“Very nice,” he said, giving me a wry, knowing smile and a short laugh.

Some background is definitely required here.

In 2014, Weiss was managing the Rockies on a hazy, humid September Sunday morning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Somehow, Weiss, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, and I started talking about our 1970s crushes. We mentioned, of course, Farrah Fawcett and her famous poster, Cheryl Tiegs and her poster, as well as other supermodels and Hollywood stars. I said I once had a poster of pop singer Linda Ronstadt.

Then came the bombshell.

“I had a crush on Barbara Streisand,” Thomas said. “I thought she was hot.”

Walt and I were aghast. As Walt pointed out, “Babs” had a nose like his own. No way Thomas was telling us the truth, right? To this day, insists he was.

The kicker came after the Rockies lost to the Cardinals that day. Walt pulled us aside and said, “You know, when I was going out to the mound to make a pitching change, I kept thinking about Barbra Streisand. Thanks a lot, Thomas.”

The point of my ramble down memory lane? My nearly 28-year career at The Denver Post ends Wednesday when the Rockies host the Red Sox at Coors Field. I’ve covered World Series, Super Bowls, Final Fours, Nuggets games and scores of high school state championships alongside Kyle Newman. In the end, my fondest memories are not about games, highlight reels, strategy, upsets, or scoops. My fondest memories are about people. It’s what I wrote about best.

Being a baseball beat writer is the most gratifying of any of the major sports beats, in my humble opinion. You get to know the people, from owners and managers to players and clubbies to broadcasters and fellow writers. Meanwhile, the walls between the NFL and the media grow thicker and taller with each passing year. I can’t imagine Broncos beat writers talking about their boyhood crushes with coach Sean Payton.

I was hired by The Post in October 1998, joining Adam Schefter as a Broncos No. 2 beat writer, just in time to cover John Elway’s second Super Bowl title. In the summer of 2005, I was yanked off the Broncos beat and moved to the Rockies, as the No. 2 writer behind current Post columnist Troy Renck. It was a demotion for me, no doubt.

My wife, Nancy, and I were shocked by the grind of the baseball beat, especially back in the days when The Post still traveled to cover the Rockies. We eventually embraced the lifestyle, though it wasn’t easy.

Covering a team afflicted with chronic losing wasn’t easy either. I covered the Rockies for nearly 20 years, and during that time, they had five winning seasons, made the playoffs four times, and made one magical run to the World Series in 2007.

I’ve had to rewrite more deadline game stories than I can count. The adage in the Coors Field press box: “The Rockies blew another lead. And they blew another lede.”

But, all in all, it’s been quite a wonderful ride. What follows are excerpts from some of my favorite stories I wrote for The Post. The common theme is people.

McCaffrey family legacy

When I started covering the Broncos, first for the Longmont Times-Call and then with The Post, training camp was still held at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. The players stayed in one dorm, the media in another, and we shared the same cafeteria. Access to the players was incredible. I once interviewed Elway while riding in a golf cart as the fans screamed for autographs — Elway’s, not mine.

That’s how I got to know wide receiver Ed McCaffrey and his wife, Lisa. In 1999, I profiled their family’s rich sports legacy:

When 5-year-old Max McCaffrey plays soccer, his 3-year-old brother, Christian, can’t bear to watch.

“Christian is always trying to run out on the field to be with his big brother,” his dad said. “We have to keep reeling him back in.”

Christian can’t help it. The need for speed, the energy driving his little motor, the desire to follow the bouncing ball — they’re in his genes.

His grandfather won a silver medal in the 100-meter dash at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Uncle Billy became a legend in the Pennsylvania Rust Belt and later won a national basketball championship with the Duke Blue Devils.

When she was a pixie in South Florida, Christian’s mom scored so many goals for her high school soccer team that her mug shot ended up in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd.”

Christian’s dad? All he’s done is win three Super Bowl rings, earn a trip to the Pro Bowl, develop a stiff-arm that could stop a rhinoceros, become one of the best receivers in Denver Broncos history and destroy forever the notion that white men can’t run.

Arenado’s SoCal roots

In 2016, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado was a budding star. I traveled to his boyhood home of Lake Forest, in Orange County, California. While the Rockies hosted the Blue Jays at Coors Field, I sat in the living room of Fernando and Millie Arenado as they watched the game on TV. It was a remarkable day, topped off with a trip to El Toro High School, less than 10 minutes from the Arenado home. I spent an hour reminiscing with Mike Gonzalez, Arenado’s high school coach.

Here’s the beginning of my story about Arenado’s baseball roots:

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — The trim, stucco home looks like many others in this quiet, middle-class Southern California neighborhood. There is a basketball hoop out front and a beautifully tiled swimming pool in the backyard.

Step inside and you’re enveloped by warmth. Family photos cover every wall, every shelf, every nook and cranny. The family dog, a white Havanese named Mojito (“Mo” for short), hops up on the comfy couch to greet visitors.

Baseball is everywhere, too. Indeed, the home is something of an impromptu museum. Near the TV in the living room sits Nolan Arenado’s gleaming 2015 Silver Slugger Award. Open a nearby cabinet, and one of Arenado’s three Gold Glove Awards sits among a sea of memorabilia.

Likely more baseball stuff will be added after Tuesday night����ap All-Star Game in San Diego, where Arenado, the Rockies’ third baseman, will be appearing, the second year in a row he was voted in by fellow major-league players. Who knows? Perhaps an All-Star Game MVP trophy will be his newest baseball heirloom. At the very least, his All-Star Game jersey will find a place in the Arenado home.

Upstairs is the “Bonus Room,” as the family calls it. In the middle sits a pool table, now overflowing with framed photos, jerseys and signed baseballs. On the couch in front of a big-screen TV sits a Star Wars stormtrooper helmet. Back in the day, Arenado wore it while playing video games.

A day in the life of Buddy Black

I covered five managers in my time with the Rockies: Clint Hurdle, a force of nature and philosophy; Loquacious Jim Tracy, one of the nicest men I’ve ever met; Weiss, a fellow Bruce Springsteen fanatic; Bud Black, a walking baseball encyclopedia who’s beloved throughout the game; and current manager Warren Schaeffer, full of incredible passion and heart.

Of all of the Rockies’ managers, I know Black the best. We’re near the same age and share the same sense of humor. We still text frequently. In 2018, in the midst of a race for the National League West title, Black allowed me to go behind the scenes and chronicle a day in the life of a big-league manager:

It����ap the second week of September, the Rockies are chasing their first division title, and Bud Black has former Bronco Peyton Manning on his mind.

He’s trying to figure out a way to get the legendary quarterback to appear in a video that would play on the giant scoreboard at Coors Field as the Rockies make their run to a possible National League West crown.

“I want Peyton, waving his arms up and down, to get the crowd going,” Black says. “Hey, we don’t care about the snap count! We want it loud! ‘Omaha! Omaha!’ ”

Later in the afternoon, he’ll call in Julian Valentin, the director of social media, to see if there has been any progress on Project Peyton. (Valentin tells Black that it����ap being looked into).

Black’s office, down the hallway from the players’ spacious clubhouse, contains a comfy black-leather couch and a tidy desk. Photographs of Coors Field adorn the walls, including one that captures the joy of a young boy watching a game. Encased in a glass frame is the lineup and a baseball from Black’s first game as Rockies manager. It����ap dated April 3, 2017, a game in which the Rockies beat the Brewers at Milwaukee, 7-5.

Black has plenty on his to-do list, though he goes about his chores with a relaxed, easy manner. Colorado’s second-year manager, age 61, plans to watch video, meet with his coaches, chat with some players and confer with head trainer Keith Dugger. The night before, the Rockies hammered the Diamondbacks, 13-2. With nothing to stew over and no second-guesses haunting him, he got an excellent night����ap sleep. Today, he’s open to having a reporter shadow him, from arriving at the ballpark just after noon through another critical game that night vs. Arizona.

Helton gets the call

Todd Helton is the greatest player in Rockies history. He’s a complex, moody, smart and extremely funny man. His sense of humor can be cutting and takes some getting used to. Somehow, we bonded.

In January 2024, Helton invited Thomas and me to his home outside Knoxville, Tenn., to be there with his family and close friends when he got the call that he’d been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We all figured he’d get in, but there were no guarantees. It turned out to be one of the most memorable days of my career:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Todd Helton, arms folded across his chest, nervously paced the living room of his home Tuesday afternoon.

“I haven’t been superstitious for 10 years, not since I retired,” the Rockies’ iconic first baseman said. “Today, I’m superstitious. I didn’t look at anything, I didn’t watch anything, I didn’t look at the internet.”

He could have spared himself the angst.

Because, fittingly, at 5:17 p.m. Eastern time, No. 17 got the call of a lifetime. Told that he had been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Helton pumped his fist and finally took a deep breath.

“It����ap the greatest honor you can get as a baseball player,” Helton said. “Getting your number retired and getting elected to the Hall of Fame are the two greatest achievements you can get.”

Still, Helton wasn’t quite ready to let it all go.

“I’m going to go (crazy) when y’all leave,” he said.

The sweet-swinging Helton, the beloved heart and soul of the Rockies for 17 seasons and one of the most accomplished players of his era, received 79.7% of the vote, clearing the 75% bar required by the Hall of Fame and the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Matzek, ‘The Yips,’ and me

We’ve all got something. Mine is anxiety and depression, something I’ve dealt with for much of my adult life.

That’s why I was so interested in Tyler Matzek’s story. The former Rockies pitcher had such a bad case of the yips, brought on by performance anxiety, that it nearly ruined his baseball career. In December 2015, we met in a Southern California coffee shop and talked for nearly three hours. He was remarkably candid.

In 2021, he won a World Series as a shutdown reliever for the Braves. But before that, I wrote this story:

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. — On Sept. 5, 2014, at Coors Field, Tyler Matzek pitched a three-hit shutout against the San Diego Padres. Poised and confident, and throwing a 94 mph fastball with graceful ease, the Rockies’ rookie left-hander was dominant. Over his final six starts, Matzek went 4-2 with a 1.55 ERA. He looked like the Rockies’ ace of the future.

Yet demons lurked in the corners of Matzek’s mind, and by the time he took the mound for the Rockies’ 2015 home opener April 10, he was headed for trouble.

“Even when things were going the right way, there was this overwhelming stress inside me that just kept building and building and building,” Matzek said recently while sipping coffee at a Starbucks in Southern California. “(Then) I just couldn’t hold that stress any longer and my game collapsed.”

Matzek was suffering from performance anxiety.

It wrecked him on the mound and even began to creep into his everyday life.

“My wife, Lauren, said it was our worst time, relationship-wise, because I was so tight, so stressed, just waiting to explode from this thing,” Matzek said. “She knew it wasn’t about her, but it was hard.”

But the quiet, intelligent 25-year-old confronted his condition head-on, confident he would fulfill the promise that prompted the Rockies to make him the 11th pick in the first round of the 2009 draft. He is determined to compete for a job in the Rockies’ starting rotation in spring training.

Thanks, mom

The day after I cover my final Rockies game, Nancy and I are flying to Southern California. We’ll join my extended family to scatter the ashes of my mom, Anita, and my dad, Dusty, in Laguna Beach, their favorite vacation spot.

This is my final chance to say thanks, sharing past stories with you:

Somewhere up there, my mom is smiling.

Ryan McMahon hit a home run for the Rockies in their 4-3 win over the Giants on Thursday night. McMahon broke out of a horrendous slump.

“RyMac” was my mom’s second-favorite Rockie, right behind Todd Helton. Why? Partly because he’s Irish, mostly because I like RyMac.

She was thrilled when Helton invited me to his Knoxville, Tenn., home to witness his Hall of Fame phone call in January 2024. When my wife, Nancy, and I were invited to Helton’s party in Cooperstown last July, my mom felt like she was there.

During her last years, I watched Rockies road games with her when I could. She rarely asked why the team was winning or losing. Strategy was not her thing. She always asked, “Is so and so a good guy?”

That����ap the kind of sports fan my mom was. She knew nothing about OPS, yards after catch, 3-point percentages, or point spreads. She just liked how players played and hoped they were good people. She loved Dr. J, Nolan Arenado and Floyd Little.

In the Broncos’ infancy, when Little was their only star and the game plan was “Little off left tackle, Little off right tackle,” my mom would shout, “Don’t hurt Floyd!”

In her later years, she’d tried to stay up late enough to watch manager Bud Black’s postgame news conference, not because she wanted to hear his explanations but to hear me ask a question.

Thanks, dad

I wrote this journal a few months before my dad died in May 2022:

What do you get your dad for his 90th birthday?

I’ve been pondering that question for the past few weeks. I kept striking out.

Then, as I perused the web, I came across a cool T-shirt. Cardinals red, the shirt displays the image of Stan Musial, leaning on a baseball bat. The script simply reads: The MAN.

How many sports-related T-shirts, sweatshirts and books have I given my dad over the years? I’ve lost track. It doesn’t matter. My dad’s going to love his “Stan the Man” T-shirt.

A father and son bonding over sports is not unique, but it is different for every father and son.

Walter Patrick “Dusty” Saunders was born on Sept. 24, 1931, in Denver. He was a lonely kid. His father died when he was 9 years old, and his mom died when he was 10.

In the 1940s, my dad’s companions were the radio, books and sports. He became a St. Louis Cardinals fan because he could pick up the strong signal from KMOX radio in St. Louis. Musial was his favorite player.

In 2006, my first full year on the Rockies beat, I took my dad to St. Louis for Father’s Day to watch the Rockies play the Cardinals in the first year of the new Busch Stadium. He chatted with Clint Hurdle and Todd Helton. After the game, my dad, MLB.com Rockies beat writer Thomas Harding and I had dinner at former Cardinal Mike Shannon’s restaurant. Thomas and I still talk about that day.

Cole Carrigg’s off to a pretty solid start in his MLB career, but why was he promoted instead of Charlie Condon or Zac Veen? Was he just playing that much better than them? Is it to manage their service time in the majors? A little of both? Thanks.

— Marshall, Parker

Marshall, since you submitted your question, Carrigg has been sensational. It’s not about service time.

In the Rockies’ excruciating loss to the Cubs on Monday night, he drove in all four runs and hit an eighth-inning, three-run home run that should have stood as the game-winner.

Carrigg plays with a swagger and an edge, and in that regard, he reminds me of Troy Tulowitzki as a rookie. I asked one of Tulo’s former teammates if he shared my opinion.

“I see some,” the teammate responded. “Tulo wasn’t on the razor’s edge of out of control like Carrigg.”

Anyway, to your question, the Rockies front office sees a lot of things that fans don’t see, and that I don’t see or consider. Paul DePodesta, the president of baseball operations, recently told me that they take a hard look at “the process” a player has in the minors as a major part of their decision on when to promote a player.

Carrigg has proven that he was ready. I think promotions for Condon and Veen could very well depend on what happens as the trade deadline nears.

Patrick, I heard you’re leaving soon. It’s been a pleasure reading your coverage all these years. The Denver sports community is losing an absolute legend. What are some of the most memorable moments of your career?

— Ryan C., Aurora

Ryan, thanks for your kind comments.

Leaving The Post after nearly 28 years is a hard and emotional decision, but it was time. The buyout I was offered made me accelerate my retirement timeline. The baseball beat, particularly covering a losing Rockies team over the last few years, has been a grind. Plus, the industry is changing fast, and I’m becoming a bit of a dinosaur.

I have far too many memories to mention here in any detail, so I will list a few: Rocktober; covering all three of the Broncos’ Super Bowl title wins; watching Nolan Arenado play third base; spending time in the dugout talking baseball and music with Bud Black; being at Todd Helton’s house in Tennessee when he got the call that he was elected to the Hall of Fame; working with some incredible colleagues, especially Kyle Newman and Troy Renck; crazy, fun times in the press box with the crew; covering games at all 30 major league ballparks; having Coors Field as my office on perfect summer nights; and forming a friendship with MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, with whom I’ve had a bromance for 25 years.

I’ll be writing a farewell story soon, so keep an eye out for it.

Did you expect T.J. Rumfield to be our breakout star this season? I certainly didn’t, but, boy, is it nice to have a solution at first base after so many years of failed experiments. Do you think he’ll win the Rookie of the Year award?

— Mike, Denver

Mike, I was excited about Rumfield after seeing him play in spring training and reading the reports on his skill set. As I wrote in February: “T.J. Rumfield was a big-league first baseman trapped in Triple-A limbo.”

But I have been surprised by the quality of his at-bats; he’s been hitting like a seasoned veteran. His glove work at first base has been outstanding.

However, I don’t think he’ll be named the National League’s top rookie, for a few reasons.

First, he plays in Colorado for a team with the worst record in baseball and he’s not going to get much attention from the baseball writers who vote for the award.

Second, he plays his home games at Coors Field, which will automatically disqualify him in the minds of some voters. That’s a shame, because he’s hit just as well on the road as at home. At Coors, he’s slashing .263/.353/.449 (.802 OPS), with five homers and 22 RBIs. On the road, he’s slashing .287/.359/.465 with four homers and 12 RBIs.

Third, there are several strong candidates, led by Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt, Reds first baseman Sal Stewart, and Mets right-hander Nolan McLean.

Are you surprised, disappointed, or comfortably numb by how the Rockies have performed so far this season?

— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.

Comfortably numb? You must be a Pink Floyd fan.

Anyway, I’m not sure my characterization is on your list. I would say mildly encouraged, but the state of the pitching staff is a huge concern.

Hey Patrick! Who do you think has the best shot at becoming our lone representative at the All-Star Game? I thought it was going to be Mickey Moniak before he went on IL. I feel like our best shots are Hunter Goodman, Antonio Senzatela or Tomoyuki Sugano.

— Ryan, Aurora

Ryan, the Rockies will have only one representative, and it’s going to be Goodman for the second consecutive season. As I write this, he’s slashing .255/.327/.537 (.864 OPS) with 27 RBIs.

There were hugs all around from those Rockies who knew Weiss back in the day.

And jokes about his newfound internet fame.

“You don’t mess with Walt, as everybody has seen now,” Rockies longtime trainer Keith Dugger said with a laugh.

The thing is, the 62-year-old Weiss never expected to go viral. But there he was, sparking memes, inspiring T-shirts, “Come put on the pads, Skip.”

In case you missed it (how could you?), that broke out between the Braves and the Angels in Anaheim, Calif., on April 8.

As fists started to fly between Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez and Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler, Weiss sprinted from the dugout, flipped off his hat, and tackled the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Soler.

The 6-foot, 180-pound Weiss, who still lives in Parker during the offseason, is a soft-spoken gentleman. But just beneath the surface flows white-hot competitive intensity. Sporting biceps like Schwarzenegger’s, Weiss goes to the gym nearly every day. He’s a martial artist with a black belt in taekwondo and has training in MMA, including jiu-jitsu.

Soler was the 2021 World Series MVP for the Braves when Weiss was the bench coach. But that didn’t matter in the heat of the moment.

“I love Soler. We were teammates here,” that night. “But that����ap a big man, and so I just felt I’ve gotta get him off his feet because he’s gonna hurt somebody. And so that was my instinct, just to get in there and get Jorge off his feet, yeah, because he was on a warpath.”

Weiss is way past all of that now, but the moment inspired the Braves.

“We could not get enough of it,” said Braves reliever Tyler Kinley, who pitched for Colorado from 2020 through part of 2025 before he was traded to Atlanta. “Guys rally around different things throughout the year, and that, for us, was huge. Guys already knew that Walt was tough and a bad dude.

“I mean, everyone knows that Soler is a big dude, and he’s not a gentle giant. To see Walt zone in on Soler, find him, and then take him down and end the whole scrum was amazing. Guys were already ready to run through a brick wall for Walt.”

An evolution from player to skipper

Weiss’ baseball card is impressive. He played 14 years in the majors and was the American League rookie of the year in 1988 with the Oakland A’s, with whom he won three pennants and the 1989 World Series. He played shortstop for the Rockies from 1994-97. He was an All-Star with the Braves in 1998 at age 34.

After retiring as a player in 2000, Weiss served as a special assistant and instructor with the Rockies from 2002 to 2008. He managed the Rockies for four seasons (2013-16) and was Atlanta’s bench coach for eight years before replacing Brian Snitker as manager.

Former Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd hired Weiss to replace Jim Tracy after the Rockies’ 98-loss season in 2012. The Rockies went 283-365 under Weiss, and while owner Dick Monfort wanted him to continue after the 2016 season, Weiss resigned because of his strained relationship with Jeff Bridich, the GM who replaced O’Dowd.

The Rockies improved to 75-87 under Weiss in 2016, and many of the building blocks were in place for the 2017-18 Rockies teams that made the playoffs under Bud Black, most notably an infield that included third baseman Nolan Arenado, shortstop Trevor Story, and second baseman DJ LeMahieu, as well as All-Star outfielders Charlie Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez.

“The circumstances are worlds apart,” Weiss said Friday when asked what he learned managing the Rockies. “The first time I did this, back here, I had been out of the game for four years, which is an eternity in this league. I mean, I was coaching high school football (at Regis Jesuit) when I interviewed for that job.

“I had a lot to learn, had to learn on the fly. But I had a good staff around me that helped me through those early years.”

Weiss has evolved a lot since then.

“I saw the game probably more through a player’s eyes back then, because that’s what I leaned on,” he said. “In some ways, that’s good. In some ways, probably not so good.

“I was the bench coach (with the Braves) for eight years, so I know this team very well. The trust has been established. But this is a very different scenario. This is a team that’s built to win, right now. I’m certainly more comfortable in my own skin, in this role, right now.”

The Braves beat the Rockies 8-6 in comeback fashion on Friday night and entered Saturday’s game at Coors with a big-league-best 23-10 record and were 9-0-1 in series this season.

A hard-nosed ‘father figure’

Weiss steered his club through some early-season turbulence.

During spring training, the Braves lost right-hand Spencer Strider to an oblique strain. He’s scheduled to make his season debut on Sunday against the Rockies.  Starters Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep went down with elbow injuries and have yet to return.

Catcher Sean Murphy was sidelined with a hip labral tear, and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim tore his finger tendon. Both players are expected to return in the next few weeks. But outfielder Jurickson Profar was suspended for the second time for PEDs and is done for the season.

“Walt is very consistent with what he does, and he puts a good, positive outlook on everything for everybody,” said Atlanta utility infielder Kyle Farmer, who played for the Rockies last season. “He’s a very good communicator and checks in on guys all the time.

“For a bench guy like myself, he lets me know what’s going on. Our roster is loaded with talent, but for a guy like me who doesn’t play every day, he’s been very considerate and approachable.”

Utility player Mauricio Dubon, who hit a three-run triple in the eighth inning against Colorado on Friday, called Weiss a “father figure.”

“Walt’s ability to relate to guys and speak the players’ language is unique,” Kinley said. “He shows up every day and is diligent about what he does. He has an intention for everything he does. He understands it’s not an easy game, and he knows how to communicate with guys. He’s amazing at that.

“And Walt walks the walk. He’s in there, busting his butt with us in the weight room. He’s intense,  and guys feed off that.”

As a player, Weiss was hard-nosed, so he expects the same from those who play for him. He also expects them to be on time, work hard, and hustle — all of the time. Arenado found out about that when he played for Weiss.

In July 2014, Arenado was benched after jogging to first base on a groundout against the Pirates at Coors Field. Arenado had failed to hustle up the first-base line several times in the minors, and Weiss wasn’t about to accept that in the majors.

“You don’t know how a player is going to take that, especially someone as good as Nolan,” Weiss told The Denver Post in 2019. “It can go either way. Managers and catchers almost always show up to the ballpark earlier than the players, but the next day, there’s Nolan, waiting in my office. I really didn’t know how that was going to go. Was he mad because he thought I had embarrassed him?”

“But then Nolan actually thanked me for benching him. Imagine that? He was there early to tell me how much he appreciated me pulling him out of the game.”

When Arenado was feuding with Bridich near the end of his career in Colorado, one of the people he sought counsel from was Weiss, who has a sterling reputation throughout the game.

“One of the finest men I’ve ever known in baseball,” Dugger said. “One of my favorite people — ever.”

Vinny Castilla, a member of the famed Blake Street Bombers and a Rockies special assistant for the past 21 years, has known Weiss for 32 years. During Weiss’s first managerial stint, Castilla saw signs pointing to success if Weiss ever got another gig.

“He’s a players’ manager, and he’s going to do whatever he can to protect them,” Castilla said. “He’s a very nice man, and I love him, and I miss him. But he’s a black belt, so don’t mess with him.”

LoDo comes alive with baseball fans, school kids playing hooky, office workers calling in sick, and party animals who don’t know the difference between a double play and a double cheeseburger.

Libations flow and the good times roll.

On Friday, they’ll be serving purple croissants and baseball-themed drinks at There’s a watch party at McGregor Square where fans can see the game on a 66-foot outdoor screen.

Former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle summed it up well.

“I’ve been fortunate to be a part of some special opening days in baseball in infectious cities,” he once told The Post. “But opening day in Denver will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the event that annually reignited the love affair of a football town with its baseball team.”

Oh yes, the baseball team. It plays a game on Friday at Coors Field, hosting the Philadelphia Phillies and Bryce Harper, an All-Star Colorado fans love to hate.

Friday officially marks the Rockies’ 34th home opener, but it’s really only the 33rd because the 2020 opener was fanless due to the pandemic. And while the Rockies are not a winning franchise — they own an all-time record of 2366-2822 and just five playoff seasons — they are 17-16 in home openers.

From walk-off home runs to walk-up songs, from pitching gems to offensive fireworks, the Rockies have produced memorable games inside the ballpark. Here are the 10 best Rockies home openers:

No. 10, April 10, 2023: Left-hander Kyle Freeland, a Denver native, pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings in the Rockies’ 1-0 victory over Washington.

“The butterflies were going for sure, and we’ve talked about how much this means to me, to be able to pitch in front of my home state and get a win. It means the world to me,” Freeland said.

The victory marked the first time the Rockies won a 1-0 game at Coors since July 4, 2018, vs. San Francisco.

No. 9, April 10, 2010: Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa dominated the Padres in Colorado’s 7-0 shutout. “De La” allowed one hit and one walk and struck out nine in a game that took just 2 hours, 28 minutes. It was a prime example of De La Rosa’s ability to slay the pitching beast that is Coors Field.

“I guess I just feel more comfortable at home,” De La Rosa told The Post. “I just feel like I have control there, especially with my changeup. I feel like I can throw it in any count.”

No. 8, April 3, 2006: In the Rockies’ second straight walk-off win in a home opener, they beat the Diamondbacks 3-2 in 11 innings on Brad Hawpe’s game-winning RBI to drive in Matt Holliday. Right-hander Jason Jennings threw seven innings of one-run ball.

The Hawpe-Holliday combo was a precursor of the magic that became Rocktober a year and a half later.

No. 7, April 7, 2017: Freeland made his major league debut against the Dodgers and took the mound to thunderous applause from the sellout crowd of 49,169. The Thomas Jefferson High graduate received a standing ovation when he departed after six innings, having allowed just one run on four hits, walking two, and striking out six.

“What an outing for Kyle,” first-year Rockies manager Bud Black said after the Rockies’ 2-1 win. “I think the people of Denver should be very proud of their native son.”

Freeland’s debut was the first of its kind in nearly 51 years. Before his start, the last major-league pitcher to make his debut as a starting pitcher in his team’s home opener in the state of his birth was Chuck Dobson for the Kansas City Athletics on April 19, 1966, vs. Minnesota.

No. 6, April 2, 2001: Left-hander Mike Hampton made a sensational Rockies debut, pitching eight-plus shutout innings and allowing five hits as Colorado blanked the Cardinals 8-0. It was the Rocky Mountain high point for Hampton, who had signed a then-record eight-year, $121 million contract the prior offseason.

He finished his two-year stint with Colorado with a 5.45 ERA, including a 5.73 ERA at Coors Field. Hampton became a cautionary tale about shelling out big bucks for starting pitchers in Colorado.

No. 5, April 7, 1997: The Rockies and Larry Walker walloped the Reds and Deion Sanders, 13-2. Walker, with Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” accompanying him to the plate, gave fans a preview of his MVP season.

Walker went 2 for 5 with a double and a triple on his way to batting .366 with a career-high 49 homers and 130 RBIs. Coach Prime went 0 for 4 from the leadoff spot.

As for his iconic walk-up song, Walker told The Post’s Troy Renck: “I hope the pitchers were scared … that when they were messing with their rosin bag and heard Ozzy come on, they had that feeling of, ‘Oh (crap)!’ ”

No. 4, April 4, 2005: With the score tied 10-10 in the bottom of the ninth, shortstop Clint Barmes launched Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman’s first-pitch fastball into the left-field seats for a walk-off two-run homer, capping a four-hit day in Colorado’s 12-10 victory.

“I remember running the bases thinking this can’t be real,” “The next game, I was still on cloud nine, but the game slowed down for me after the home run.”

Before he was injured, Barmes had an amazing spring. On May 13, Barmes went 3-for-6, hitting two home runs with five RBIs, raising his batting average to .400.

No. 3, April 4, 2014: This was the day that Chuck got Nazty. Sporting the beginnings of his famed beard, Blackmon hit 6-for-6 with one home run, three doubles, two singles, and five RBIs in Colorado’s 12-2 rout of Arizona.

And to think he wasn’t sure he would be on the Opening Day roster coming out of spring training.

“That one game, you could almost say, single-handedly turned my career around,” said Blackmon, who became a four-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger.

No. 2, April 9, 1993: In the first home plate appearance in the first home game in Rockies history, Eric Young took Expos’ starter Kent Bottenfield deep to left-center in front of a record crowd of 80,227 at Mile High Stadium. Colorado won its inaugural home opener, 11-4.

“I had chills going through my body like crazy as I was circling the bases,” Young later told The Post. “But that home run was not just a moment that was for me — it was for the Colorado region and all the people who were excited about baseball finally being in the state.”

You think? The Rockies drew 4,483,350 fans to Mile High that season, a major league attendance record that will likely never be broken.

No. 1, April 26, 1995: The first game in Coors Field history was instantly iconic. Dante Bichette hit a walk-off, three-run homer in the 14th inning off the Mets’ Mike Remlinger for an 11-9 victory. The seesaw game that began with icy rain and 42 degrees at first pitch lasted nearly five hours.

The phrase Blake Street Bombers didn’t catch on until later that season, but Bichette’s blast planted the seed.

“With the Blake Street Bombers, what we were legendary at was, no lead was safe in our park,” Bichette said. “That homer probably was the hit that set that tone. We would go into the sixth or seventh inning down three runs, and we knew we could win that game. That was the personality of our team and what we became.”

It’s a question I field often from Rockies fans, both ardent and casual.

It’s a fair question. After all, the front office underwent a major house cleaning during the offseason, so why not bring in a new manager, too? And the Rockies posted a poor 36-86 record (.321 winning percentage) under Schaeffer as interim manager. He replaced Bud Black last May when the Rockies opened the season 7-33.

Schaeffer won over most of the Rockies players quickly, but, fielding a young, inexperienced team, Colorado limped toward the finish line, going 4-21 in September.

So there was no guarantee that Schaeffer would return, and many baseball pundits said the Rockies needed to bring in a veteran, old-school manager to clean things up.

I have my reasons why Schaeffer returned, but I wanted to find out why Walker Monfort, the Rockies’ new team president, wanted the 41-year-old back in the dugout.

Here’s what I found out:

• They have known each other since Monfort’s early days working in the Rockies’ players development department when Schaeffer was a minor league player.

“I have known Warren for probably 15 years,” Monfort said. “I used to give him meal money when I worked in minor league operations. So, I’ve known Warren for a long time. And, obviously, I’ve gotten to know him better over the last few years, when he’s been at the major league level.”

Before Schaeffer replaced Black, he served as the third base coach and infield instructor, beginning in 2023.

• Schaeffer is a “people person and that counted for a lot.

“After we replaced Buddy, I started sitting down with Warren on a regular basis,” Monfort said. “I think we met the first game of every homestand for basically the rest of the season. I wanted us to get to know each other a little better.”

Monfort also wanted to pick Schaeffer’s brain on what the team needed to turn things around.

“We talked a lot about the processes we needed and the technologies that he had heard about that we didn’t have yet,” Monfort said. “The one big thing I got to know about Warren, through conversations with him and then through conversations with players and other front-office personnel, is that he is a people person.”

In November, when the Rockies hired Paul DePodesta as president of baseball operations, one of his first tasks was to huddle with Monfort and team owner Dick Monfort (Walker’s father) and pick a manager.

“Paul, in his original interview, said that being able to relate to people and communicate is the most important thing for a modern-day manager,” Monfort said. “So ultimately, Warren was just the right fit. So when it came down to it, my dad and I had thought Warren deserved the opportunity.”

• Schaeffer has deep roots in the organization.

He was drafted by Colorado in the 38th round of the 2007 draft out of Virginia Tech. After his playing career ended in 2012, he spent 10 seasons, mostly as a manager, in the Rockies’ minor league system.

“I think everybody in the organization who came to know Warren wanted us to go this route,” Monfort said. “He’s been a Rockie for a long time.”

• DePodesta and Schaeffer were a good match.

“We wanted whoever came in (as team president) to ultimately make the call,” Monfort said. “But the nice thing was that ‘Schaeff’ has the attributes that Paul values most as a manager. So, it was fairly easy. It was natural.”

• Schaeffer’s process and work ethic.

“He’s committed and disciplined,” Monfort said. “You can see what great shape he’s in. I think that tells you something.”

• Schaeffer is super motivated.

“Motivation is the word to describe what’s going on here, and I think that’s true for all of us,” Monfort said. ” ‘Schaeff’ is incredibly motivated. He wants to prove he’s the right guy for the job.”

It was time for what the ultra-detailed spring training schedule called T.T.G. (Talking The Game). For 15 minutes, the players focused on one thing: the contact play, in which a baserunner at third base breaks for home if the ball is not hit directly at an infielder.

Bench coach Jeff Pickler, third base coach Andy Gonzalez, first base coach Doug Bernier, assistant hitting coach Jordan Pacheco and Schaeffer all took players aside to point out the nuances of the contact play.

Schaeffer acknowledged that the Rockies were bad at baserunning — and many other baseball basics — during Colorado’s miserable 119-loss season in 2025. He is intent on changing the narrative, and it starts with a back-to-basics approach at the team’s Salt River Fields complex.

“The individual skills and defensive work and baserunning work, it’s all tailored to what the players need,” Schaeffer said. “(We have) a higher coach-to-play ratio now. We are teaching the game, and players are getting what they need.

“Players aren’t just going out there and taking groundballs just for the sake of it. There is real, intentional work going on.”

A fresh approach

Schaeffer, the interim manager for much of last season after taking over when Bud Black was fired in May, is running a big-league camp for the first time. He believes major changes are necessary for the Rockies to break out of a seven-year losing streak that includes three consecutive 100-loss seasons. Schaeffer sought counsel from all his coaches, especially new bench coach Jeff Pickler, as he formulated his spring training blueprint.

Of course, it’s still very early — Wednesday marked just the second full-squad workout, and Colorado’s first Cactus League game is Friday — but the players are giving a hearty thumbs up to “Camp Schaeffer.”

“The energy around here is great,” center fielder Brenton Doyle said. “The vibes around here are really good; something I haven’t felt around here in previous years. There is a lot of good stuff going on, and I think a lot of people are going to buy into it.”

One thing’s for sure: Players are going to get more sleep during their 42-day stint in the desert. In recent years, the players were often in the batting cages by 7 a.m, trying to hone their swing with sleep still in their eyes. Schaeffer changed that, aiming for the Rockies to be fresh when they open the regular season on March 27 in Miami.

“No. 1, everything is important,” the manager said. “So, we’re pushing the guys’ morning schedule back and giving them time to get ready for the day, and not having to wake up at 5 a.m.”

Doyle, 28, welcomes the change.

“I used to be able to roll out of bed and just go play,” he said. “It’s different for me now. I’m glad things have changed, and the schedule is much better than in the past. ‘Schaeff’ has given us time to get warmed up and get ready, so that when we do go on that field, it doesn’t feel rushed. Camp is very scheduled and very detailed. There is not a lot of wasted time.”

Catcher Hunter Goodman, Colorado’s lone All-Star last season, came to Arizona determined to get better defensively and to become a better game-caller. He welcomes the chance to hone his craft.

“I need this, 100%,” he said. “There is a lot more time in the schedule for individual stuff. Our catchers’ work, for example. We are getting 25-30 minutes a day, just working on catching stuff and not doing anything else. It’s a change, for sure.

“In the past, we would just be catching bullpens and trying to do our own work in between bullpens. Having a set time to do individual work has been nice. I think they are giving us the tools to succeed.”

Goodman slashed .278/.323/.520 with 31 homers last season, while starting 97 games behind the plate, and lining up as the designated hitter 39 times. Schaeffer believes there is more offensive firepower in Goodman’s game, and he wants the catcher to find it this spring — and hold onto it.

“Historically, catchers have always just gotten through spring training,” Schaeffer said. “It’s like, ‘Let’s get through this.’ Now, (we have) intentional time built into the day for them to get better at their craft.

“They’re still going to catch their bullpens; the day’s set up for that. And that’s valuable. But they have time to work on their defense and their hitting. A lot of times in spring, the catchers’ hitting gets neglected. And our catcher is the best hitter on our team. So, we can’t neglect that time.”

Blending technology and old-fashioned instruction

Among Colorado’s weaknesses last season, starting pitching was the most glaring. A 6.65 ERA for the starting rotation, the worst in major league history, crippled the team’s ability to compete. In an attempt to fix that, new pitching coach Alon Leichman, assistant coach Gabe Ribas, bullpen coach Matt Buschmann, and pitching coordinator Matt Daniels were brought on board.

They’re tasked with using technology, analytics and old-fashioned instruction to fix the problems. Right-hander Chase Dollander, who has the best pure stuff on the staff, struggled last year as a rookie, going 2-12 with a 6.52 ERA in 21 starts. Dollander said he welcomes his spring training tutorials.

“There is definitely a lot more individual teaching going on,” he said. “The coaches are doing a deep dive into the analytics and the mechanical stuff that you need. They present it to you in an understandable way.

“Of course, it’s also up to you to approach them and talk about certain things that you need to understand. But it’s been great. These are smart guys with smart stuff.”

On Wednesday, lefty starter Kyle Freeland, right-handed starter Ryan Feltner, and closer candidate Victor Vodnik threw in the main stadium at Salt River. The Rockies wanted to take advantage of the Statcast-applicable tracking technology in the ballpark.

Of course, there is always the danger of paralysis by too much analysis. Schaeffer, however, doesn’t think that will be a problem. He’s confident his pitching coaches can translate spin rates, biomechanics data and grip adjustments in language the pitchers will grasp.

“That’s why we hired these guys,” Schaeffer said. “They are extremely smart, and they all know that data. They might go in different directions sometimes, but they come together in the best interest of the player. It’s been fun to watch, so far. They can give it to (the pitchers) in layman’s terms, which is huge. And it’s huge for me, too.”

The club announced Monday that it is retaining veteran coach Ron Gideon, third-base coach Andy Gonzalez and assistant hitting coach Jordan Pacheco.

Gideon’s role is changing. He will now be an assistant bench coach, making the move after serving as the Rockies’ first base and outfield coach for the past seven seasons.

Gideon, 61, is heading into his 35th season in professional coaching and 31st with the Rockies’ organization. He joined the major league staff as a coach in 2017 and was named first-base coach in 2019.

Additionally, bullpen catchers Kyle Cunningham and Chris Rabago will remain in those roles in 2026. Cunningham will continue to do game-planning duties, while Rabago will add additional responsibilities as Colorado’s catching instructor.

The five holdovers from the 2025 team will join five new coaches: pitching coach Alon Leichman, bullpen coach Matt Buschmann, bench coach Jeff Pickler, hitting coach Brett Pill and assistant pitching coach Gabe Ribas.

The only position that remains unfilled is first base coach.

The 2026 season will be Schaeffer’s first full season as manager. He took the job on an interim basis last May to replace Bud Black. Schaeffer was retained by Paul DePodesta, the new president of baseball operations, in November.

On Wednesday, the club announced that former Reds and Twins coach Jeff Pickler will become the bench coach under manager Warren Schaeffer.

“We are beyond excited to bring Jeff Pickler onto the staff,” Schaeffer said in a statement. “His experience on the bench and the way he sees the game are going to be of immense value to the players, the rest of the staff, and me personally.

“He embodies a tireless work ethic and is obsessed with finding solutions. ‘Pick’ is a big addition for the Rockies. I can’t wait to get to work with him.”

Pickler, 49, is the latest addition to Schaeffer’s staff, all of whom come from outside the Rockies organization.  Others hired include hitting coach Brett Pill, pitching coach Alon Leichman, assistant pitching coach Gabe Ribas, and bullpen coach Matt Buschmann.

Pickler spent the previous six seasons with the Reds organization, most recently serving as the Reds’ bench coach and major-league game planning and infield coach in 2024. He was the Reds’ game planning and outfield coach from 2019–22.

The Reds fired Pickler in September when the club ousted manager David Bell, the man who hired Pickler.

Before his time in Cincinnati, Pickler spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons with the Twins as outfield coach and coordinator of major-league development.

A native of Garden Grove, Calif., Pickler was selected by Milwaukee in the 11th round of the 1998 draft out of the University of Tennessee. He played eight seasons in the minors with the Brewers (1998-2001), Rangers (2002-04) and Rockies (2005) systems.

Pickler has worked closely with Josh Byrnes, who was recently hired as Colorado’s general manager. Pickler was a scout for the Diamondbacks and Padres when Byrnes was the GM of those teams, and also worked alongside Byrnes with the Dodgers as a special assistant in player development and scouting from 2014-16.

Former Rockies and Pirates manager Clint Hurdle worked as Schaeffer’s bench coach for most of last season. When Colorado fired Bud Black and bench coach Mike Remond in May, Schaeffer was promoted from third-base coach to interim manager. Hurdle, who replaced Hensley Meulens as hitting coach in April, became Schaeffer’s bench coach in May.

Hurdle will likely continue to have a role with the Rockies, but the club has not announced what that role might be.

The sports jockey blasted the Rockies’ decision to hire Weiss as their manager, essentially saying the Rockies made a minor league move by “hiring a high school coach.” I thought it was a ridiculous take, and I said so.

Last month, Weiss became the Braves’ manager after spending eight seasons as their bench coach under Brian Snitker, who led Atlanta to a World Series title in 2021.

I thought about all of that on Tuesday afternoon during Weiss’ media session at baseball’s winter meetings. Weiss, who played shortstop for 14 big league seasons, fielded questions with humor and aplomb.

An Atlanta reporter teased Weiss, asking, “As the only manager with cauliflower ear, are you going to be continuing your MMA training?”

Weiss grinned and quickly shot back: “I’m not winning any beauty contests, I know that.”

For the record, Weiss was, indeed, a high school coach for a time, stepping away from his job as a Rockies special assistant to spend more time with his family and coach his sons’ baseball and football teams at Regis Jesuit High School.

But his baseball pedigree is solid, even if he had four losing seasons managing Colorado from 2013-16 (283-365 record) and never made the playoffs. But people tend to forget that Weiss helped lay some of the groundwork for the team that manager Bud Black inherited in 2017 and took to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

“The record wasn’t great back then, obviously, but I’m proud of some of the things we accomplished in those four years — culturally, especially,” Weiss said Tuesday.  “A lot of great lessons learned.”

Bottom line: Weiss earned his chance to manage again and was ready for a second chance. Consider: As a player, Weiss’s first big league manager with the Athletics was Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, and his last was Hall of Famer Bobby Cox with the Braves. Weiss spent nine years learning the game from them.

Weiss, who owns a home in Parker and still calls Colorado his “home base,” said he’s much better prepared to manage now than he was 13 years ago.

“The circumstances couldn’t be more different from the first time I did this,” he said. “In Colorado, when I got hired, I’d been out of the game for four years. I was coaching high school football. I was out of baseball.

“I took the interview just to experience it. I had never done that. And I end up getting the job. I’m like, ‘Now what?’ ”

Plus, Weiss took over a team that had lost 98 games in 2012.

“There was a lot of on-the-job training, but we had a good staff in Colorado that helped me along the way,” he said. “But it was very different then. I didn’t even know what was important to me as a manager the first time around because I hadn’t done it.”

Weiss said his years as a bench coach in Atlanta helped prepare him for his new job.

“It’s so very different now — eight years as a bench coach with a team that is built to win now,” he said. “I know this team like the back of my hand. I walked into that first situation in Colorado completely blind. I wasn’t even in the game, let alone knowing our team.”

Atlanta should have a strong core in 2026, led by former MVP Ronald Acuna Jr, first baseman Matt Olson, third baseman Austin Riley, future star catcher Drake Baldwin and a rotation featuring Chris Sale, Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach. The Braves slumped to fourth place in the NL East in 2025, but expect to be a playoff team again in ’26.

Did Weiss think he’d get another shot to manage?

“I didn’t know, and I didn’t have to know,” he said. “I didn’t have to do this again. And I loved being ‘Snit’s’ bench coach. I loved being back in the Braves uniform. And I think it’s fairly well documented that I turned down some interviews over the last several years, because it was going to have to be really good to pull me away from what I was doing.”

Now the former “high school coach” gets his second chance.

The club announced Monday that the 40-year-old Schaeffer will be retained as manager of a team facing a daunting rebuild in 2026. The club did not release the terms of the contract, but a source said it was a “mult-year deal.”

“We’re confident Warren is the right person to lead our club moving forward,” Paul DePodesta, the Rockies’ new president of baseball operations, said in a statement. “He has established strong relationships with our players, understands the culture of this franchise and embodies the energy and work ethic we want on and off the field.”

Schaeffer was named interim manager on May 11, replacing veteran Bud Black, who was fired after the Rockies began the season with a 7-33 record. Schaeffer becomes the eighth full-time manager in club history. The club did not disclose the length of Schaeffer’s contract.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to continue leading this team,” Schaeffer said. “My focus remains on continuing to build a strong, unified culture based on accountability, hard work and trust. We have a group of guys who care deeply about competing the right way, and my goal is to keep strengthening those relationships while leading a team that our fans can embrace and be proud of.”

Under Schaeffer, the Rockies went 36-86, finishing with a 43-119 record. The Rockies are coming off three consecutive 100-loss seasons and have not posted a winning record since 2018. The Rockies are hoping for a fresh start after becoming the first team with three straight 100-loss seasons since Houston from 2011 to 2013.

Although Colorado’s record was among the worst in Major League Baseball history, several Rockies players said at the end of the season that they appreciated Schaeffer’s communication skills and attention to detail, and hoped he would return.

Veteran left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland said Monday that he believes it was the right move.

“I’m very excited for ‘Schaeff’ and his family and our organization with him at the lead,” Freeland said. “We love playing for him and the type of mentality and passion he brings to the field every day.”

Catcher Hunter Goodman, the club’s lone All-Star in 2025 and a Silver Slugger winner, said that Schaeffer’s youthful energy is what the Rockies need.

“I think it’s really good for the team, especially with all of our young guys,” Goodman said. “He’s a younger manager. He’s got a great relationship with all of our guys. His level of communication with me, throughout the season, was awesome.

“As far as a leadership role, he shows up every day with the drive to get better and I think that’s what we need.”

Retaining Schaeffer is the third significant move the Rockies have made this year. In June, Walker Monfort, the oldest son of owner Dick Monfort, was promoted to executive vice president. Earlier this month, the club named DePodesta as president of baseball operations. He took over for general manager Bill Schmidt, who stepped down on Oct. 1. The Rockies are still expected to hire a GM to work under DePodesta.

Schaeffer’s first job in the Rockies organization was as the hitting coach for Short-Season Tri-City (Pasco, Washington) in 2013. He kept climbing the organizational ladder. He managed the Asheville Tourists from 2015 through 2017 and Double-A Hartford in 2018 and 2019.

He was tabbed to manage Triple-A Albuquerque for the 2020 season, but it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He managed the Isotopes in 2021 and 2022. In November 2022, the Rockies promoted him to their major league coaching staff as third base and infield coach for the 2023 season.

Schaeffer was born and raised in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, a former steel mill town. He attended Greensburg Central Catholic High School. As a senior, he hit .554, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named him its East Player of the Year. Harvard and Princeton recruited him, but he chose to chase his baseball dreams at Virginia Tech.

He was a starting shortstop all four seasons for the Hokies, slashing .292/.351/.402 as a senior. Colorado, hoping for a diamond in the rough, selected him with the 1,143rd overall pick. He was a college senior with a degree in history and a minor in English, with dreams of playing in the majors. He signed for $1,000.

But Schaeffer never made it. He climbed as high as Triple-A, playing for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 2010 and 2011. Overall, he slashed .214/.273/.285 in 461 minor league games, with nine home runs and 137 RBIs.

Wanting to stay in baseball, he decided to turn to coaching.