Tracy on Keli McGregor.

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.

April 4, 2010.

One-hundred and fifty-one days of withdrawal between Shane Victorino’s groundout on Nov. 4 and Josh Beckett’s opening pitch at Fenway Park on April 4. 

It starts tonight at 8 p.m. ET when the game’s two biggest rivals, the Yankees and Red Sox clash.

It begins in Boston, but where will it end?

Magic begins. Miracles happen.

The sound of the wood bat striking a 98 mile per hour fastball. The feel of your hand inside a freshly oiled glove.

The days start getting a little longer, the weather a little warmer. Springtime is here.

25 men, nine coaches, a front office and an entire stadium full of fans all pulling together.

Baseball is America’s sport. America’s pastime.

There’s a feeling of optimism within each of the 30 teams today.

A fresh start. A new chance.

An opportunity to prove that their transactions over the winter have put them in position to be the best team in baseball. This could be the year.

The pennant will be raised in New York for the first time since 2000. The Phillies will try to make it to the game’s biggest stage for the third consecutive year. National media is taking notice of the Colorado Rockies for the first time.

The dirt has been watered. The lines are chalked. The smell of the freshly cut grass lingers in the air. Pine tar is spread up the first 17 inches of the bats.

Tell Fenway Park to strike up “Sweet Caroline” in the eighth inning again and “Tessie” after a Red Sox win. Wrigley fans can join in the infamous “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” singing during the seventh-inning stretch.

Each jersey is pressed. Each light and each seat in the stands has been checked as the scoreboard lights up for the first time.

Contracts are finalized. Lineups are penciled in. But the road to the postseason is anything but certain.

Summer nights will soon settle in where there is no better place to be than at the ballpark. Fans of all ages will soon fall asleep to the voices of Peter Gammons, Harold Reynolds, and Karl Ravech on Baseball Tonight.

The boys of summer.

Inside the stadium, concession lines will form as hot dogs are cooked. Ketchup, mustard, and all of the condiments of your choice.

Sunflower seeds, peanuts, and cracker jacks.

Fans willing to shell out $11 for a hot dog and soda, and not ashamed to do so–just for a chance to witness something great. The chance to see someone great. The chance to witness history.

A towering 450-foot home run. Hustling around first base and sliding into second for a double down the line. Taking one step too many and getting caught in a pickle. A 6-4-3 double play.

Stains on the jersey from a diving catch deep in the outfield. Collisions at the plate.

Infuriated managers. Ejections.

Catchers giving pitchers signs. Pitchers shaking off the catcher’s sign.

A suicide bunt to score the tying run. A grand slam. Hitting for the cycle.

Extra innings. Game-winning walk-off hits. Fireworks. Excitement. Celebrations.

Grown men dog piling on top of each other.

Joy.

Baseball brings euphoric emotions to each of its fans.

Dreams begin for children today. Dreams for their team. Dreams of playing someday.

Dreams for adults. This game allows them to become kids. Fathers and sons enjoying their first glimpse of the new season while playing hooky from work and school.

We witnessed extraordinary events in 2009: a no-hitter and a perfect game. Gary Sheffield’s 500^th home run and Randy Johnson’s 300^th career win. Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home and The Kid returning to Seattle.

What will be in store for 2010?

Button up your jersey. Tighten your newly-polished cleats. Adjust your cap and get ready. The boys are back in town, ready for a 162-game dogfight for the chance to be crowned the world’s greatest.

Baseball is back.

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.

Aug. 21, 1942-Feb. 12, 2010

** This article is also featured on Bleacher Report. **

They say baseball brings out the child in them.

Even as we grow older, however, some of our childhood pastimes don’t fade out of the spotlight.

I grew up spending every summer hour from dawn to dusk in my backyard.

My best friend and I would play “fake games,” which consisted of imaginary wiffleball games where the two of us played both teams and all 18 players. We tossed the ball up to ourselves and let our creativity unfold the rest.

I’d step up to the plate, pretending I was the actual player.

When Andres Galarraga stepped to the plate, my stance was open. When it was Dante Bichette’s turn in the lineup I would remove my hat from my head, run my fingers through my imaginary long hair and clinch both hands on the ends of the bat and circle it over my head like he used to do.

We had a magic erase board for the scoreboard and my dog’s pen for the dugout.

One summer when my next door neighbor was getting his house painted, the painters stayed late so they could listen to the excitement in our voices as we called the game.

Perhaps that was the game that concluded when Larry Walker hit a walk-off home run, clanking off the neighbor’s house, still fresh with wet paint.

When my friend wasn’t around, the baseball didn’t stop.

I used my pitch-back to, again, throw my imaginary games. This time I was the actual player on the roster, playing for a big league team.

I gave myself four seconds to field the ball, throw it to the net and have it bounce back into my glove in order to record an out. For every four seconds it took to do that, it was another base.

I even kept track of stats and recorded them into a document on the computer. After the game I would conduct my own postgame interviews, where I, both the analyst and the manager, would discuss the game and box score.

Now, a decade later, I’m a 20-year-old grown man and my imagination still runs wild.

There is no greater summer evening activity than getting friends together for a game of wiffleball.

My friend has an ideal wiffleball yard, full of fenced off home run areas, a short porch in right field and the giant pine tree, ruled as an automatic ground rule double.

Two floodlights make up the lighting so the games can stretch well into the evening while a home-made block of wood marks the strike zone.

We’ll even cut the grass into a baseball diamond and chalk the base paths with flour.

It’s now my turn to bat. Two pitches go by, the latter banking off the wooden strike zone. On the third pitch I take a swing and watch it soar.

“That one’s hit deep,” I shout out. “Back, to the track, you can kiss it goodbye.”

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.

July 23. It’s a simple date, but today marks the 13-year anniversary of my first trip to Coors Field.

Who knew it would transform my life and who knew the game would be so historical?

To be honest, I don’t remember much about the game.

I know the Rockies played the New York Mets.

I also recall my grandma, who took me to the game, teaching me that the home team wore white while the visitors were in gray.

Besides that, the last thing I remember about the game is joining the crowd with boos after the Rockies let up a home run. My grandma told me booing players was not polite.

Looking back at the game, it turns out we were booing a six-run sixth inning for the Mets, who tied the game that inning after the Rockies once led 7-0.

Upon looking back at the box scores, it turns out my first game at Coors Field was one heck of a game. It’s a shame I can’t remember anything from it, but that game was the first of an endless amount to come. Who couldn’t be turned on to the sport of baseball seeing 21 runs, 31 hits and a game-winning, walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth?

I saw Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla hit home runs while Andres Gallaraga hit a pair. Did I mention they were back to back to back home runs in front of a home crowd of 48,000-plus?

Eric Young, my all-time favorite Rockie, had a ninth inning infield single with the bases loaded, scoring Jayhawk Owens for the win.

The reason I remember the date of this event was my grandma later bought a personalized brick.

Back in Coors Field’s first few seasons of existence, the Rockies organization allowed fans to purchase bricks that could be engraved with a message, and then cemented into the ground leading up to the stadium near left field.

In quadrant 11, row three, seven bricks from the left,

“Nicholas A. Hallisey

Game 07 23 1996″

is engraved.

During my last visit to “the greatest place on Earth,” I took a stroll down Wynkoop Walk, the area containing the few thousand bricks.

Some people wrote personal messages, some were to loved ones. Others had famous quotes or were signed from the Rockies No. 1 fans.

“Baseball is life,” “Another Rockies fan born,” “Kiss it goodbye,” and “Thanks for the future memories” are just a few.

It’s a neat part of the stadium that not many people know about.

On the certificate that was given to me with my brick, it states that my brick will be forever etched in stone at Coors Field.

Thanks to that July game 13 years ago, my love for baseball has also been etched in stone.

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.

With Monday’s 10-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, along with the San Francisco Giants being pounded by the Atlanta Braves, the Rockies can say that if the regular season ended today, they would become the National League wild card winners for the second time in the past three years.

Problem is, there are still 68 games to play.

But with a record of 33-15 since May 29 when manager Jim Tracy took over, the Rockies look like they can compete to the end.

With the trade deadline approaching in T-9 days, what the Rockies desperately need is a strong middle reliever.

The club’s bullpen looks nothing like its opening day roster. With the exception of Huston Street, who also lost his role as closer once, the bullpen has been shuffled around and mix and matched in its entirety.

Matt Daley, Josh Fogg, Juan Rincon and Ryan Speier were not on the club’s opening day roster. Franklin Morales was, but not as a reliever. The club traded Jason Grilli while sending down players like Joel Peralta and Matt Belisle.

The team also lost a quality arm in Taylor Buchholz to Tommy John surgery and a veteran leader in Alan Embree to a broken leg. They recently added veteran Matt Herges to a minor-league deal and is reporting interest in free agent Mike Timlin.

Sure, signing a guy with the name Roy Halladay would bring excitement to Blake Street, but for what, two months? And Matt Holliday had a great stay in purple pinstripes, but a reunion tour is not what needs to be done to make an October push.

What the Rockies need is a reliable setup man.

Not some has-been or could-be. Not multiple washed up pitchers like in years past.

The organization has minor league depth in nearly every position. I’m not suggesting throwing away the farm, but package a couple prospects for a guy that can bridge the gap between the starting rotation and closer Huston Street. Or even better, if O’Dowd can find a club that will unload Garrett Atkins or Yorvit Torrealba, take it.

Chad Qualls is, perhaps, the biggest availability.

With 18 saves for a dismal Diamondback team, Qualls is paving his best year in the majors. He sports a lifetime 3.31 ERA, but one of his more impressive stats is just three home runs allowed this season. This would help in the thin air of Colorado.

Other possible names on the market: Boston’s Takashi Saito, Baltimore’s lefthander George Sherrill and Cleveland’s Rafael Bentancourt.

Colorado has a good team, no doubt. But with its bullpen ranked 14^th out of the 16-team National League, it is apparent that a strong setup man is needed.

Perhaps the biggest evidence, however, is the last two nights. On Monday night the Rockies held a 10-1 lead leading up to the seventh inning, when the relievers surrendered five runs, causing our closer to get warmed up in the ninth inning.

In Tuesday’s loss to the Diamondbacks, the Rockies blew a 4-0 lead, with the relievers allowing the final runs for the loss.

In less than two months, the Rockies have jumped from 10 under to eight over. I believe it’s time the Rockies become buyers at the deadline and purchase a durable arm.

It sure is a shame that college baseball doesn’t attract more attention.

Most would consider March Madness more entertaining than the NBA Finals, and fans plan their holidays around each year’s college football bowl games.

But the College World Series comes and passes with only the diehard baseball fans taking notice.

As the CWS comes to a close tonight, I am saddened by its passing. See, the student-athletes competing at Rosenblatt Stadium isn’t an everyday-site.

They show enthusiasm. They play with passion. They play with heart.

The defense is ready with each pitch and each batter hustles to each base.

In the dugout, players hang over the railing, eye black smeared and jerseys dirty, engaged with each pitch.

Late in the innings, superstitions arise with rally caps in every shape and the entire team sitting in similar formation.

They play the game like it’s their last. And for some, tonight will be.

It all takes place at a 60-year-old raggedy stadium, falling apart and facing its final days before destruction after next year’s World Series.

Rosenblatt stands in the middle of nowhere, but the players and fans treat it like it’s a magical place.

The fans are just as excited as the players. Hours before the game, baseball-junkies line up outside the outfield gates to reserve their general admission seats.

In 2001 they renovated The Blatt to add an additional 10,000 seats because the place would continuously sellout game after game.

The entire community of Omaha takes part of the two-week event.

It may be Nebraska, but during these weeks in June, the town is seen as a baseball Mecca.

On ESPN’s telecast of Game One, an emotional video tribute was shown.

The narrator told the story of Omaha.

“This place, this place is just inspiring. Rich with history and tradition. A shrine. The shining light and ultimate destination of so many… and so few. You see, Omaha’s not just another stop, not just another spot on the map. It’s a link to our past, and a clear path ahead. As time ticks away on this magnificent little place. It’s not a time for sadness, but a time for reflection. Because no matter at what location or on what hill, it’s Omaha that makes the College World Series special.

2009 has been full of memories. From Arizona State dusting off a four-run early hole to eliminate North Carolina, to Arkansas, one strike from elimination, taking Virginia into extra innings with a two run game-tying home run before beating the Cavs.

Arizona State nearly knocked off No. 1 seed Texas in the next game with a go-ahead triple in the ninth inning before the Longhorns hit two home runs in three batters, etching its name in the championship slot.

All that sets up tonight’s winner-take-all Game 3, featuring two of college baseball’s most historic teams, Texas and LSU.

“Who could have asked for a better script?,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “It’s one game to one. It’s one game for the national championship.”

History could be in the making tonight in Omaha.

It’s too bad the rest of the country won’t be watching.

Baseball truly is something special.

It’s more than a simple sport or even a game.

Baseball involves feelings and emotions, and in result, can create a special bond between a father and a son.

My dad didn’t introduce me to the beloved game. He didn’t pass down his trading cards or retell memories of players he saw while growing up.

No, my story is unique.

You see, my dad didn’t grow up loving the game that I do. He played little league, faked breaking his finger and didn’t pick up a glove until more than two decades later.

The reason my story is so special is how my dad became a fan of baseball.

I grew up playing recreational baseball, moving my way up into competitive and travel leagues.

My dad would spend endless hours in the backyard with me. He would wake up early or stay up late in order to help me become a better ballplayer. With each ball he soft-tossed to me, he pushed me to become a better player. As we played catch, he would instruct me to follow through with each throw.

One time I failed to listen to his advice and my throw sailed over his head and through the next door neighbor’s window, a memory that is humorous now, but wasn’t so funny when it happened. I was mad that my dad didn’t jump higher to catch my errant throw.

My dad took would take time off work to drive across the state and country to see me play. He went with me to every tournament and rarely missed a game. His free time turned into time watching me play baseball.

My mom recently told me that my dad would read books about baseball, learning the game so that it would give us something to talk about.

He gave up his life for the game that I loved.

I have the good fortune of having an April birthday, always falling right around Opening Day. Each Rockies’ home opener, my dad and I would play hooky from work and school to go to the game. A couple times, the game fell on my actual birthday, and once, we even saw Albert Pujols make his Major League debut.

We would get down to the game before the gates opened, early enough for batting practice and autographs, and he allowed me to stay after the game to savor the final sights, sounds and smells of the ballpark.

It was our time together.

There is no worldly thing that is more special to me than baseball.

When I think of baseball, however, it’s more than a game.

It’s an emotional attachment. It’s memories full of my dad and me spending hours together in the backyard, on the diamond or at the ballpark.

Baseball is for fathers and sons.

It’s for me and my dad.

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.

Everything seems to be working out perfectly for the Rockies. It’s like all of a sudden, something clicked and the light turned on.

Nine straight winning performances by the starting rotation, solid relief from the bullpen, timely, clutch hitting and games without mental lapses. For the first time, all aspects seem to be playing well, at the same time.

The storm clouds that formed across the Denver skyline cleared up at game time, creating a nice evening at the park. Rain, hail and tornado warnings across Colorado all week finally settled down for the 2 hour, 28 minute contest. Directly after, the clouds let loose and the streets were flooded with rain showers.

Nine consecutive wins ties for second all time in Rockies history–and they’re still going.

Unlike the first eight, though, the ninth came in front of an energetic home crowd. When a double play would be turned, the crowd would roar in cheers. When a close call went the other way, the fans would rain boos.

And let’s not forget the suicide squeeze bunt in the 6th inning when Ian Stewart barely slid safely on Dexter Fowler’s bunt. Or when Ubaldo Jimenez executed a perfect fake-bunt slap hit past a charging infield to score another run.

Ubaldo pitched a 127-pitch complete game. It was a gritty performance as he surrendered four runs just one out into the fourth inning.

My friend turned to me at that point and asked, “When would you take him out?”

I told him to give him a chance and keep in there for a little longer. Jimenez ended up going another 4 2/3, throwing just his second complete game of his career.

The crowd cheered when manager Jim Tracy left Jimenez in to bat in the 8^th inning after his pitch total was well into triple-digits and then erupted again when Tracy walked back to the dugout with two outs in the 9^th inning and the tying run at the plate. The manager went out to talk to Jimenez. Most feared he was taking him out just one out before the complete game.

And it was even a special night, not for the Rockies, but for myself getting to see Ken Griffey, Jr. play. I took off work and bought my tickets well before the streak began hoping to see him play.

I grew up idolizing Jr. and wanted to get one last chance to see him play. I saw him about a decade ago when he was still The Kid with the M’s and saw him a few years later on Opening Day with the Reds, but I was hoping, that he would take the field for a rare outfield spot in the lineup to see him play once more. I was disappointed when he didn’t start, but when I saw the pitchers spot was due up in the 9^th, it gave me hope. In fact, Griffey did come to the plate, drawing a walk.

It was the never give up mentality that gave the Rockies their ninth consecutive win. The fought, battled, and came from behind to beat the Mariners 6-4 in the series opener.

Don’t wake me, I’m enjoying the ride.

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.

My youth baseball coach used to tell my team there were no girls allowed in baseball. The opposite sex wasn’t allowed on the field, in the dugout, or anywhere else that could potentially take our focus away from the game being played.

The guideline may still hold true, but they are allowed in the stands.

I started playing baseball during my early childhood and didn’t relinquish my passion for playing the game until more than a decade later. At the beginning of my playing career, I’d be surprised if my mom knew what the difference between a home run and a double play was.

Over the years, however, she began to learn the game that I had fallen in love with.

To be honest, I don’t know if she had much of a choice. That’s how she spent each of her weekends between March and October. She travelled all over the state of Colorado and even to nearby states through the Midwest. She graciously sat through heat, hail and freezing temperatures to watch me play.

My team created shirts that my mom proudly wore that read, “I have no life. My son plays competitive baseball.”

She began to understand and even started to enjoy the game. She volunteered herself to chart pitches to keep track of balls, strikes and what type of pitch was thrown during my games.

My mom was a baseball mom.

During the summers we would go to Rockies games together.

We would eat sunflower seeds in the car as she kindly made the trek to the stadium in the late morning so I could see batting practice and gather by the home dugout to get autographs. After the games, she would stay late to let me savor each moment of being at the stadium.

I witnessed my first playoff game with her in 2007 and got to be with her for her first Opening Day last season. Perhaps my favorite memory with my mom, not just involving sports, but in general, was when she picked me up from a morning pitching lesson and told me we had to run a few errands before going home.

Being a child, I was disappointed that I was going to miss my favorite cartoons to instead go shopping. After several miles of driving south down I-25, I grumpily asked my mom, “What mall are we going to?”

She pulled out my glove and Rockies jersey from the backseat and started singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

We were going to the Rockies game that afternoon.

Despite the excessive amount of games I’ve been to in my 20 years of living, I have never caught a foul ball. I’ve gotten balls during batting practice or tossed to me during warm-ups, but never during a game.

My mom, on the other hand, has.

In an afternoon ballgame, a foul ball hit by Neifi Perez sliced down right field and into the seats one section away. As I quickly popped out of my seat to run near the ball, the ball bounced several feet in front of me and well over my head.

When I got back to my seat, my mom held the ball up to me with a smile. The ball had bounced straight into our row where she picked the ball up off of the ground. She explained how a guy tried grabbing the ball from her, but she wrapped her fingers around it tightly and yelled, “It’s mine, I’ve got it.”

In another game with my mom, I was ecstatic when I saw my first live balk called as Chan Ho Park of the Dodgers double-stepped while on the mound. I looked at my mom with excitement and asked, “Did you see that?” I proceeded to explain to her what Park illegally did and what a balk was.

Earlier this season, while watching a Sunday night telecast with my mom, she rewound the DVR on our TV as she said, “Look, that’s a balk!”

I’ve turned my mom into a sports nut. She has given her life to baseball and now will turn on the TV to watch a game, even if I’m not home with her.

I’m now in college and have final exams next week. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do much for my mom for her special day today. However, when the Rockies return from their road trip and play at Coors Field again later this month, I’ll be taking her to a game.

She’s almost as big of a baseball fan as I am now, and I know she wouldn’t want to spend her day any other way.

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.