Grantland takes the Rockies’ bait
“I’m not saying baseball players don’t encounter their share of injuries but compared to football, hockey or basketball, you’d see more injuries at the beer line at Coors Field caused by the altitude than you will on the diamond.”
The recent Denver transplant Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) is a good writer and an even better dude, but when he asked the “is he or isn’t he” GM of the Colorado Rockies, Bill Geivett if the altitude was a cause of the injuries plaguing the team in his recent Grantland piece, Geivett was quick to jump on this primrose path Keri unwittingly led him down.
Geivett said: “You know, it’s our 20th season, and I think we’ve found we’ve had a lot of injuries. I think, for us, that’s a part of it, probably. What I’m doing here is really to dig into all that we do and try to figure it out. But we’ve had more than our share of soft-tissue injuries here.” Geivett contained his glee at the line of questioning and inched a little further toward the Rockies favorite excuse escape hatch when Keri followed up with “more than the norm, you would say?”
For the Rockies, always the first to get the altitude excuse out there as to why they suck, this line of questioning couldn’t have been a sweeter proposition. Geivett added “I think so, I think so. We seem to have a lot of those, as evidenced by the last few years. A lot of people like to point to, “Well, the Denver Bears played here,” or whatever. The problem that we have with equating a triple-A scenario when the players are in and out all the time, it’s much different than a major league club, where you hope to have your players there for [many years], often times. To me, I think besides altitude, you could probably point to a lot of other things. We typically play a little bit longer games …”
The phrase “besides altitude” is very important here because he mentions it like it’s a bygone conclusion. Like the Rockies have already signed off on it while the rest of the logical population with working eyes can see it has little to do with why the Rockies are so bad. I get the altitude excuse when referring to the way the ball behaves one mile above sea level. But the other team has to play here too, so that excuse should fall flat. And to blame the injuries on the altitude is beyond ridiculous: It’s insulting. The Denver Broncos have played in Denver since 1960 and I don’t remember the team using altitude as an excuse for injuries in that rough sport. Denver has had a pro basketball team since the late 60’s and we’ve never heard this pathetic excuse being run up the flag pole. Does altitude affect injuries? Maybe so, but in sports that see far more injuries than baseball, you never hear the mountain time zone being a factor. I’m not saying baseball players don’t encounter their share of injuries but compared to football, hockey or basketball, you’d see more injuries at the beer line at Coors Field caused by the altitude than you will on the diamond.
Keri asked the question because it’s interesting. What’s more interesting is how Geivett answered it. It’s just one more way the Rockies will never be a first class organization. When the person who is allegedly in charge of the team is quick to salute the altitude excuse, it’s time to run another GM (and owners) up the flag pole.
