The Colorado Rockies have finally begun to hit. So the only explanation is that they cheat.

Giants Hall of Fame broadcaster Jon Miller lobbed that accusation in Colorado’s direction last week. Miller was doing his regularly scheduled morning bit on the team’s flagship station, KNBR, when he took aim at the Rockies and their humidor.

“There’s a feeling that the Rockies are doing something with the humidor-stored baseball, and sometimes late in games when the Rockies need help, that some non-humidor baseballs slip into the mix,” Miller said. “Nobody has been able to prove it. . . . But to me it’s something that baseball needs to address.”

The humidor was hatched in 2002. It is a storage chamber located just beyond the Rockies’ clubhouse. It keeps the baseballs at the specifications at which they were made. Through research, the Rockies learned that baseballs kept in a closet at altitude in the dry climate caused them to shrink. Harder, smaller baseballs traveled farther when hit.

From 1995-2001, the Rockies averaged 128 home runs per season at Coors Field. Since 2002, they have averaged 97 home runs and haven’t had a single 40-home run hitter. So there’s no denying the humidor’s impact.

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Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Photo by