Colorado Rockies' Active Roster ending the 2007 NLCS  
Monday, October 22nd, 2007

You know what I dislike about MLB?  It doesn't seem to be so much anymore about the city.  People don't realize it, they cheer on, chant the name of their city and their team with pride.

But it's not like you can say, "that Boston sure breeds good ball players," or "Cleveland really knows how to make 'em."  It's not as often, anymore, that the players on your city's team are even from your city.

Training can account for a part of success, sure, but natural talent stands for more of why each player is on that diamond.  Yet money, contracts, trading, corporate hoo-hah as I like to call it - that is landing them there more than that any real sense of loyalty to where one came from.

What is the purpose?  Ratings?  So that everyone in the nation will want to tune in when the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies face off in the World Series?

Check out the Colorado Rockies' Active Roster at the end of the 2007 National League Championship Series:

Player Name	Position	Home City	Home State	Home Country	Played Longest for	Started with
Jeremy Affeldt	Pitcher	Phoenix	Arizona	USA	Kansas City Royals	Kansas City Royals
Garrett Atkins	Infielder	Orange	California	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Jeff Baker	Outfielder	Bad Kissingen	Bad Kissingen	Germany	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Taylor Buchholz	Pitcher	Lower Merion Township	Pennsylvania	USA	Colorado Rockies	Houston Astros
Jamey Carroll	Infielder	Evansville	Indiana	USA	Montreal Expos	Montreal Expos
Manuel Corpas	Pitcher	Panama City	Republic of Panama	Panama	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Josh Fogg	Pitcher	Lynn	Massachussets	USA	Pittsburgh Pirates	Chicago White Sox
Jeffrey Francis	Pitcher	Vancouver	British Columbia	Canada	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Brian Fuentes	Pitcher	Merced	California	USA	Colorado Rockies	Seattle Mariners
LaTroy Hawkins	Pitcher	Gary	Indiana	USA	Minnesota Twins	Minnesota Twins
Brad Hawpe	Outfielder	Fort Worth	Texas	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Todd Helton	Infielder	Knoxville	Tennessee	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Matthew Tyler Herges	Pitcher	Champaign	Illinois	USA	Los Angeles Dodgers	Los Angeles Dodgers
Matt Holliday	Outfielder	Stillwater	Oklahoma	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Christopher Iannetta	Catcher	Providence	Rhode Island	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Ubaldo Jiminez	Pitcher	Nagua	Maria Trinidad Sanchez	Dominican Republic	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Kazuo Matsui	Infielder	Osaka	Japan	Japan	New York Mets	New York Mets
Franklin Morales	Pitcher	San Juan de los Morros	Guarico	Venezuela	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Seth Smith	Outfielder	Jackson	Mississippi	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Ryan Speier	Pitcher	Frankfort	New York	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Ryan Spilborghs	Outfielder	Santa Barbara	California	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Cory Sullivan	Outfielder	Tulsa	Oklahoma	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies
Willy Taveras	Outfielder	Tenares	Salcedo	Dominican Republic	Houston Astros	Houston Astros
Yorvit Torrealba	Catcher	Caracas	Capital District	Venezuela	San Francisco Giants	San Fran Cisco Giants
Troy Tulowitzki	Infielder	Santa Clara	California	USA	Colorado Rockies	Colorado Rockies

Zero of them were born in Colorado.  Zero percent, zip, zilch, none.  What does that tell us?  Does that mean that there is not one person that was born and raised in the entire state of Colorado that is good enough to play Major League Baseball?

No, there may well be Colorado natives on other teams in the MLB.  But why other teams, then?

Sixty-eight percent of the players are from the USA (17/25).  68% of them have played for the Rockies longer than any other team, and 60% of them have started their careers with the Rockies.

 

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