Fireworks and baseball have been a favorite combination in Denver almost as long as fans can remember.
The favored summer activity has been a focal point for fans, whether in the minor-league era or with the major-league Rockies since 1993. The second of three fireworks games on the Rockies’ schedule is Friday night.
“Our fireworks games are about as popular with the fans as opening day,” said Sue Ann McClaren, the Rockies’ vice president of ticket sales.
Robert Howsam, a member of the prominent Denver baseball family whose ties to the game go all the way back to the end of World War II, remembers when the crowds attending the fireworks games were at full capacity at Mile High Stadium.
“The fireworks games in Mile High Stadium became a great tradition that carried over to Coors Field,” Howsam said. “We regularly had crowds approaching 70,000 for baseball and fireworks, and our crowd was always the largest in professional baseball for that day. People in a lot of the major-league cities took notice.”
McClaren believes the popularity of the fireworks games has remained because the Rockies’ management has maintained a high-quality show over the years.
“There’s a strong connection here between fireworks and baseball,” McClaren said. “We get a lot of out-of-town fans to those games. It’s great for families, and everybody walks away feeling they’ve experienced a great night of baseball and fireworks.”
There have been some glitches over the years, but the show always has gone on.
The Rockies’ first fireworks game this year was scheduled May 22. The Rockies-San Francisco Giants game was halted by rain. The delay lasted so long, the fireworks show was presented before the game resumed.
Howsam recalls a Denver Zephyrs fireworks show in the late 1980s that had a soggy beginning.
“They were just getting ready to start the fireworks show, and the sprinkler system started up on the field,” Howsam said. “Everybody had a laugh, and then the show started.”
The Denver Bears had their fireworks moments as well. On July 4, 1979, the Bears trailed Omaha 14-7 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning at Mile High Stadium. Capped by a three-run homer from Jim Cox, Denver scored nine runs and won 16-14. Then the actual fireworks started.
One of the more bizarre happenings occurred July 4, 1986. When the bottom of the ninth inning ended, the stadium crew cut the lights. There was a problem. The score in the game was tied and it took half an hour to get the field lights back up to capacity before play could resume.
“We always tried to have the best fireworks show in the city,” Denver Zephyrs owner John Dikeou said. “And most of the time we did. We tried to make it an event. We invited the governor, the mayor, all the city officials.”
Gerald Phipps, the former owner of the Bears and the Broncos, said it was just part of the lure of baseball in Denver’s minor-league era.
“I hope it doesn’t get too much more sophisticated,” Phipps said at the time. “I still like to think people go out to the ballgame because it’s a fun time.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296, imoss@denverpost.com or
