DENVER — Longtime Denverites might remember a time when the Colorado Rockies didn’t have a mascot, but that all changed in the early 90s, when a triceratops hatched in the middle of the field one sunny, spring afternoon.
It was April 16, 1994, during the Rockies’ second season and just before Colorado took on the Montréal Expos at Mile High Stadium (this was pre-Coors Field, after all) that Dinger was born — or rather, hatched — in front of adults and children alike.
I wasn’t there, so I can’t tell you whether people were bewildered, excited, terrified or ecstatic, but I can walk you through the moment of the hatching itself.
The “hatchening," as I'll refer to it, occurred quite rapidly thanks to the help of two lab coat-clad gentlemen apparently wielding science equipment that is not likely to be found in any paleontologist's handbook, even in 1994.
You’d think the Rockies would have obtained permission to play the Jurassic Park theme in the background for this moment (the film had been released a year earlier in the U.S.), but that wasn’t the case.
Instead, the Rockies welcomed this loveable purple triceratops with Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra” – a great choice for such a monumental event.
“Fans, I think we’re on the verge… of a major discovery!” the announcer can be heard saying as Dinger comes out of his shell and starts dancing around the field.
- Relive the moment in the video below.
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