Rockies Tulowitzki a Finalist for MLB’s Branch Rickey Award

The Colorado Rockies’ Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is being recognized for his tremendous charitable efforts by an award started by a rotary club in Denver. The Branch Rickey Award, which has been given to such baseball luminaries as Dave Winfield, Kirby Puckett and Curt Schilling, is given in recognition of exceptional community service. Tulo, as Rockies’ fans call him, is once again growing “bad hair for a good cause” in support of the Rockies and ROOT SPORTS sixth annual “Win for Kids” program. The Rockies are asking fans to participate by donating as little as $1 for each Rockies’ victory, in the previous five seasons “Win for Kids” has generated $210,000 for The Children’s Hospital and Special Olympics Colorado.

Tulowitzki and his teammates finally seem to be getting to the point in the season that Rockies’ fans are used to seeing a big rally. With only six weeks left in the regular season, the Rockies have won three straight, and now are just six-and-a-half games behind National League West leader Arizona, and just one game behind the defending world champion San Francisco Giants. In 2007, a year remembered fondly by Rockies fans as “Rocktober,” the Rockies won 14 of their last 15, including 11 straight, during the months of August and September. After winning a one-game playoff against San Diego, the Rockies streaked all the way to the team’s first World Series birth, only to be beat by the Boston Red Sox. That year, the Rockies were named “Organization of the Year” by Baseball America.

Branch Rickey, the former executive, player and award namesake, was best known for breaking baseball’s color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He also drafted Major League Baseball’s first Black Hispanic superstar in Roberto Clemente, and is generally credited for implementing the modern minor-league farm system that Major League Baseball still employs.

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