Sixteen years later, the first Rockies home opener brings back sweet memories and always will. Eric Young, leading off the bottom of the first, unexpectedly went deep and, presto, an expansion team was embraced by legions of fans. Major league baseball finally came to Denver on April 9, 1993, and on a sunny 69-degree afternoon at Mile High Stadium, a city and a region thirsting for the game and a team of castoffs came together.

The Rockies are 9-7 in home openers with No. 17 set for this afternoon against the world champion Phillies. If the first home opener, an 11-4 romp over the Montreal Expos, deserves its own place in the Rockies’ time capsule, several others provided scintillating moments, some good and tinged with magic and some not so good and bringing April agony to Rockies fans. With an eye toward Rockies-Phillies, here’s a glance over the shoulder at some of the home openers that stand out.

April 9, 1993
Rockies 11, Expos 4
Young hit a 3-2 pitch from Kent Bottenfield, who would play for the Rockies, into the stands in left-center, beyond left fielder John Vander Wal, who would also play for the Rockies. Four batters later, Charlie Hayes hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run first. Young went 4-for-4 with four runs scored and two RBI. Bryn Smith, signed pretty much to make this start, pitched seven scoreless innings.

A 37-year-old who was fading fast, Smith’s time with the Rockies and in the game ran out on June 1. He never won another start after this special one against the Expos, and on May 16 at Cincinnati, Smith, wheezing with the end fast approaching, relieved starter David Nied in an outing that was painful to watch. Smith allowed six hits, two walks and eight runs while getting one out, not surprisingly on a sacrifice fly, and throwing 51 pitches to nine batters in a third of an inning. Smith’s baseball mortality was fast approaching, but there was no gloom, only sunlight on that day he took the mound at Mile High Stadium with a crowd of 80,227 watching.

April 4, 1994
Phillies 12, Rockies 6
This is the only other time the Rockies opened their home season against the Phillies, who were then the defending National League champions. Rockies left fielder Howard Johnson was charged with an error on a ball Jim Eisenreich hit in a disastrous eight-run eighth. It was snowing, making it hard for Johnson to see the ball. At least Johnson had an excuse. Relievers Mike Munoz and Darren Holmes couldn’t throw strikes.

The Phillies tied the game with two runs in the seventh, but the Rockies answered with two in the bottom of that inning to go ahead 6-4. The Phillies’ eight-run rally consisted of two hits, two errors, a wild pitch by Holmes that let in a run and six walks _ two by Munoz (he threw four of 13 pitches for strikes), three by Holmes (10 of 23 pitches for strikes) and one by Willie Blair, the third pitcher to work in the inning.

April 26, 1995
Rockies 11, Mets 9 (14 innings)
The season started late because the major leaguers were still on strike and the owners opened the camps with replacement players. That sham ended with the conclusion of the strike, followed by three weeks of spring training. The Rockies christened Coors Field against the Mets and won 11-9 in 14 innings. Each team scored a run in the 13th, the Mets scored once in the 14th to go ahead 9-8, and with one out in the bottom of that inning, Dante Bichette hit a three-run homer off left-hander Mike Remlinger. There was a brief period before the start of spring training when it looked like the Rockies might not resign Bichette. He punctuated his return with this dramatic homer on a chilly night when pitcher Bill Swift and right fielder Larry Walker made their Rockies debuts.

April 12, 1999
Padres 8, Rockies 5 (11 innings)
In his only season managing the Rockies, Jim Leyland awarded the closer’s job to Dave Veres, who ended up saving 31 games but lost this one in bitter fashion. Veres, the fifth reliever used by Leyland, took the mound in the 10th and gave up two hits and a walk but left the bases loaded. He wasn’t as fortunate in the 11th. Veres struck out Quilvio Veras and Reggie Sanders to begin the inning but singles by Tony Gwynn and Wally Joyner put runners at first and third, and Jim Leyritz homered to deep right-center on a 2-2 pitch to give the Padres their victory. It was the first home opener for Todd Helton, who batted sixth and homered on his first at-bat.

April 2, 2001
Rockies 8, Cardinals 0
Mike Hampton, who had signed an eight-year, $121 million contract in the offseason, made a highly successful Rockies debut. He pitched 8 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Hampton got the first out in the ninth but was lifted after successive walks to Jim Edmonds and Mark McGwire boosted his pitch count to 100. Hampton would say that the day after this start, he felt he had been “hit by a train,” the effort expended at altitude and recovery time not at all what he was used to while pitching for the Astros and Mets.
The losing pitcher was the late Darryl Kile, who had gone a combined 21-30 in 1998-1999 with the Rockies but was coming off a career-reviving 20-9 season in 2000 with the Cardinals. Hampton won his first five decisions with the Rockies, didn’t lose until his eighth start on May 15 and was 9-2 after a June 10. At that point, Hampton’s season stalled _ he lost his next five decisions _ and his career with the Rockies, which lasted two dismal years, began to tail off. He said he tried to “manufacture movement,” feeling he needed to do that to succeed at Coors Field, which could fold, spindle and mutilate pitchers these days before the humidor, and in a nutshell, that led to a varying release point for Hampton and poor location.

April 4, 2003
Rockies 2, Diamondbacks 1
Shawn Chacon, who made the National League All-Star team this season, held the Diamondbacks to two hits, one of them a Steve Finley homer, and one run in seven innings with no walks and eight strikeouts. This start wasn’t a fluke. Chacon won his first four decisions and in five April starts had a 1.04 ERA, allowing six runs, four earned, in 34 2/3 innings. In this start against the Diamondbacks, Chacon’s first of the season, he retired the first 16 Arizona batters he faced before Chad Moeller doubled with one out in the sixth. Just four of those 16 batters hit the ball out of the infield against Chacon, whose victory came after Todd Jones worked the eighth and Jose Jimenez the ninth to earn a save.

April 4, 2005
Rockies 12, Padres 10
Closer Trevor Hoffman, the sixth San Diego pitcher, took the mound with a 10-8 lead. With two out and a runner on third, Hoffman was on the cusp of a save when the Rockies suddenly erupted. Cory Sullivan doubled home a run. Aaron Miles singled Sullivan home, and Clint Barmes lined a home run into the left-field stands to win the game. The ensuing celebration resulted in an odd injury. Dustan Mohr suffered a strained calf when he jumped over the protective mesh fence in front of the Rockies’ dugout and ended up on the 15-day disabled list. It was April 29 before he played again.

April 2, 2007
Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 6
LaTroy Hawkins made his Rockies debut to start the eighth with the Rockies leading 6-5. With no outs and the bases loaded, Hawkins got ahead of Eric Byrnes 0-2 with two sliders, making Byrnes look bad on each pitch. Hawkins missed with a fastball, but then threw another fastball rather than going back to the slider, and Byrnes lined the ball over the head of second baseman Kazuo Matsui for a two-run single. Orlando Hudson followed with a sacrifice to make it 8-6, finishing Hawkins’ first outing with the Rockies.

Byrnes said, “He threw me two sliders that were unhittable. Babe Ruth couldn’t have hit those pitches. I couldn’t see them out of his hand. Then, for whatever reason he came back, with a fastball on 1-2 that caught the middle of the plate.” Pinch hitter Jeff Baker had put the Rockies ahead 6-5 with a solo homer off Brandon Medders in the sixth, a lead Hawkins lost while throwing just 10 of his 20 pitches for strikes.