Postseason baseball is an elixir for Walt Weiss. It’s a passion, a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
The mere mention of his World Series championship with the 1989 Oakland Athletics or any of his ventures into the postseason in his 14-year big-league career turns Weiss into a rookie again.
He was sitting in the dugout Monday night at Coors Field before the Rockies-Diamondbacks game in the National League Championship Series, and the location took him back to one of his fondest baseball memories.
Weiss was one of the few veteran leaders on a young Rockies team that won the NL’s wild-card playoff berth in 1995, only the Rockies’ third season.
“Ellis Burks had some postseason experience, but there wasn’t a lot of playoff experience on the roster,” Weiss said. “Being a third-year team, expectations weren’t that high. We exceeded expectations and that was pretty neat.”
Out in front of Weiss, the Rockies were warming up for Game 4 in the best-of-seven series with Arizona. Weiss was right with them in spirit.
“It never becomes old hat,” Weiss said. “The novelty of the postseason never wears off. The atmosphere is so different. You can sense how different it is the minute you walk into the clubhouse for the first game.”
Even though the 1995 Rockies lost to the Atlanta Braves in four games, 3-1, Weiss remembers details of the final game of the regular season as if it were yesterday. The Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 10-9 to claim the wild card and start a World Series-caliber champagne celebration in the clubhouse.
“We were looking at the scoreboard all day,” Weiss said. “Houston was playing Chicago. The Cubs were leading early and we were losing early. If we both lost, we were in. But Houston rallied and we were facing a playoff game in Houston. We were down 8-2 and there was a lot of tension in the dugout, but we put together a couple of rallies and won the game.”
Weiss’ job with that Rockies team was to get on base in front of the Blake Street Bombers – Dante Bichette, Larry Walker, Andres Galarraga, Vinny Castilla and Burks.
Memories of the 1995 Rockies’ battle for survival bring Weiss back to the present – and back in touch with the team he was watching warm up.
“This team has played survival games for a month,” Weiss said. “I’m just impressed with the way they have handled themselves in that kind of pressure for as long as they have.”
Weiss finished his big-league playing career with the Braves in 2000. After a year out of baseball, he rejoined the Rockies organization as a special assistant to the general manager. He suits up for Rockies home games and tours the team’s minor-league areas and gives instruction to the organization’s young infielders when he’s not in uniform. He looks at it as a part-time job.
“I get to see the landscape of the organization when I got out to the minor-league teams,” Weiss said. “I get a good look at the big picture. One day I’ll make a decision, one way or the other. But baseball is what I do and being on the field and in uniform feels right to me.”
Weiss is in uniform and so is Brody, his 13-year-old son. It was Brody’s turn to be at the game in a rotation with brothers Blake, Bo and Brock. The four boys are one reason Weiss isn’t in the game full time.
He has a special connection with Brody, whose seventh-grade football team Weiss coaches.
Brody contacted an E. coli bacteria illness when Weiss was finishing out his playing career in Atlanta. It was touch and go for a while, but Brody has been clear of the illness for several years.
Weiss bio
Born: Nov. 28, 1963. Graduate of Suffern (N.Y.) High School.
Career highlight: “You can’t beat the World Series championship. You’re the last team standing.”
Favorite foods: Pasta, pizza.
Other sports: High school quarterback.
Activities (or lack thereof): “I’m the only guy in the game who doesn’t golf, fish or hunt.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
