Colorado Rockies and the humidor

I am very impressed with what the Colorado Rockies did at the end of the baseball season this year. No one, including me, considered that they were going to be in the post-season this year. They just exploded and came out of nowhere at the end of the season. So if the Cubs and the Red Sox get illiminated from the playoffs, I will consider rooting for them or perhaps, I will root for any team playing against the Yankees.

In listening to the Rockies/Phillie game yesterday, I heard Rockies' stadium, Coors Field, referred to as the "humidor." I did some research and I found that they were not referring to the stadium but a device that is used to maintain the humidity of the baseball. Humidors are usually used by cigar shops to preserve the humidity of pricey cigars, the Rockies use it for baseballs. Coors Field has always been known as a hitter's park and conventional wisdom always pointed towards the altitude of the stadium. Apparently, it isn't the height, but the dry air. So the balls that they use in Denver, are stored in this humidor to keep the humidity of the balls constant so that they don't shrink. Since the introduction of the humidor in 2002, the offensive stats have decreased significantly at the park. But this is a trend that you could say about all of baseball not just Colorado. The decrease in the use of steroids probably have more to do with this.