The Colorado Rockies entered Major League Baseball’s National League in time for the 1993 season, and ever since their arrival on the baseball scene, one thing has remained constant — their home ballpark has always been a relative house of horrors for pitchers. Although things have somewhat calmed down since the pre-humidor days of 2002 and before, Denver still is an extremely tough place for pitchers to practice their craft. When you combine the dry air with the expansive outfields of both Coors Field and Mile High Stadium, it makes for a hitter’s paradise and a pitcher’s nightmare.

The Rockies’ home parks always have had the highest park factors in all of baseball, and that probably explains why you rarely hear any sort of rumors of star pitchers wanting to make their way to the Rockies via free agency or trades. For lack of a better term, the game is essentially rigged against the Rockies–in more ways than one–and you rarely ever see pitchers succeeding in that environment. It’s not quite a pitcher’s graveyard, but I’d imagine even the best of pitchers still get the heebie-jeebies whenever their turn in the rotation coincides with a trip to Denver.

In fact, ever since the team entered MLB as an expansion club, the Rockies have only had three finalists in the voting for the National League’s Cy Young Award. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of those finalists was Ubaldo Jimenez. Jimenez’s 2010 season saw him finish third in NL Cy Young voting, and that was easily the best pitching performance in the history of Coors Field, evidenced by the fact that he managed to get through that season with a 3.19 ERA and a 2.91 FIP at home.

The 2010 season was the icing on what was an exquisite three-season triple-layer cake of success in Denver. Before Jimenez’s lovely season, Jeff Francis actually received recognition for his efforts in helping spearhead the Rockies’ improbable march towards the NL pennant and a World Series appearance. A 4.20 ERA and a 4.01 FIP at Coors Field is pretty respectable, and that’s what Francis brought to the table for the Rockies during that magical season.

It shouldn’t come as a shock that both Jimenez and Francis were able to accomplish what they did during the humidor days of Coors Field. So, of course, that should mean Colorado’s first ever Cy Young finalist had to have come after 2002, right? Actually, not only did this happen during the pre-humidor era of Rockies baseball, it happened before they even moved into Coors Field. In 1994, a 31-year-old Marvin Freeman ended up having the best season of his career and was recognized for his work by finishing fourth in NL Cy Young voting that season.

Now, Mile High Stadium’s park factor topped out at 114 and was a full nine points lower than the park factor for the debut season of Coors Field. Despite that, it was still easily the most hitter-friendly ballpark in all of baseball, yet somehow, Freeman was able to finish the strike-shortened season with an ERA of 2.80 and a FIP of 3.84. His ERA was third among starters with 100 innings pitched (behind only Bret Saberhagen and 1994’s NL Cy Young Award winner, Greg Maddux), and although his FIP was a full point higher than his ERA, it was still good enough to place him in the top 25 in all of baseball among starters. Again, when you consider that his home park was the most hitter-favorable park in all of baseball, that is no mean feat.

Freeman’s exploits in 1994 are even more shocking when you consider he managed to succeed as a starter despite not having started a game since 1990 and not a regular part of a major league rotation since 1988. Back in those days, the pitching artist affectionately referred to as “Starvin” Marvin Freeman was trying his best to become a permanent fixture in the Philadelphia Phillies’ rotation. Philadelphia drafted him in 1984, and the righty from Jackson State University eventually made it to the big leagues by 1986. In fact, in his second career start with the Phillies, he managed to throw seven innings of one-hit ball against the eventual World Series champion New York Mets with the knowledge that his first child had been born during the middle of the game. He ended up getting credit for the win on that night, which had to have been ripped straight from a chapter of a lovely book written about the life and times of an aspiring baseball player.

While his initial days in the bigs may have been of the storybook variety, things didn’t stay so magical for Freeman. He had another one-hit outing in his next start against the Montreal Expos, and after giving up only two hits over his past 13 innings of work, the future appeared to be bright for the lanky rookie. Philadelphia’s manager at the time had nothing but glowing praise for the youngster:

Freeman, a 6-foot-7, 183-pound right-hander, combined with Kent Tekulve for his second straight one-hitter Friday night, leading the Phillies to a 5-0 victory over the Montreal Expos. ‘We certainly are impressed with Marvin thus far,’ Philadelphia Manager John Felske said. ‘He is only a Double-A pitcher but, if he keeps doing this, then there is no way we will be able to keep him off the team next season. His chances of making this squad could be excellent.’ Freeman, who had pitched most of the season for Reading of the Eastern League, Sunday combined with Tekulve to one-hit the Mets in his second major-league start.

As it turned out, Freeman missed out on making the 1987 Phillies squad and ended up spending the entirety of that season in the minors. It seemed like 1988 was going to be more of the same, but the Phillies called up him on Aug. 1 of that year, and Freeman was slotted into Philadelphia’s rotation for the rest of the season.

Unfortunately, Freeman’s Achilles’ heel at the time was the fact that he had major issues with walking batters. A walk percentage of 16.4 percent during your first three starts is a minor issue that hopefully can fixed. If that walk percentage goes up to 17.3 percent after 51 innings pitched during the ‘88 season, then it’s a problem. Indeed, Freeman finished 1988 with a whopping 6.10 ERA and a 4.39 FIP, and a K-BB% of -2.4 percent. That type of production won’t cut it, and it only took one more bad start in late April of 1989 against the Houston Astros for him to earn another stint at the Triple-A level.

By 1990, Freeman’s time as both a starter and a member of the Phillies’ organization had come to an end. The Phillies decided that he’d be better off as a middle reliever, and then by the trade deadline of ‘90, they decided that they’d rather see him be a reliever for the Atlanta Braves.

A Hardball Times Update by Rachael McDaniel Goodbye for now.

The change in scenery ended up working out for Freeman, as he eventually became the set-up man for the famous “worst-to-first” Braves team that ended up winning the 1991 NL pennant. From 1990 until 1993, Freeman made 122 appearances for the Braves, but the increased workload resulted in a rash of injury problems for the righty. It got to the point where Freeman was unable to pitch in the 1991 and 1993 postseasons due to back and arm injuries, respectively. He did get a shot at October baseball during the 1992 National League Championship Series, but the Pittsburgh Pirates rocked him in each of his three appearances in that series.

While the postseason experience may have been one to forget, the experience Freeman picked up from one of his teammates during his time with the Braves ended up being invaluable. Freeman was known as being a good guy to have in the clubhouse due to his sense of humor, and that meant he ended up forming a positive relationship with one of the most infamous clubhouse pranksters of his time, who also just happened to end up being one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game of baseball, Greg Maddux.

The two pitchers only spent one season together as teammates in Atlanta, but Freeman took advantage of having one of the game’s elite pitchers as a teammate by acting like a sponge and absorbing anything he could from the future Hall of Famer. Freeman later admitted in the future that he wanted to be a “carbon copy” of Maddux. He wouldn’t get a chance to give the baseball world his best Maddux routine (both on the mound and in the clubhouse) in a Braves uniform, but the Colorado Rockies would end up giving him a chance ahead of what ended up being a watershed 1994 season for Freeman.

The Rockies signed him with the intention of using him as a reliever, but as always, injuries tend to throw a wrench into the wheel of even the best laid of plans. However, the injury bug didn’t bite Freeman this time. Instead, it bit Kent Bottenfield. Bottenfield started 14 games for the Rockies in their inaugural season, but a hand injury during the early stages of spring training ended up knocking him out of the Rockies’ rotation. This ended up being a window of opportunity for Freeman, and after a strong showing in spring training, he ended up earning a starting role for the Rockies. Just like that, the guy who hadn’t made a start since 1990 as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies was now about to return to the world of starting pitching, and he was going to do so in the extreme hitter’s paradise of Colorado.

By now, you should see the twist in the story coming. Not only did Freeman succeed in this new environment, he thrived. Granted, he did get off to a tough start, lasting only four innings in his first start of the season, and then he had to make a brief return to relief duty three days later. That’s when he pitched another four innings and ended up being the pitcher of record in a game that ended in victory for Colorado.

That was his last relief appearance for the rest of the season, and after getting a few more starts under his belt (with four of his five starts in May coming away from Mile High Stadium), he started to settle into his role. This run culminated with an excellent start in a home win against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Freeman pitched seven innings of shutout ball and did so while only giving up five hits and no walks. As if to confirm his new role as the “Mile High Whisperer” when it came to pitching in those conditions, the two relievers who followed him promptly gave up four runs against the Pirates.

Freeman officially became the toast of the town later that month, which is when he famously helped the Rockies end what was an embarrassingly long losing streak to the Atlanta Braves. Going into their June 13 clash in Atlanta, the Rockies had failed to beat the Braves in 17 previous tries since becoming a franchise. By the end of that day, Freeman had a third consecutive start of seven innings under his belt, and he’d only given up one run against the Braves. This was one of those rare days in the 1990s where the opposing pitcher ended up being the better man on the day than Tom Glavine, and it was also a watershed moment for the Rockies, since it was their win in team history against that powerful Braves squad.

From that point forward, Freeman was the model of consistency for the Rockies for the rest of the season, and he was Colorado’s most reliable pitcher in 1994. By July of that season, he was consistently throwing at least six innings and giving up two earned runs or less. Additionally, he seemingly had solved the main problem that plagued him in his initial run as a starter, his walk rate. Remember how his frequency of free passes in the late 1980s was up in the high teens? By the end of this season, his walk rate had been cut down to a relatively miniscule 4.9 percent, and his BB/9 was at a similarly small 1.84.

It didn’t matter if Freeman was pitching at Mile High or closer to sea level. He had found his groove and was succeeding where other pitchers before, during, and after his time with the Rockies were struggling. Again, Freeman hadn’t started a game since 1990, and even then, he struggled. This was a stunning change of fortune, but it seemed as if his efforts to be as much like Greg Maddux as possible were paying off.

His start on Aug. 5 against the Dodgers was yet another solid effort from the righty, as he went seven innings, struck out five, walked one, and only gave up one earned run. Normally this wouldn’t be anything that’s especially notable, but it ended up being important because this was the final start of the 1994 season for Freeman.

Injuries didn’t rob him this time, and under-performance obviously didn’t put him on the back burner. Instead, the infamous strike of 1994 began a week after Freeman’s final start. The strike ended up claiming the rest of the season, and a fascinating campaign ended up coming to an unfortunate close. The baseball world was robbed of Tony Gwynn’s pursuit of a .400 batting average, a potential Montreal Expos postseason run, and Matt Williams’ chase of the single-season home run record that at the time was held by Roger Maris, but we did end up getting a rarity out of 1994–a great season from a Colorado Rockies starter.

The 1994 campaign was a fabulous year for Freeman, but unfortunately he was unable to replicate that success going forward. He suffered an elbow injury in the early stages of the 1995 season and had to battle its effects for the entire year. As fate would have it, he’d once again end up missing out on the playoffs with a team that made it there. The Rockies became the first National League team to win the Wild Card, but Freeman was left off of the postseason roster and was left to watch as the Rockies eventually fell to the Braves in five games.

Freeman was healthy going into the 1996 season, but the form from that 1994 season didn’t return, and by the time August rolled around, the Rockies released him. He finished the year with the Chicago White Sox, became a free agent in the offseason, and latched on to the Toronto Blue Jays organization, but he never made an appearance for them at the major league level. That was end of the line for Freeman as a professional baseball player, just three years removed from the best season of his career.

While Maddux ended up winning the NL Cy Young in deservedly unanimous fashion, the man who spent the lost season of 1994 trying his best to emulate Maddux ended up finishing fourth in the voting. Freeman still holds the Rockies’ franchise record for ERA in a regular season. Of course, you could easily make the argument that any of Ubaldo Jimenez’s seasons from 2008 until his trade to Cleveland in the 2011 were better than the strike-shortened season Freeman had in 1994, but Freeman’s season could be seen as being the most important of these campaigns if only because it was proof that a pitcher could pitch well in that environment and do it consistently, as well.

Colorado is still the toughest place in all of baseball to pitch, but Marvin Freeman proved that you could actually make it there as a pitcher, even if it was just for one, unfortunately strike-shortened season.