Rockies give share to widow
PHILADELPHIA - Add another heartfelt chapter to the Colorado Rockies' storybook season.
Manager Clint Hurdle revealed before Thursday's playoff game that the Rockies players, on their own accord, voted a playoff share to Amanda Coolbaugh, the widow of Tulsa Drillers coach Mike Coolbaugh.
Coolbaugh, the Drillers' first-base coach, was killed July 22 when a line foul off the bat of Tino Sanchez struck him in the neck during a game with the Arkansas Travelers at Dickey-Stephens Park. Tulsa is the Rockies' Class AA Texas League affiliate.
"That's one of those things that probably everybody who was there that day, it crosses their minds once a day, at least," Travelers General Manager Pete Laven said.
Hurdle said the gesture said a lot about the character in the Rockies' clubhouse.
"They voted Amanda Coolbaugh a share, a full share, which I found speaks to their awareness, speaks to their passion, speaks to every good thing about them," Hurdle said.
"It was a team decision.
It was the right thing to do," Rockies MVP candidate Matt Holliday said.
"When I heard about what the players did, I almost cried," Rockies General Manager Dan O'Dowd said. "I think it's remarkable."
Coolbaugh's death led to an outpouring of support for his family from the baseball community. Laven said the Travelers raised more than $37,000 for the Mike Coolbaugh Memorial fund, while more than $60,000 was raised at Tulsa, with the Texas League also donating fine money for the remainder of the season.
"The facts as they were, with his kids and his wife expecting, even a nonbaseball fan could relate to that," Laven said. "They certainly did here in central Arkansas."
Should the Rockies' improbable run continue and they go on to win the World Series, the share donated to the Coolbaugh family could be as much as $362,000.
That's the full share the champion St. Louis Cardinals received last year. Advancing to the National League Championship Series last year resulted in New York Mets players getting $124,000.
Amanda Coolbaugh, 32, is expecting this month. She wasn't at Saturday's Philadelphia Phillies-Rockies playoff game at Coors Field, but her two sons, Joseph, 5, and Jacob, 3, were there. They threw out the first pitch.
Coolbaugh's two sons walked out to the mound in Rockies uniforms with their dad's name and number (29) on the back.
"I'm throwing a fastball," Joey said before the game.
"Not me. I'm throwing a curveball," Jake countered.
Both bounced their pitches in front of the mound, but the crowd gave them as much applause as when the Rockies took the field.
"Coolbaugh played for so many different teams for 17 years, so many different organizations," Laven said.
"If you were a player that didn't know Mike Coolbaugh, odds are you knew a player that knew him." Bugging Clemens
If Roger Clemens had been making the call, the New York Yankees really would have bugged out.
Clemens viewed Friday night's insect invasion at Cleveland's Jacobs Field from both the dugout and a television in the clubhouse, and he concluded it was too distracting an environment to pitch in.
"I would have probably pulled us off the field," Clemens said Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
Yankees rookie Joba Chamberlain was covered with the midges, an insect related to mosquitoes.
He threw a pair of wild pitches that allowed the tying run to score in the eighth, and Cleveland went on to win 2-1 in 11 innings and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series.
"I think it's hard enough for our young kids to go out there and concentrate in that situation to have something like that happen," said Clemens, the Yankees' Game 3 starter for Sunday.
Asked whether he would have pulled the team off the field had he been an umpire or the manager, Clemens didn't give a direct answer and then said his earlier response benefited from hindsight.
"It's easy to say now because it only lasted about 40 minutes," Clemens said.
Getting their goat
Holy Cow! This is no way to exorcise the billy goat curse.
A grainy 14-second video posted on YouTube this week shows Chicago police cutting down what looks like a skinned goat's carcass from the right arm of the Harry Caray statue outside Wrigley Field.
Gary Yamashiroya, commander of the Chicago Police district that includes Wrigley, told the Chicago Sun-Times in a story posted Saturday on its Web site that officers were called out to the ballpark at 5:35 a.m. Wednesday to check out reports of something hanging from the bronze statue.
Yamashiroya told the paper the goat appeared to be from a butcher but added: "I certainly hope someone didn't kill a goat for a practical joke."
A Cubs spokesman said the organization was aware of the incident but declined comment.
Information for this report was contributed by Todd Traub of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Sports, Pages 30 on 10/07/2007