Denver is hosting Major League Baseball's All-Star game tonight for the first time in 23 years.
The game was moved to Denver in April from Atlanta, Georgia, after lawmakers there passed laws that some say restrict voter access to polls. Follow along with us today as we report on the sights and sounds from inside Coors Field and the LoDo neighborhood in Denver and inside the park as we get closer to first pitch, which is slated for 5:30 p.m. tonight
In the meantime, we have a lot of All-Star coverage for you to catch up on:
- What Was LoDo Like The Last Time Denver Hosted The MLB All-Star Game More Than 20 Years Ago?
- Thin Air (And No Humidor) Lets Baseballs Fly Far: MLB All-Star Home Run Derby Shines At Coors Field
- As The MLB All-Star Game Descends On Denver, Colorado’s Black Baseball Players Wonder: Where Have All Our Heroes Gone?
- Local Businesses Hope The MLB All-Star Game Will Kick Start Their Bottom Lines After The Pandemic
9:20 p.m. The American League has defeated the National League in the 2021 MLB All-Star Game
The American League all-stars defeated the National League all-stars by a score of 5-2.
In case you missed it, Colorado Rockies player Trevor Story got out of the first round of last night's MLB Home Run Derby, but lost in the second round.
Colorado Rockies pitcher Germán Márquez threw a flawless 1-2-3 fourth inning in his action.
That's all from us tonight. Thanks for following along for Denver's first MLB All-Star Game since 1998.
-Andrew Villegas
8:07 p.m. Denver's clerk and recorder says the Rockies denied the city's request to partner to promote voter registration
Denver's Clerk and Recorder Paul López said on Twitter tonight that the Colorado Rockies denied a request from his office to partner to provide voter registration to people at the MLB All-Star Game. López didn't give a reason the Rockies denied his request, but added that workers from his office set up shop near McGregor Square across 20th Street from Coors Field anyway.
He also thanked Major League Baseball for moving the game away from Atlanta, Georgia, after state lawmakers there passed laws that many consider to restrict voter access to the polls.
-Andrew Villegas
7:20 p.m. Only Rockie in All-Star Game throws a flawless inning
Germán Márquez is the only Colorado Rockies player to play in this year's All-Star Game. It hasn't been a great year for the Rockies, but just a couple weeks ago, Márquez nearly threw a no-hitter, which would have been the first in Coors Field history. He came up short that night, giving up a hit in the 9th inning, but tonight he pitched in the fourth inning and had a 1-2-3 inning, which, for the uninitiated, is giving up no hits and no walks.
-Andrew Villegas
5:54 p.m. Former Colorado Rockies Player Nolan Arenado walked out, here's what it looked and sounded like when he was introduced
5:16 p.m. Baseball fans from all over
Jaime Santiago came to Denver for the All-Star Game from San Diego.
He said he's found Denver to be a very hospitable place to everyone, including to a fan of a division rival.
Santiago roots for the San Diego Padres.
He said he's here for the camaraderie of the game, no matter who a fan supports.
"It’s not about the Padres," Santiago said. "It’s not about San Diego or nothing," Santiago said.
Because of the Padres' success this year, some have said maybe he's a bandwagon fan, but no, Santiago says, he's been supporting them since the early 1980s. And he has the tattoos to prove he's a real fan.
"I flew out here and there’s baseball fans from everywhere and I love it. I'm taking pictures with Dodgers fans, I'm taking pictures with Padres, Orioles, every team. I love it."
-Vic Vela
4:55 p.m. Inside Coors Field, we met this couple who got engaged at Coors Field 10 years ago
Landon Malave proposed to his wife Megan Malave at Coors Field 10 years ago. The couple, who live near Colorado Springs, are regulars at the Colorado Rockies, and Tuesday they were inside Coors Field getting ready for the MLB All-Star Game.
Landon said that day was anxious. Megan said they were running late. It was her birthday. Inside about 35 people they knew were waiting for them to get engaged.
They made it, and then later with an assist from the big screen, Landon popped the question.
"It was pretty crazy," Landon said. "We'd come to 16 games a year. I knew that's where I wanted to do it at. And so, I had a bunch of family come here. She had no idea, and ... her dad tapped her on the shoulder, and I got on one knee, and asked her to marry me."
Landon said both of them love baseball, and it was important for them to get engaged at Coors Field. On All-Star Tuesday, the couple were sporting their Rockies jerseys, Landon in a Nolan Arenado one and Megan in a Todd Helton one from the team's 2007 World Series run.
"We both love baseball. It was one thing we really have in common," he said. "It was a pretty big deal to ask her here."
-Vic Vela
4:37 p.m. Sometimes we get interviewed too.
As journalists, we are usually the ones doing the interviewing, but sometimes the tables get turned.
CPR health reporter John Daley found that out today when he was trying to interview a peddler of CBD "chew" to passersby near Coors Field this afternoon. A man known only by the name Oscar — he declined to give his last name — decided he wanted to try to interview John for a video he was making with a colleague.
"What are you most excited about this weekend?" Oscar asked.
"You know, I'm just doing my job, interviewing people, for Colorado Public Radio," Daley said, adding that he was, in fact, not attending tonight's All-Star Game.
Oscar said he was trying to give 3,000 cans of their smokeless cannabis product away to people around the stadium this week. Baseball players, Oscar said, are a big target for their product.
"We're helping guys get off [tobacco] chew," he said. "It's huge, it's a movement."
-Andrew Villegas
4:18 p.m. No words, just birds
3:58 p.m. Colorado's 'coming out party' after COVID-19
There aren't a lot of people in masks out here. For some, that could be scary, but for others, they are excited to be in crowds again.
It's Scott Griffith's second All-Star Game. The Erie resident went to the 1978 game in Cleveland with his dad when he was 8. This time around, he brought his daughter.
Griffith is from Ohio, but teaches in social studies and culinary arts in Boulder. He's trying to get to all the Major League ballparks in the nation. He says he and his daughter have been to about 10 so far.
Griffith said he has been vaccinated and doesn't hesitate to be out in public.
"I'm very excited to be here. It just feels like a coming out party in terms of being around people," he said. "We all share the love of baseball, and we're all here to kind of come back together as a community."
-John Daley
3:50 p.m. The crowds, the crowds!
For anyone, like me, who has spent the last 16 months trying like heck to stay out of crowds like this, the next three pictures Kevin J. Beaty sent along might be a little jarring. The crowds are gathering to be let in to Coors Field, and we're still about 2 hours away from first pitch.
There are rainclouds (mixed with a haze of wildfire smoke) to the west and I'm sure most people are asking themselves if they're going to get rained on. I wonder how it's affected the ticket resellers' prices.
-Andrew Villegas
3:37 p.m. A small contingent of protesters say Trump won the election
Protests sometimes happen at big sporting events. Often, actually. So it probably wasn't a big surprise to see a contingent of people protesting the outcome of the 2020 presidential election show up.
Kelly Johnson, of Orange County, California, said he came to Denver for the festivities to protest against the Major League Baseball decision to move the game from Atlanta to Denver. He held a Trump flag as he spoke.
"Anyone who supports baseball supports voter fraud," he said.
-Kevin J. Beaty
3:15p.m. Still want to go to the game? It'll cost you
A ticket, ahem, reseller, who didn't want to give their name said tickets to the sold-out All-Star game are going for $225-$275 each, depending on the location inside Coors Field.
Right now, the lowest-priced tickets on ticket reselling site Stubhub are going for $190 each, in the Rockpile bleachers in center field.
-John Daley
2:13 p.m. MLB's best kept secret?
Alan O'Hashi is a volunteer at National Baseball Park Museum. He has a secret about the museum, and it's only $10 to get in.
"It turns out this museum is the best-kept secret in Major League Baseball," O'Hashi said. He said he worked on a program about a year ago with the museum on Japanese baseball history and has been a volunteer there ever since. "You just get into a place and it just kind of gets into your blood."
O'Hashi said all eyes during the All-Star week are rightly on Shohei Ohtani, a Japanese pitcher who plays for the Los Angeles Angels and leads the majors with 33 home runs at the all-star break.
"He is known to be the sort of the Babe Ruth of the modern times, because he pitches as well as ... hits," O'Hashi said. "There have been smattering of Japanese players over the years, but, I would say, because of the importance of the news media and social media, Ohtani has definitely risen well above other Japanese players who have played in the country. And for good reason, he's a really good baseball player."
-Kevin J. Beaty, Denverite
2:07 p.m. DINGER HAS BEEN SIGHTED. THIS IS NOT A TEST!
Maybe Dinger should get out of the street though, he's blocking traffic on 20th Street.
1:37 p.m. Food vendors getting ready for big crowds, and to get back to work
The return of crowds to LoDo doesn't just have sports fans rejoicing, vendors who sell to them are also extremely happy to welcome crowds back to Coors Field.
Kristin Moffett is a Denver native. She sells peanuts and sunflower seeds as well as water and Gatorade to people who go to Rockies games. ("Hoping to save them a little money while we are making a little money as well," Moffett said.) She was outside Coors Field Tuesday afternoon selling her wares.
"Even though I am on the outside of the stadium, I still feel like I am part of the All-Star festivities," she said. "It's been really fun, it's a lot of work, it's been really hot, but we've also met a lot of cool people."
Moffett said the pandemic made it difficult to stay afloat.
"Luckily we have good friends and family that helped us just get through," Moffett said. "They helped us get through that year where there was no Rockies, there's nothing we could do about it, we had to just figure it out."
- Sarah Mulholland
12:53 p.m.: Play Ball Park attracting tons of visitors
We're just a few hours from first pitch, and lots of people are starting to gather in and around Coors Field in LoDo. One of the most popular attractions so far has been MLB's Play Ball Park at the Colorado Convention Center in Downtown Denver. The center has attracted thousands of people since late last week to its indoor and outdoor attractions.
Denverite photographer Kevin Beaty sends these photos from this morning at the park.
