Since fans are not allowed to attend baseball games in person this year, the longtime tradition of watching batting practice before the game is also not possible. Back in the good old days - last year - fans would hover in the bleachers out in left field to catch balls, but I always liked to stand along the infield fence and take photographs of the players, such as the one of shortstop Walt Weiss, with a bat on his shoulder, that I took in April of 1994 at Mile High Stadium, where the Colorado Rockies played for it's first two seasons before moving to newly built Coors Field. Weiss later managed the Rockies for several years, doing his best while dealing with a limited team payroll, by which I mean cheap owners.
That same day, I took the photograph on the right of Rockies superstars Andres Galarraga (on the left) and third baseman Vinnie Castilla (on the right). When the Rockies first started playing, Galarraga was such a key player that when he was out of the lineup due to injuries, the team would lose every single game until he returned. Castilla started as a shortstop, but soon became a power hitting third baseman. The following year, the team would go to the playoffs, in just the third year of their existence. Of course, they faced the Atlanta Braves in a wildcard series and lost 3 games to 1, but it was fun, nonetheless. Ah, the good old days.
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