Rockies Fest 2025 and Fandom

I’ve been re-reading Roger Angell’s essay collection The Summer Game, a collection of baseball essays covering 1962-1972. (If you’ve not read the book, I recommend it.)

In terms of content, Angell focuses a range of topics, including going to Spring Training, the then-expansion New York Mets, and the 1971 World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles. Just in terms of a baseball book, The Summer Game is superb.

But what I’ve always found most interesting about Angell is his awareness of himself as a fan first and a reporter second. (This, I suspect, comes from his having a literature, not journalism background. Angell, despite his own good sense, found himself becoming a fan of, objectively, the worst team in baseball history, the 1962 Mets. (Even though Angell dies in 2022, the comparisons with the 2024 Chicago White Sox are not lost on me.)

When comparing the Mets with then then-dominant New York Yankees, Angell wrote this:

Suddenly the Mets fans made sense to me. What we were witnessing was precisely the opposite of the kind of rootng that goes on across the river . . . . [T]hese exultant yells for the Mets were also yells for ourselves, and came from a wry, half-understood recognition that there is more Met than Yankee in every one of us. I knew for whom that foghorn blew; it blew for me.

For Angell, this marks acceptance of his fate as an Mets fan, even though in doing this, he recognizes that his choice defies baseball logic.

All of this is on my mind as Rockies fans prepare for Rockies Fest on Saturday, January 25.

The day promises to be a cheery one with something for everyone.

If you’re looking to get a player’s autograph or a selfie with Dinger, tomorrow is a good day for it.

Plus, when I attended last year, I found the panels to be informative. I left knowing how many staff were in the Rockies’ R&D department at the time (12), and I thought the panel with some top Rockies prospects was outstanding.

Besides, how can anyone not love “Rockies Family Feud?”

The players are healthy and rested, the fans are upbeat, and Dick Monfort, wearing a some-shade-of-purple half-zip, mingles freely with fans.

It is Colorado Rockies fandom at its absolute peak.

Myself, I enjoy the panels, but those are carefully controlled with moderators asking questions, some supplied by fans. (And, frankly, it makes sense the Rockies would do this. This is a day for fun, not asking players and staff embarrassing questions.)

Even more, I like roaming around Coors Field to see what secrets it will share. I liked getting to see all of the visitors’ clubhouse, for example. (Generally, I am limited to a hallway and asking players a few questions.) Getting a photo of the in-house barbershop was a highlight, and many folks were taking pics of the infamous laundry room.

My goal this year is to get a photo with Dinger — but he’s very popular, so I’m not holding my breath — and I’d like to see Brenton Doyle’s and Ezequiel Tovar’s Gold Gloves up close. For me, Rockies Fest is mostly a moment to reorient myself before the work of the season begins.

But at the end of the day, this is a conclave of true believers. That same bell tolling for Roger Angell back in 1962 will soon toll for a lot of Rockies fans.

No projection system thinks the Rockies will be good this year. This team lost more than 100 games over the last two seasons and may well be on track to do the same this year.

But Rockies Fest is not about data. It’s about vibes.

The players have earned this moment to kick off what will surely be a grueling season, and so have the fans.

May everyone enjoy the day.

(Click here for a PDF of the Rockies Fest Magazine. A more-detailed schedule should follow tonight or tomorrow.

What I’m Reading

• High-tech Program Helps Stallings See the Light (MLB.com) — Jacob Stallings had a career year offensively in 2024. Thomas Harding describes that technology that facilitated his improvement.

• You Should Be Mad about the Dodgers Spending — But Not for the Reasons You Think (Bleed Cubbie Blue) — I’m not bothered by the Los Angeles Dodgers spending because I think teams shouldn’t be punished for using every possible advantage to get better and win games. Sara Sanchez provides an important perspective on other factors baseball fans need to consider.

• “In Defense of the Hall of Very Good” (FanGraphs) — Michael Baumann ponders what to do when you really love a player, but he’s just not Hall-of-Fame good.

Closing Thoughts

And that’s it for this week.

If you’re going to Rockies Fest, enjoy the day!

As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to share this with a friend.

Renee

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Rockies Pitch is a newsletter that focuses on Colorado Rockies baseball and tries to tell the stories no one else is. Find me on Bluesky at @Renee.Dechert.com.