Despite a powder blue shirt and a red cap, Nolan Arenado wore a purple heart on his sleeve.
“I didn’t know the press conference was going to happen until this morning,” the St. Louis Cardinals third baseman said Tuesday inside the visiting clubhouse at Coors Field, an hour after he’d conspicuously attended the news conference down the hall, watching former Rockies teammate Charlie Blackmon say farewell to a game they both love.
“Got a few texts, and I’m happy that all the guys let me know. But obviously, I’m happy to be a part of it. I’m happy to just be here, to see it. I had a feeling. I wanted to ask (Blackmon), like, what your plan was, but I was also scared to ask him. Like, ‘Hey, what are you going to do?’ Because then he might be like, ‘I’m still playing. Don’t even ask me that.’ So, I was a little nervous. I’m not going to lie.
“I had to ask him. He told me, and I’m happy for him. I was happy to hear him talk and see his whole family. It was great to see his parents. … I remember when we clinched the playoffs in ’17, we all went out, and his mom and dad were with us. So, it was kind of cool to see them again. I feel like I haven’t seen them in a long time, so it was awesome.”
Awesome. Bittersweet. The Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals get dynasties. The closest Rockies diehards have to that was probably ’17 and ’18, those back-to-back wild-card teams, with Blackmon, who announced his retirement late Monday, hitting leadoff and Arenado, the Mike Schmidt of his generation, driving him home. A core that took time to grow, then broke up in a blink.
“We were all playing at a pretty high level, and it was special,” Arenado reflected before his Cardinals met the Rockies to open Colorado’s final homestand of another lost season. “And I always kind of say (that) when DJ (LeMahieu) left, that kind of — it dampened us a little bit. That was our group, but … just going back to Charlie, if it wasn’t for Charlie, we probably wouldn’t have made those postseasons, I mean, without him. He was just so clutch, and huge for us, and setting the tone.”
Arenado watched his old friend say goodbye with Rockies players in the back, leaning against a wall, standing next to a row of television cameras. His Cards were 79-77 as of Tuesday afternoon. They won 71 games a year ago. The grass isn’t always greener.
“He’s the yin to my yang in a sense, you know what I mean?” Arenado recalled. “So, you know, I love him.”
They grew up together in the Rockies organization. They both got married. They had kids. They went their separate ways. Yet they became thick as thieves, as opposites often do. The Bearded One even took Arenado fly-fishing one January day in 2018.
“We had a cool time,” the St. Louis infielder said. “It was just cool being in the wilderness like that, but (being) how Colorado was, it was like a 75-degree day, and then by the time we were done, it was like 32 (degrees). Yeah, it was crazy, but it was fun, man. We had a great time going in his old Jeep that he had.”
For a Georgia guy, Blackmon fit the Front Range the way eggs fit a breakfast burrito. History will label Blackmon a Coors Field “wonder,” but at the height of his powers, Chuck was Nazty everywhere. From 2016 to ’19, that “wonder” hit .273 on the road with 55 home runs in 1,269 at-bats.
The Rockies’ even more dysfunctional American League cousins, the White Sox, needed a right fielder — left-handed, good wheels, all-fields pop — who fit Nazty’s profile for most of the last decade. He stuck around. He stuck it out.
“This is where I want to play. This is all I’ve known,” Blackmon said. “I think to go somewhere else and hope for the best, I didn’t see the benefit in leaving (this team). … It means a lot more to me to have been successful here and to have made it to the playoffs and to have guys that I’ve seen grow up in this clubhouse be successful.
“I mean, ultimately, that is so much more rewarding for me than to bounce around. Not to discredit anybody else who’s chosen to leave, but this is one of the few choices you get in a game, is where you want to play. And I made that choice to stay here at (the) Colorado Rockies.”
Arenado chose a different path.
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“Did that ‘chosen to leave’ comment hit you funny at all?” I asked the former Rockies slugger.
“Not in any way,” Arenado replied. “No, I think, when I heard him say that, I’m just — I’m happy for Charlie. This is Charlie’s road, and this is Charlie’s story. And he’s had an amazing story, an amazing career. He chose his career, his path. I’ve obviously chosen mine. And we’re both proud of each one of them.
“So, I mean, that’s the only thing I can really say. But Charlie’s been a terrific Rockie. I hope they retire his number. I would like to come back for that. That would be pretty cool. He deserves it.”
He does. They will. When Blackmon retires, the mold retires with him.
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