Before The Rockies: Colorado’s Long History of Baseball Teams

1993 was a big year for Colorado baseball fans as they would finally be introduced to the likes of Dinger the dinosaur, the Blake Street Bombers, and the state's new professional baseball team, the Colorado Rockies.

Read More: Remembering The Colorado Rockies' Fierce Fight Against The Bruins |

However, while the Rockies would see the state's introduction into Major League Baseball, the Centennial State already had quite an extensive history when it came to America's favorite pastime.

Colorado Baseball History: The 1800s

Believe it or not, less than a decade after receiving statehood in 1876, Colorado was already producing baseball teams.

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The first official Colorado baseball team was established in 1885 and was known as simply "Denver."

Roughly a year later, the team would become known as the Denver Mountain Lions, a name that would last until only 1888 when it was changed to the Denver Mountaineers, then changed again in 1889 to Denver Solis, followed by the Denver Grizzlies that same year, and changed back to simply "Denver" by 1895.

The team would, albeit oddly, become the Denver Gulfs in 1896, but like the plethora of names adopted by Colorado's baseball teams in only a few years, that would also prove to be a short-lived decision.

Colorado Baseball History: The 20th Century

For a brief time in 1898, and again between 1900 and 1912, Colorado's official baseball team was the Denver Grizzlies. While this team was the state's most notable at the time, the first part of the 20th Century would be dominated by another team, the Denver Bears.

The Denver Bears would be Colorado's main baseball team between the years of 1913-1917, 1922-1932, then again in 1941, and finally between the years of 1947 and 1954. It would be the following year, 1955, that the Denver Bears would move to the American Association, followed by a move to the Pacific Coast League, and then back to the American Association, where they stayed until 1992.

However, between the years of 1984 and 1992, the team would change its name to the Denver Zephyrs, a name that would stick until they were replaced by the MLB team we all know and love, the Colorado Rockies, in 1993.