Colorado Rockies history: What was popular during the 2007 Rocktober season?
It has been a long time since the Colorado Rockies were in the World Series as it will be 15 years in 2022. Doesn’t seem like it was that long ago was it? A lot has changed in the world since then. The United States has had four Presidents since then (George W. Bush’s final year and change after the 2007 World Series, Obama, Trump, and now, Biden), technology has changed a lot, and we’ve had a pandemic.
Before we look back at what life was like back in 2007, the credit for this idea comes from our colleague Christopher O’Day at SoDo Mojo, our sister site that covers the Seattle Mariners. He did it for the Seattle Mariners and for the last time they made the playoffs (2001) so make sure you check his look at the world in 2001 out as well.
So let’s leap back to 2007.
The Colorado Rockies and 2007: Some modern technology started in 2007
At the very beginning of 2007 (January 9th, to be exact), the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple was going to release the item that you are probably using to read this right now: The iPhone. Of course, there have been many generations since but the first generation of the iPhone was revealed in January. The first one is sold in the U.S. in June 2007.
The social media platform Tumblr was launched in February 2007 and the first-ever “hashtag” was used on Twitter in 2007 and the first-ever known publication of the word “hashtag” was also in 2007.
The Colorado Rockies and 2007: The times were changing in the music world.
When the Colorado Rockies made it to the World Series in 2007, it was the start of a different era of popular music. The top artists of the 1990s and early 2000s largely faded away or dissolved, as the late 1990s was known for its boy bands and groups, which had dissolved by 2007.
In 2006 and 2007, things started to change as many of the artists that have had number one hits in the last few years really got their start then.
Some of Billboard’s Hot 100 number ones from 2007 include (note: some of these debuted in 2006 but they peaked on the charts in 2007)
- “Irreplaceable” by Beyoncé
- “Say It Right” by Nelly Furtado
- “What Goes Around … Comes Around” by Justin Timberlake, from his second solo album
- “Umbrella” by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z,
- “Hey There Delilah” by The Plain White T’s
- “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston
- “No One” by Alicia Keys
Some other popular songs from 2007 include:
- “Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani
- “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie
- “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood
- “How To Save a Life” by The Fray
- “Waiting on the World to Change” by John Mayer
- “Apologize” by One Republic
- “Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat
- “Teardrops on My Guitar” by Taylor Swift, on her debut album
- “Paralyzer” by Finger Eleven
The Colorado Rockies and 2007: Some price comparisons
$1 in 2007 is worth $1.34 in 2021. In other words, for the Colorado Rockies, their end-of-season payroll in 2007, which was roughly $61.3 million, is equivalent to $82.2 million today.
Rockies first baseman Todd Helton made $16.6 million in 2007, which is equivalent to $22.2 million in 2021. The Rockies’ highest-paid player, as of now, will be outfielder Charlie Blackmon at $21 million.
In 2007, the average gallon of gas was $2.80, and in 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association, the average price in the U.S. in November was $3.49.
In 2007, Denver home prices were a much more reasonable $291,000 whereas, in 2021, it has nearly doubled since 2007, as it’s $540,000 now. The Denver metro area has a population of 2.862 million in 2021 where it was only 2.26 million in 2007, or just under a 27 percent growth.
The Colorado Rockies and 2007: Top-grossing films
2007 was a good year for films. The top ten grossing films in theaters in 2007 were (in order):
- Spider-Man 3, $336.5 million
- Shrek the Third, $322.7 million
- Transformers, $319.2 million
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, $309.4 million
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: $292 million
- The Bourne Ultimatum: $227.5 million
- 300, $210.6 million
- Ratatouille, $206.4 million
- I Am Legend, $199.3 million
- The Simpsons Movie, $183.1 million
The Colorado Rockies and 2007: Some of the best MLB players to debut
The 2007 season featured some great players making their debut, including a few that made their debut for the Colorado Rockies or later played with the Rockies. Some of the debuts include:
- Joey Votto
- Ryan Braun
- Alex Gordon
- Justin Upton
- Jacoby Ellsbury
- Hunter Pence
- Josh Hamilton
- Yovani Gallardo
- Seth Smith
- Mark Reynolds
There were even more retirements of players that would fall into some of the best ever or some that were not quite Hall of Fame level but still very good
- Barry Bonds
- Roger Clemens
- Curt Schilling
- Mike Piazza
- Craig Biggio
- Sammy Sosa
- Kenny Lofton
- Steve Finley
- Julio Franco
- Reggie Sanders
- Shawn Green
- Jeff Cirillo
- Ryan Klesko
- Jeff Conine
- David Wells
- Woody Williams
- Orlando Hernández (“El Duque”)
- Aaron Sele
- José Mesa
The Colorado Rockies and 2007: The rest of the sports world
The Colorado Rockies faced the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 World Series (and the Red Sox swept the Rockies) but here is a look at the championships in different sports in 2007
- NFL Super Bowl: Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears on February 4, 2007. Super Bowl XLI was played at Dolphins Stadium in Miami, Florida in front of a crowd of 74,512 people. Tony Dungy was the head coach for the Colts and Lovie Smith was the head coach for the Bears. The Colts won 29-17. CBS’s broadcast of the game got an average of 93.2 million viewers but 140 million people tuned in to watch Prince’s halftime show.
- NCAA Football: The 2007 BCS National Championship Game was played between the Florida Gators and Ohio State Buckeyes. Jim Tressel was the head coach of OSU and future OSU head coach and current NFL head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars Urban Meyer was the head coach for Florida. Florida won 41-14.
- NCAA Division I Basketball: Like for NCAA football, the Florida Gators faced the Ohio State Buckeyes and they, like in football, defeated them by a score of 84-75. This was Florida’s second-straight National Title and, to date, they are the last team to repeat as National Title champs. This also was the first time in NCAA history that the same two schools played for the NCAA football and basketball championships in the same year and the first time that a school has held both the football and basketball championships in the same year.
- NBA: Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs swept Mike Brown’s Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2007 NBA Finals. Tony Parker was the Finals MVP and the Spurs won their third title in five years.
2007 was a heck of a year in many ways but it was a great year for Colorado Rockies fans, especially in September and October. Rockies fans will be hoping that they can return to the World Series in the near future for the first time in at least 15 years.