In beginning, there was Nied

DENVER.

When a franchise has a short history like the Colorado Rockies, it is easy to go back to the beginning.

The road to the Rockies’ first World Series game last night — Game 3 against the Boston Red Sox at Coors Field — began Nov. 17, 1992, when David Nied was the first player picked in the expansion draft.

It was a promising beginning for both the player and baseball in Denver.

“[Rockies general manager] Bob Gebhard called me the day before the draft and said they were going to make me their first pick,” Nied said. “They asked me to keep it quiet and said they would fly me in the next day to introduce me.

“I never imagined what I would see that next day,” he said. “There were 20,000 there for it. I wondered what I was getting myself into.

“I didn’t know anything about Denver baseball and … people were wanting a team there for so long,” Nied said. “It was an unbelievable day. I figured my life had changed a little bit.”

A 14th-round pick by the Atlanta Braves in 1987, Nied blossomed in the Atlanta system, becoming part of a crop of great young pitchers for the Braves franchise. He was behind John Smoltz and Tom Glavine and in the class with Steve Avery and Mark Wohlers.

Nied went 14-9 with Class AAA Richmond in 1992 and was called up by the Braves near the end of the season. He fit right in, making six appearances, including two starts, and went 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA. Nied was even on the Braves’ World Series roster when Kent Mercker was hurt in the celebration at home plate after Sid Bream’s slide produced the winning run in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series against Pittsburgh, but he never made an appearance in the series against Toronto.

Still, Nied figured he would be part of the Braves’ future — until he learned by watching ESPN that was he was not going to be protected by the organization from the expansion draft for the Rockies and the Florida Marlins.

“From what I found out, I was originally going to be protected, but Ted Turner, the owner, was upset that Deion Sanders was not going to be protected, so they protected him and left me off,” Nied said.

Instead, the young pitcher became the first to wear a Rockies uniform.

“I hadn’t done anything on the field, but since I was the first player taken, I had become a fan favorite out of default,” he said. “I was under a microscope.”

His first spring training appearance drew a large crowd to Tucson, where the Rockies trained. Nied pitched the first regular-season game in Rockies history, losing 3-0 to Dwight Gooden and the Mets in 1993.

“He pitched a shutout, but I didn’t do that bad, giving up two runs in five innings,” Nied said.

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