Denver and Miami were given formal and final approval Friday as the National League's expansion franchises and immediately began preparations for their 1993 debuts.
Denver named its team the Colorado Rockies and Miami will call itself the Florida Marlins. They will be the first new major league teams since 1977 and the first new members of the National League since 1969.The unanimous decision of the 26 major league owners, who met by telephone conference call, was anticlimatic. The NL expansion committee's recommendation of the two cities became public on June 10 and there was never a doubt that owners would approve it.
"It's been almost a year since this process was set into motion," Rockies chairman John Antonucci said. "When we delivered the expansion application to the league office in September, we probably were the longest of all long shots. ... But we perservered. We convinced the expansion committee and major league baseball that this city and this region would support major league baseball."
Miami had been considered the expansion favorite since last autumn, when Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. chairman H. Wayne Huizenga said he would become sole owner and pay the entire $95 million expansion fee.
"It's a very exciting and emotional day for us here in the Huizenga family," he said. "We're all enthused and excited about it."
The new franchises will give the NL and the American League 14 teams each. The NL is expected to adopt a schedule in which teams will play divisional opponents 20 teams per season and teams in the other division six times each. AL teams currently play 13 games against each division foe and 12 against those in the other division.
Some in Denver had hoped the team would be called the Denver Bears, the former nickname of Denver's minor league team. In addition, some objected to calling the team the Rockies, the name of Denver's failed NHL franchise.
"This is a Colorado team," Gov. Roy Romer said. "What I think of when I think of the Rockies is you're looking from the top down on the rest of them. And after a couple of years, I'm confident this team will be doing just that."
Colorado unveiled its logo, featuring a soaring white baseball against a snow-capped purple mountain backdrop.
"The Colorado Rockies are internationally recognized as the prominent feature of our state," Antonucci said. "They represent strength, stability, boldness, majesty and beauty. Our goal is to build a franchise as strong and enduring as the Rocky Mountains themselves."
The Rockies will wear black caps with purple buttons on top. They will have an interlocking purple "C" and "R" outlined in silver. Doug Richardson, manager of the Sportsfan store in downtown Denver, said the shop already has a waiting list for caps.
"I just think it's great to get a team," he said.
Florida will unveil its logo on July 18. Its colors are expected to be aqua and orange, also the colors of the NFL's Dolphins. Some baseball officials had preferred the alliterative Miami Marlins, but Huizenga wanted the state in the name.
Colorado will start play in Mile High Stadium, current home of the Zephyrs of the Class AAA American Association. The Rockies are scheduled to move into a 43,000-seat, baseball-only stadium in 1995. The ballpark, Coors Field, will be built in downtown Denver.
The Marlins will play in Joe Robbie Stadium, the home of the Dolphins which was renovated for baseball last winter. The stadium, 50 percent of which is owned by Huizenga, is midway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Antonucci and Rockies president Steve Ehrhart say they hope to hire a general manager within a month. Pittsburgh Pirates president Carl Barger is expected to become president of the Marlins. He and Huizenga haven't yet set a timetable for hiring a general manager.