Best of the Sky Sox: Best Offense
The 1992 team led seven offensive categories on their way to the first Pacific Coast League Championship, and the 1995 Sky Sox hit 33 more home runs than any other team. The offensive trend continues to this day, with the Sky Sox rewriting team record books just last season with 932 runs and 1,564 hits, while becoming the first team in franchise history to top 2,500 total bases and the third team to post a .300 batting average.
There are no shortage of outstanding offensive lineups in Colorado Springs history but consulting with Sky Sox Director of Broadcasting Dan Karcher, the voice of Sky Sox baseball for 23 years, as well as Team Historian Chris Moyer, who has kept record of team statistics for 24 years, there is only one offense that featured great team statistics but also stellar individual performances: 2004.
The 2004 Sky Sox posted the second most wins in franchise history with 78, and rank near the top in every single season offensive category. The 2004 team holds records for the highest batting average at .307, the most doubles at 340, the highest slugging percentage at .498 and on-base plus slugging (OPS) of .871. The 2004 team ranks second with 2,432 total bases, 549 extra-base hits, 924 runs and 178 homers, while also ranking third with 1,496 hits.
"The 2004 Sky Sox were an absolutely loaded team no question about it. I would say 1992 was the most talented team when you look at every facet of the game, but the 2004 team had the superior offense. It was a team who just churned out a lot of hits, and they had players who fit every kind of role to score a lot of runs," Dan Karcher said. "When you look back at the lineup we were putting out every day, there were absolutely no weaknesses. There wasn't an area of that order that you could pitch around or count on for easy outs. It was as stacked as it gets."
The 2004 Sky Sox were the most prolific offense in the PCL that season leading the league in batting average as the only team hit above .300, featuring seven everyday players who played more than 85 games hitting .300 plus. The Sky Sox were the only team in the league to top 2,400 total bases and 800 RBI while leading the PCL with 859 runs, 340 doubles, a .498 slugging percentage and a .871 OPS. Colorado Springs was also ranked second in hits and on-base percentage, but even with all of this offensive firepower the Sky Sox missed out on a playoff spot by one game to the Iowa Cubs.
"When you compare the numbers and what manager Marv Foley was able to put out there everyday and measure that to some of our championship teams, the 2004 club still ranks up there as one of our best offenses. It was still great even though it did not result in a postseason berth," Karcher said. "Even if you are great in one area of the game, like that team was that year, it doesn't automatically equate to a championship. If we would have had the pitching to go along with that dynamic offense, we would have easily made the playoffs. It really shows you the importance of pitching."
The 2004 Sky Sox did not only lead the league as a team but individual players led many of the offensive categories, and 2004 is the only season in team history that Sky Sox players have led the PCL in batting average and RBI in the same year. The Sky Sox were led by Andy Tracy's MVP caliber season, where he posted a .315 average with 33 homers and 120 RBI, numbers that were better in all three Triple Crown categories than 2004 PCL MVP Dan Johnson of Sacramento. Tracy led the league with 120 RBI while racking up the most total bases with 293 and the most extra-base hits with 78, a team record.
Garrett Atkins became the first player in franchise history to lead the league in batting average at .366, the team record for average in a season, while also leading in on-base percentage at .343. Clint Barmes led the PCL by collecting the second most hits in team history at 175, with Atkins third at 163, and tied for the league lead in runs scored at 104. Atkins, Barmes and Tracy ranked first, second and third in doubles, the only time multiple Sky Sox have reached 40 doubles in a season.
"It was an exciting time for Sky Sox fans because the 2004 season was right in the middle of the Rockies building for their World Series run and bringing up waves upon waves of young players that eventually had success in the big leagues. We had been in a kind of dry spell for a few years after the 1997 team. We saw some of these new players in 2002 and 2003, but 2004 was when the flood gates absolutely opened," Karcher said. "Most of the players on this 2004 team made up the nucleus for the 2007 Rockies, and I would kill to have just one or two of these guys back here today. You could see during that time the Rockies had a great future because it wasn't just one or two guys coming up and doing well here, it was a whole group of guys rising through the ranks at the same time."
The 2004 Sky Sox are the only team in franchise history to have two players with 30 or more home runs on the same team in Andy Tracy and Brad Hawpe, who totaled 33 and 31 respectively. It is also the only team to have three players with an OPS of more than 1.000 (Hawpe, Tracy, Atkins) and one of only three teams in Sky Sox history with 800 plus RBI with eight players amassing more than 50 RBI, the most players on one team that season and the most in team history.
"When you are in the midst of it, sometimes you do not appreciate it as much as you should. It never felt like we were a dominant team because we were always chasing a playoff spot instead of the league chasing us. But when you review the numbers, they speak volumes and it's obvious to see this offense was no doubt the best we have ever had here," Karcher said. "You can't argue against hard facts, and going forward it's really going to be difficult for any team to put up better numbers than that team did. And just think about how even more awesome this lineup could have been if Matt Holliday would have stayed down in Triple-A longer than just six games that season. Wild."