Meet the Colorado Women Who Paved the Way for Girls in Baseball

Today, Denver baseball fans don’t have much to celebrate. The Rockies have been nursing a … lackluster reputation for the better part of recent memory. But this time 30 years ago? Colorado was on the brink of changing professional baseball forever. Spring training was underway for the nation’s only all-women professional baseball team, the Colorado Silver Bullets. Even though they would only go on to play four seasons, their legacy would pave the way for women in the game of hardball for decades to come.

Sponsored by Coors Brewing Company (hence Silver Bullets) the team made its diamond debut May 8, 1994, in Charlotte, North Carolina, under the seasoned coaching of former Atlanta Braves pitching star Phil Niekro. Though they were limited to mostly playing scheduled exhibitions against amateur and semi-pro men’s teams, the Silver Bullets ladies were paid well. But more importantly? They were playing ball — an idea that was largely ridiculed by the sports community of the era. The team set a new precedent for women baseball players across the country.

“Basically, the goal of this whole thing is to prove that women, if given the opportunity, can play baseball,” pitcher Missy Coombes said in 1995.

Despite their Mile High roots and the “Colorado” stitching that decorated their jerseys, over their four-season existence, the Silver Bullets only ever played two games in their “home state,” but their legacy remains a point of pride in Colorado history.

A special thank you to 5280’s Robert Sanchez for excellent reporting on the Silver Bullets. You can browse more archived photos of the Silver Bullets from Laura Wulf photography.