The Rockies’ most loyal fan is a homeless ex-con who lives in an abandoned batting cage
May 15, 2017
SCOTTSDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 24: Colorado Rockies fan Angelo sits on the bleachers to watch practice during Spring Training at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 24, 2017 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Angelo is a long time Rockies fan and has been following the team since they were in Tucson. When the team moved to Scottsdale, so did he, Angelo is homeless and lives on the street, mostly at an empty abandoned batting cage near by the fields in Scottsdale. When at practice, he offers up advice to the coaches and chats with the players.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Rockies' most improbable fan is a homeless ex-con who lives in an abandoned batting cage. Angelo Peterson was 4 years old when he first picked up a bat. "I've been awake ever since," he said. Now he gives hitting advice to center fielder Charlie Blackmon — and Blackmon listens. He goes for coffee with pitcher Tyler Chatwood to talk about fastball grips.
Angelo, with half his teeth, a leathered face and a stiff mustache, chats with a rustic logic about the fine points of baseball. The Rockies listen.
"Baseball really teaches you about trying to be perfect and how to deal with not being perfect," Angelo said. "I believe God intended perfection. The good, right and true all together. It exists everywhere.
"But in baseball, it changes all the time. So I'm searching."
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