The Blake Street Bombers lived off Jan Sumner.
As a batting practice pitcher for the Rockies for six seasons in the 1990s, Sumner’s job was to serve up fat, hittable pitches to some of the most powerful hitters in baseball. Even though Sumner had a protective screen to get behind, it was a bit unnerving to see Andres Galarraga, Larry Walker, Vinny Castilla and Ellis Burks sharpening their talent by tearing the cover off the ball at the plate.
“They wanted four-seam fastballs right down the gut,” Sumner said. “They wanted the same speed and location over and over again.”
As a pitcher in high school at Denver’s George Washington and in college at Colorado State College in Greeley, Sumner’s job was to get hitters out. With the Rockies, he was supposed to let them hit.
“I think the Rockies tried some college pitchers in the early part of their first season in 1993,” Sumner said. “But they threw as if they were trying to make the Rockies’ pitching staff. My job was to just put the ball in there and if they hit it out, they hit it out.”
Most major-league teams spread batting practice pitching chores among the coaching staff. But the coaching staff of the original Rockies was pitching poor. Manager Don Baylor needed a right- hander and a left-hander to complete the pregame tuneups. Sumner became the right-hander. Jim McKay, once a top prospect out of Aurora Central High School, pitched batting practice from the left side.
Sumner was pitching in an adult league when he heard the Rockies were looking for batting practice pitchers. He auditioned with hitting coach Amos Otis and got the job.
Sumner delivered his carefully crafted pitches in 1993, skipped 1994, returned in 1995 and stayed through 1999. His bosses were the hitting coaches, starting with Otis in 1993 and followed by Art Howe, Ken Griffey Sr. and Clint Hurdle.
“I probably threw the pitches at about 70 miles per hour,” Sumner said. “We threw just four-seam fastballs, no breaking pitches.
“The first year at Mile High Stadium, our lockers were with the batboys and not in the clubhouse. By the time we moved to Coors Field (in 1995), we were in the clubhouse.”
Sumner was so good at pitching batting practice, the Rockies took him on road trips. He pitched at Wrigley Field in Chicago and at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
“I was able to work pretty fast,” Sumner said. “I’d probably throw 200 pitches in 20 minutes. It became such a routine that I probably could have thrown blindfolded. I know I could have thrown blindfolded to John Vander Wal and Walt Weiss. They always were in the same place.
“Andres Galarraga (the 1993 National League batting champion with the expansion Rockies at .370) hit the ball harder than anyone. He had that wide- open stance, and that bothered me a little the first time he stepped into the cage.”
Dante Bichette was the only member of the Blake Street Bombers who didn’t hit off Sumner. Bichette said Sumner’s pitches had too much velocity, so he preferred having one of the coaches pitch to him during BP.
“It was a sad day for me when Don Baylor left,” Sumner said. “I had become good friends with Gene Glynn (a coach on Baylor’s staff), and it was hard to see them go. Jim Leyland was the manager in 1999, my last year. He also was good to work with, but they decided to use the coaches for batting practice.”
Sumner stays active in baseball by doing clinics and working with young pitchers in the Denver area. In 2006, his connection to the game got him to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Coopers- town, N.Y.
Sumner wrote a book about Negro Leagues player Byron Johnson, an all- star shortstop with the Kansas City Monarchs. The Hall of Fame invited Sumner to Cooperstown to tell Johnson’s story as a guest speaker.
Sumner has written another book, this one about his experiences as a batting practice pitcher for the Rockies. It’s appropriately titled “Fatpitch.”
Sumner bio
Born: March 19, 1945, in Independence, Kan.
High school: George Washington in Denver
Colleges: Colorado State College in Greeley, Metro State
Family: Wife Karen, daughters Jackie and Danni
Hobby: Writing
