Where Are They Now? Former Colorado Rockies OF Steve Finley

May 20, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; General view of Coors Field before the game between the Philadelphia Phillies agains the Colorado Rockies. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The left-handed outfielder played a long time in the big leagues — long enough to play for the Colorado Rockies and every other NL West team.

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Who remembers Steve Finley, the Colorado Rockies’ version?

I don’t mean the Los Angeles Dodgers’ version, or the Arizona Diamondbacks’ version (either one of which, you probably remember).

Or even the San Francisco Giants’ version, or the San Diego Padres’ version (yep, he played for all five teams in the National League West in his 754-year career in the big leagues).

No, the Rockies version of Steve Finley was… well, it was worse than the Rockies’ version of Scott Podsednik.

Finley came to Colorado in the very, very end of his career — 2007 — and managed to hit .181 (17-for-94) with one home run and two RBIs in 43 games before the Rockies were all like, no, man, you know what, sorry but this isn’t going to work out.

Finley, who was a career .271/.332/.442 hitter, wore out the Rockies in his time with the other four NL West division teams, so it’s actually a shame the Rox couldn’t work something out to bring him to Coors Field earlier.

In 175 career games against the Rockies (which is his third most career games against any team, only behind 220 games played against the Dodgers and 203 played against the Giants), Finley slashed .287/.356/.506 against the Rox.

He hit 25 home runs and 32 doubles against the Rockies in 756 plate appearances, and his .862 OPS against Colorado is the third-highest against any big league club in his 19-year big league career. It’s unfortunate that the Rockies caught Finley so late, though; his career was really nice, though part of that was a product of how damn long he played.

But by the end of it in 2007, Finley was at or near the top of active player totals in a lot of categories, including: triples (1st, 124), games (3rd, 2,583), at-bats (3rd, 9.397), hits (4th, 2,548), total bases (8th, 4,157), doubles (9th, 449), stolen bases (9th, 320) — as well having the fourth-most appearances in center field in big league history.

If there were a Hall of Very Good, Finley would be in it — but he’ll obviously fall short of the Hall of Fame. In his career, Finley made at least $68.1 million (including a cool one million bucks from the Colorado Rockies!), so you’d think he’d be right to play golf the rest of his life… right? Well… maybe?

Finley doesn’t tweet much any more, but two years ago he indicated he was doing business development for some firms. He’s also occasionally appeared on local baseball telecasts in San Diego, near where he makes his home today.

In fact, our friends at Friars on Base caught up with him a few years ago and had a great interview with Finley about his family, and his life in insurance sales after baseball.

At the time, Finley said:

"“It’s definitely not the pay check from baseball, but any paycheck is good; I like the fact that I’m not doing it for a paycheck. I’m doing it because it’s an enjoyment to meet new people, meet new contacts. I’m seeing a different side of me I haven’t seen before. I just enjoy being in the workforce. If anybody needs insurance, I’m a one-stop-shop for them.”"

Finley also said something interesting about old baseball players doing nothing but golfing after their retirement:

"“You know sitting around doing nothing is not a big enjoyment. A lot of guys are like, ‘I’m living the good life. I’m doing nothing just playing golf.’ But that gets boring after awhile. You have to develop relationships, stimulate your brain, stimulate your mind, stimulate your body. So in that respect I feel like hey, I’m living the good life right now. I’m enjoying everything that I’m doing.”"

Sounds just like the workhorse who knocked out 11,470 professional baseball plate appearances in a 21-year pro career.

Where Are They Now? Former Colorado Rockies OF Steve Finley

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