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Team votes full playoff share to widow of late coach

Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 4, 2007 at midnight

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PHILADELPHIA — These are slow, stressful days for Mandy Coolbaugh. She has too much time to think about what once was and what never will be, too much time to remember, too much time to hurt.

She is confined to her house in San Antonio, expecting the birth of her third child any day, a child her late husband, Mike, never will see. She has received an unexpected phone call any young mother and wife would dread, so when a stranger called Thursday, this time with good news, it blindsided her, happily so this time.

When told by the Rocky Mountain News that Rockies players had voted her a full playoff share, Mandy said, "It's very touching," and paused before adding, "I'm having an emotional day."

On July 22, Double-A Tulsa coach Mike Coolbaugh, 35, died after being hit in the neck with a line drive while coaching.

Few players on the Rockies knew Coolbaugh, who joined the organization in early July, but last week, they unanimously voted his widow a full playoff share that could be more than $350,000 if the Rockies win the World Series.

"I'm completely shocked in a good way," Coolbaugh said. "I don't even know the correct words to use. I know Mike would feel very honored and proud. This would mean a lot to him, and it means a lot to our family."

Coolbaugh said her due date is in two weeks, but her "doctor was saying with stress and everything," the baby could arrive sooner. Mandy also is the mother of two sons, Joseph, 5, and Jacob, who turned 4 last month.

The boys will throw out the first pitch before Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Saturday at Coors Field.

Coolbaugh filled a vacancy on the Tulsa staff when he became the Drillers hitting coach July 4. He hadn't been on the job quite three weeks when he was struck and killed with a line drive hit by Tino Sanchez, a 29-year-old career minor leaguer.

At the time of his death, Coolbaugh, who played in the Rockies organization in 1998 for Triple-A Colorado Springs and played a total of 44 games in the majors in 2000 and 2001 with Milwaukee and St. Louis, was ecstatic about getting back into the game.

"He came in with the right approach," Tulsa manager Stu Cole said a few days after Coolbaugh's death. "He didn't have an ego and didn't want to come in and try to change guys and make his presence known like that. He just really worked with what (the hitters) had and helped them improve on what they had been doing before.

"But he really jelled with the guys. And the guys jelled with him and everything was going along pretty well."

Teams with a chance to play in the postseason typically meet late in the regular season to decide whom to allot full shares, partial shares and cash awards.

Rockies player representative Josh Fogg brought up the possibility of giving Mandy Coolbaugh a full share, although Fogg would not take credit for the idea.

"We felt as a team it was the right thing to do," Fogg said. "We're obviously happy with the decision."

Added Todd Helton: "I don't know who brought it up, but once it was brought up, it was a done deal."

The number of full shares a team decides upon will determine the amount of the share. Last year, full shares for the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the World Series, were a record $362,173. They beat the Detroit Tigers, whose full shares were $291,668.

Full shares for the teams that lost in the League Championship Series last year were $140,625 for the Oakland Athletics and $124,430 for the New York Mets.

Full shares last year for the four teams that lost in the Division Series ranged from $27,035 for the Los Angeles Dodgers to $37,539 for the Minnesota Twins.

Manager Clint Hurdle recently learned his players had voted a full share to Coolbaugh. When informed of their largesse, Hurdle said it "speaks to their awareness, speaks to their passion, speaks to their — I don't know — every good thing about them."