Getting to know the PCL - Colorado Springs Sky Sox

Sitting 6,531 feet above sea level is the home of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Security Service Field; the highest professional baseball park in the United States.

The PCL was originally founded in 1903, and the Sky Sox can trace the roots of their franchise back to that inaugural year when they were the Sacramento Solons.

Playing in Portland from 1903-1917, the franchise moved to Sacramento in 1918. The team was based in Sacramento until 1960, eventually moving again to Honolulu in 1961 and was known as the Islanders until 1987 when they moved to Colorado Springs for the 1988 season.

Colorado Springs has been their home ever since and they have been the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies since the teams inception in 1993.

Home to the world's first aquatic party venue inside a sporting facility, the Hanson Hot Springs Spas World Famous Hot Tub, the Sky Sox paved the way for the pools that you see in the outfields of other ballparks and stadiums around the country.

Sitting down the right field line, the hot tub is a privately accessed area that can be rented out for birthday parties, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and family get-togethers. Packages include fully-catered meals, a complimentary bottle of champagne, a hot-tub t-shirt for the group leader, and PA mention with scoreboard recognition.

While Colorado may not be the first destination that comes to mind when thinking about paving the way for hot tubs in sporting venues, the Sky Sox are an organization built around fun and their fans.

The Sky Sox host a yearly charity softball game at Security Service Field known as "Gun's and Hoses" and it pits the winners of the police and fire squad games against each other as it raises money and awareness for various charities.

Colorado Springs is also big on hosting group theme nights at their ballpark.

Fans are encouraged to inquire about their own ideas, or select from a wide range of recommendations that range from Math Days, DECA Days, or Faith Nights to Jimmy Buffet Night, Singles Night, Biker Night, or the ever popular Star Wars Night.

Security Service Field is also home to the Pikes Peak Council Scout Overnight Sleepover for the Boy Scouts of America.

Scouts are given the opportunity to camp out on the field following a Sky Sox game and receive a commemorative patch for participating. They are also treated to a hot dog, bag of chips, and small soda with the purchase of a meal voucher.

In 2011 Baseball America voted the Colorado Springs Sky Sox the Bob Frietas Triple-A Organization of the Year.

For all of their success promoting group outings and creating a venue that offers some of the very best, and unique, off-the-field amenities in all of Minor League Baseball, it is the big league success of former players and managers that truly warrants mentioning when talking about the Sky Sox.

One of the Sky Sox most accomplished alums is current New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

While his stint with the Sky Sox was short, he only appeared in eight games for the team in 1993, his Major League career is accomplished and full of accolades.

From the standpoint of a Major League catcher Girardi has accomplished all you could hope to accomplish in a career.

He caught Dwight Gooden's no-hitter in 1996 and one-upped that by catching David Cone's perfect game in 1999.

Girardi won three World Series Championships with the Yankees in 1996, '98, and '99, mentored future Yankees backstop Jorge Posada, and was elected to an All-Star game in 2000 while with the Chicago Cubs.

As a manager, Girardi won a World Series Championship with the Yankees in 2009 and has amassed 642 career managerial wins to date.

The 2009 Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, who were making their second consecutive trip to the World Series after winning it in 2008, to claim the Championship that year. Girardi's counterpart in that series, Charlie Manuel, served as the manager of the Sky Sox for three seasons from 1990-1992.

Manuel would go on to amass exactly 1,000 wins in the Major Leagues as manager for the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies before being fired from Philadelphia on August 16 in the midst of 5-15 slump to start the second half of the season.

Excluding his partial season in 2013, Manuel finished his career with only one sub-.500 campaign in his 11 full Major League seasons.

Manuel is the Phillies all-time leader in managerial wins with 646, led them to back-to-back National League Pennants for the first time in club history, and during his tenure the Phillies became just the third National League team in history to reach the postseason in four consecutive seasons; they would ultimately make it five consecutive trips before missing the playoffs in 2012.

While Manuel did not have the same level of success in the Majors that Girardi did as a player, Manuel was considered one of the best imported baseball players to play in Japan during his time and was an absolute offensive force during his time there.

Manuel played six seasons in Japan from 1976 to 1981. Excluding those bookend years in which his time was limited, Manual played an average of 114 games from 1977-1980 averaging 404 at-bats, 129 hits, 42 home runs, 106 RBI's, a .319 average, .403 obp, .668 slg, and a 1.070 ops.

Nicknamed "Aka-Oni" (the Red Devil), Manuel won MVP honors in 1979 despite missing six weeks with a broken jaw that was suffered when he was hit by a pitch on June 19.

During his tenure in Japan Manuel learned to speak Japanese, which would prove helpful later in his career while managing Major Leaguers such as So Taguchi and Tadahito Iguchi.

Manuel's predecessor, Mike Hargrove, was the manager of the 1989 team in Colorado Springs.

Hargrove also was Manuel's predecessor in Cleveland, managing the Indians from 1991-1999 and leading them to two American League Pennants in 1995 and 1997; Hargrove's Indians would lose the World Series to Atlanta in 1995 and Florida in 1997.

As a player Hargrove was nicknamed "The Human Rain Delay" for his elaborate and time consuming ritual at the plate.

After every pitch he would step out of the batter's box, adjust his helmet, adjust his batting glove ensuring that it was tight on his hand and especially his thumb, pull each sleeve on his uniform up, and wipe each hand on his uniform before each pitch.

He would sometimes do this more than once between each pitch, but he would always do it at least once, and would draw comments from broadcasters on occasion for the inordinate amount of time spent between each pitch on his ritual.

Hargrove accumulated over 1,600 hits during a 13-year career as a player for the Rangers, Padres, and Indians, and was named as one of the Indians top 100 players of all-time.

While in Cleveland, as a manager, Hargrove led the Indians to five consecutive AL Central Titles from 1995-1999 and the aforementioned World Series appearances in '95 and '97.

After a controversial dismissal in Cleveland, Hargrove would go on to manage the Orioles and Mariners and infamously be quoted as saying during an exhibition game that Ichiro Suzuki, whom he would later manage, would be "no better than a fourth outfielder in MLB".

Hargrove would become the first manager to resign while on a winning streak of seven or more games on July 1, 2007 as he claimed "his passion had begun to fade"; many cite his differences with star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki as the real reason for his departure as Suzuki would sign a contract extension weeks later.

Hargrove exited with 1,188 career managerial wins.

Both Hargrove and Manuel left their jobs in unceremonious fashion with one being fired and one walking away. They followed very similar paths to the Major Leagues and both began their careers in Cleveland after a stop at Colorado Springs.

There are numerous similarities that bond the two coaches together, but none may be greater than the superstar they both had the privilege of managing, another alum of the Colorado Spring Sky Sox, Jim Thome.

Thome spent two years with the Sky Sox, but first hooked up with Charlie Manuel after his rookie season in 1989.

Manuel worked diligently with Thome, helping him to better utilize his hips when at the plate, and was the man that suggested to Thome that he point his bat to center field to help him relax before each at bat; a la Roy Hobbs in The Natural.

The worked paid off for Thome as he went on to excel in the 1990 season and eventually have his debut in 1991 with the Mike Hargrove managed Cleveland Indians.

Thome would go on to have a stellar career as a member of the Indians, Phillies, White Sox, Dodgers, Twins, and Orioles at various points in his career, and become one of eight men to have 600 career home runs; Thome would finish his with 612 home runs.

Cleveland would participate in two World Series, losing both as previously mentioned, while Thome was a member of the club, and during his time in the Majors he would go on to establish the highest career percentage of plate appearances that resulted in either a homerun, strikeout, or walk with 47.6% of his career at bats resulting in one of the three.

Thome would be joined in Cleveland by another individual that spent time at Colorado Springs, and while his time there was short, his impact on the Majors was lasting.

Despite being constantly mired in controversy off of the field, Albert Belle was one of the game's most feared sluggers during his time on it.

Nicknamed "Mr. Freeze" for his desire to keep locker rooms below 60 degrees, he was infamously remembered for smashing a thermostat with his bat after a teammate attempted to adjust it to warm up the club house, he was as cold with the media as he was calculating at the plate.

He was known for getting into altercations with fans, refusing to talk to the media, and using corked bats. He even sent a teammate through the ceiling panels to retrieve a corked bat from a locked umpire's room and replace it with a teammates bat.

Belle was a menacing figure on and off the field, but his accomplishments on it can't be ignored.

He is the only player in Major League history to have 50 home runs and 50 doubles in the same season, and his 162 game average of 40 home runs 130 RBI speaks for itself.

One of six players to have eight straight seasons of 30 home runs and 100 RBI, Belle also once ran down trick-or-treat vandals in his car for throwing eggs at his house.

Belle homered in his final career at-bat on October 1, 2000 and was forced into early retirement due to degenerative hip osteoarthritis.

The Sky Sox organization was very good to the Cleveland Indians, and has continued their tradition of producing top notch MLB talent for the Colorado Rockies.

All-Stars Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki, and Carlos Gonzalez are just a few of the Colorado staples that have made their way through the Security Service Field in Colorado Springs.

With their penchant for producing big league stars, be sure to see the Sky Sox when they visit El Paso in 2015!