Well, it finally happened. After 13 months of rumors surrounding Nolan Arenado and the St. Louis Cardinals, he was traded last Friday for a few low-level prospects in a deal that also involved the Rockies paying $50 million of Arenado’s remaining contract.
I debated whether to report this as a journalist, or as a baseball fan formerly of the Rockies, and I decided that there was no possible way to report on this as normal.
Nolan,
I remember watching your debut in Phoenix. I didn’t know too much about you, but coming from the prior third basemen of Ian Stewart, Melvin Mora, Ty Wigginton, Chris Nelson, and Jordan Pacheco, I was really excited. The next night, your homecoming at Dodger Stadium, you had your first hit. It was nothing special, just an infield roller, but it looks like a liner on the scorecard. Then you went out to right-center for your first career homer, later that night. It was then I knew you were special.
Over the years to come, you did it all. From catches on top of the tarp to barehanded plays that look routine, you did it all. Cut off a throw in mid-air to nab the runner off third? Check. Diving stops on a ball the pitcher slug-bunted? Check. Throwing the ball from your backside because you couldn’t field it cleanly on a dive? Check. Every time you took the field, you accomplished something I never thought to be possible as a baseball fan and player. In 2014, you casually set the Rockies record for longest hit streak at 28, in just your second season. Also, your walk-off homer against San Diego your rookie year, after making a game-saving stop earlier. I could go on for nearly 100 pages just talking about your fantastic plays, so I’ll focus on just a few.
The walk-off cycle. If the 2010 Rockies hadn’t finished the season 1-13, I wonder where CarGo’s would be in the annals of Rockies’ lore, but I know for a fact where yours is. I really can’t even begin to describe that game. Oftentimes, I’ll flip a game on for a few innings, turn it off, then watch the final three-four innings, but this wasn’t that game. From start to finish, I remember how this pitcher’s duel turned into an instant classic. I’ll never forget Jordan Lyles throwing a clean eighth inning, and Jake McGee blowing the save in the ninth, setting up the bottom of the ninth down 5-3. Of course, we all know what happens. Wolters had a hard grounder that Panik fielded, and then it was on. Tapia looped one into center, Chuck dropped one just in front of CF Denard Span for another single, and DJLM split two diving infielders to bring in Tapia. I had never been more confident in anything happening in my life. There was never another outcome to that at bat other than a homer to complete the cycle and win the game. Even with that, it was still the most exciting moment I’ve had since 2009 or 2010 as a Rockies fan. The moment itself is spectacular, but the image of you, with blood running down your face and screaming into the crowd will be the defining moment from your tenure here. My personal favorite moment of yours, however, came in the next game.
Zack Greinke vs Gérman Márquez. Through seven innings, the score was 2-1. Another pitcher’s duel. Chris Rusin and Adam Ottavino gave up back-to-back homers in the eighth, and it was now a 3-2 deficit. The ball you hit gave me immediate flashbacks to the triple Matt Holliday hit in the 2007 NL Wild Card Tiebreaker. The swing, the follow through, and of course, the location of the hit. Two runs were in, you were at third, and Coors Field broke out into disjointed chants of “MVP.” That moment, the chants, the hit, your reaction at third base, all of it combined to be my favorite moment of yours. Sandwiched in between the cycle and the long losing streak, the game is nearly forgotten, but that moment will top my list forever.
Later that year, you had a game down in Arizona where you made an incredible diving stop and then hit the eventual game-winning three-run homer in the fifth of a six game stretch of wins that included a sweep of the Dodgers in LA and the first two games of this series against the D-backs. In the 11-8 loss in that year’s Wild Card Game, you hit the first of back-to-back homers with Story to get the Rox back to within 8-7. The next year, you did the same, but in the NL West Tiebreaker Game against the Dodgers.
To Nolan,
You’ll forever hold a part in our hearts, in the city of Denver, and you will always have our support. Until we meet again, in Cooperstown or elsewhere, we love you Nolan.
