Page "Colorado Rockies" Paragraph 3

After previous failed attempts to bring the Major League Baseball to Colorado ( most notably the Pittsburgh Pirates nearly relocating to Denver following the Pittsburgh drug trials in 1985 ), by the late 1980s a team seemed to be a possibility in Denver.

The Colorado Baseball Commission, led by banking executive Larry Varnell, was successful in getting Denver voters to approve a 0. 1 percent sales tax to help finance a new baseball stadium.

Also, an advisory committee was formed in 1990 by then-Governor of Colorado Roy Romer to recruit an ownership group.

The group selected was led by John Antonucci, an Ohio beverage distributor, and Michael I. Monus, the head of the Phar-Mor drugstore chain.

Local and regional companies — such as Erie Lake, Hensel Phelps Construction, KOA Radio, and the Rocky Mountain News — rounded out the group.

On July 5, 1991, the National League approved Denver and Miami, Florida, as the sites for two expansion teams to begin play in 1993.