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Denver, Colorado is the home of the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball team. It is named for the Coors Brewing Company of Golden, Colorado, which purchased the naming rights to the stadium prior to its completion in 1995. The team had played its first two years at Mile High Stadium before moving to Coors Field, two blocks from Union Station in Denver's Lower Downtown (or LoDo) neighborhood. The stadium includes 63 luxury suites and 4,500 club seats.
The stadium is best known for its reputation as a homer-friendly park. Though the fences are actually more distant than in most other stadiums, the high altitude - the playing field is just barely short of a mile above sea level - means that air resistance to hit baseballs is cut by as much as 10%. The high altitude also lessens the ability of pitchers to throw effective breaking balls. This, combined with the open spaces in the outfield due to the far fences, the low height of the fences and the small size of foul territory have combined to produce a stadium as problematic for pitchers as any in the major leagues.
The stadium was originally planned to be somewhat smaller, seating only 43,800. After the Rockies first season in 1993, however, it became clear that the team was far more popular than initially expected, and the plans were updated as the stadium was under construction. Most of the additional seats were added in the center field bleacher section, known as the Rockpile.
The only no-hitter at Coors Field was thrown by Hideo Nomo on September 17, 1996.
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