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Colorado Rockies history: Jamie Moyer rewrites MLB history books

By Noah Yingling |
DENVER, CO - MAY 05: Starting pitcher Jamie Moyer
DENVER, CO - MAY 05: Starting pitcher Jamie Moyer
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DENVER, CO – APRIL 17: Starting pitcher Jamie Moyer #50 of the Colorado Rockies delivers against the San Diego Padres at Coors Field on April 17, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Moyer became the oldest player in the major leagues to record a win as the Rockies defeated the Padres 5-3. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – APRIL 17: Starting pitcher Jamie Moyer #50 of the Colorado Rockies delivers against the San Diego Padres at Coors Field on April 17, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Moyer became the oldest player in the major leagues to record a win as the Rockies defeated the Padres 5-3. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /

Recently, co-expert Kevin Henry and I decided to do a top 32 moments in Colorado Rockies history tournament. We decided to do it because it is the 25th season in Rockies history. Today, we discuss the third of our four #8 seeds.

On April 17, 2012, the Rockies won by a score of 5-3 against the San Diego Padres at Coors Field. The pitcher who recorded the win for the Rockies was left-hander Jamie Moyer. With the win, he recorded his 268th career win and he also became the oldest pitcher in MLB history to record a win. Moyer was born on November 18, 1962 so at the time of his win, he was 49 years and 150 days old.

Here were the starting lineups for that game.

San Diego Padres

  1. Cameron Maybin, CF
  2. Mark Kotsay, LF
  3. Chase Headley, 3B
  4. Jesus Guzman, 1B
  5. Nick Hundley, C
  6. Chris Denorfia, RF
  7. Andy Parrino, 2B
  8. Jason Bartlett, SS
  9. Anthony Bass, SP

Colorado Rockies

  1. Marco Scutaro, 2B
  2. Dexter Fowler, CF
  3. Carlos Gonzalez, LF
  4. Troy Tulowitzki, SS
  5. Todd Helton, 1B
  6. Michael Cuddyer, RF
  7. Wilin Rosario, C (you forgot about him, didn’t you)
  8. Chris Nelson, 3B
  9. Moyer, SP

The start was Moyer’s third start of the season. He lost his first two starts but he wasn’t awful (he had a 4.22 ERA).

In the start, Moyer went seven innings, giving up six hits, two runs (neither were earned), walking two, and striking out one on 87 pitches.

On the offensive front, they gave Moyer some support in the third inning on a two-run home run by Dexter Fowler. In the fourth, Wilin Rosario hit a solo home run to make it a 3-0 Rockies lead.

Moyer gave up his two runs after Tulowitzki committed an error with Parrino hitting. Jason Bartlett followed with a sac fly and pinch-hitter Jeremy Hermida was retired to finish the inning before Moyer was removed from the game.

The Rockies scored more runs in the eighth inning as Michael Cuddyer had a RBI double and Rosario had a sac fly.

Relievers Rex Brothers (who, coincidentally, the Rockies faced on Monday night and they saddled him with the loss) and Rafael Betancourt sealed the deal and preserved the victory for Moyer.

DENVER, CO – APRIL 17: Starting pitcher Jamie Moyer #50 of the Colorado Rockies delivers against the San Diego Padres at Coors Field on April 17, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Moyer became the oldest player in the major leagues to record a win as the Rockies defeated the Padres 5-3. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – APRIL 17: Starting pitcher Jamie Moyer #50 of the Colorado Rockies delivers against the San Diego Padres at Coors Field on April 17, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Moyer became the oldest player in the major leagues to record a win as the Rockies defeated the Padres 5-3. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /

Moyer’s catcher that night was Wilin Rosario. Rosario was born on February 23, 1989. Moyer was about ready to enter his fourth season in the major leagues when he was born. Just three months prior to Rosario being born, Moyer was traded from the Chicago Cubs to the Texas Rangers with Rafael Palmeiro and another player for reliever Mitch Williams and five other players.

Also, the home plate umpire for the game was Joe West. He was the only person on the field with more MLB experience than Moyer (he has been an MLB umpire since 1976, with a hiatus in 2000 and 2001 due to a labor issue with umpires that caused baseball to hire 25 minor league umpires in September of 1999).

When Moyer made his MLB debut on June 16, 1986, he faced future Hall-of-Famer Steve Carlton. Carlton was 41 years old and he was born on December 22, 1944. The oldest player in baseball was future Hall-of-Famer Phil Niekro. He was born on April 1, 1939.

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The oldest two players in the National League were Pete Rose (who was the Reds manager and part-time player) and Tony Perez. Rose was born on April 14, 1941 and Perez on May 14, 1942. Moyer faced Perez three times in his career and Perez went 0-for-3. Moyer also faced his son, Eduardo, too. He was 2-for-11 against Moyer. Eduardo, though, had already retired six years prior as he retired after the 2006 season. He had also become the Marlins hitting coach in 2011.

At the time of his win, the youngest player in National League was Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals. Harper was born on October 16, 1992. Moyer had spent the entire 1992 season in the minor leagues but he was about to turn 30 years old. He returned to the majors the next season for his seventh season.

Aftermath

Moyer only went on to win one more game as a Rockie in seven more starts. He lost three and had an ERA of 7.25 and an opponent’s batting average of .325 in the starts. He was released by the Rockies and spent time in the minor leagues for the Blue Jays and Orioles before retiring at the end of the season.

Next: Another moment in our top 32 Rockies moments tournament

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Check our Twitter page, @RoxPileFS, for voting for the moments that we feature.

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