McMahon continues to provide support in Denver community

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DENVER -- Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon is a Southern California native. He strategically has an offseason home in Scottsdale, Ariz., which gives him access to the team’s training center, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

However, Denver is more than the home of his workplace, Coors Field. McMahon put his heart and his money into Denver in September, when he and his wife, Natalie, announced a $1 million donation to Children’s Hospital Colorado. The money will support the Children’s Hospital Colorado Resource Connect and the Patient Aid Fund.

Most seasons throughout their history, the Rockies have built rosters of players either homegrown or acquired early in their pro careers. Such compositions can lead to community involvement, but it’s not as easy as it once was. Before Salt River Fields opened in 2011, players often kept their offseason homes in Denver so they could train at Coors. The improved training facilities throughout baseball mean players tend to congregate in Arizona and Florida.

But McMahon’s desire to give back as he heads into the fourth year of a six-year, $70 million contract and the Rockies’ long association with Children’s Hospital Colorado made for a heartfelt connection.

In 2013, star Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki began underwriting special trips for cancer patients at Children’s to Spring Training. The Rockies’ Wives Foundation picked up the project after Tulowitzki. It has led to some deep bonds -- including one that pitcher Ryan Feltner forged with Asher Hyre, a cancer patient who survived and earned a journalism award for telling the story.

McMahon is proud to feel the connection to Children’s Hospital Colorado, no matter where he happens to be.

“This is where we get the most love -- I don’t think anybody’s going to notice me in Scottsdale,” McMahon said. “To do some real good, make some real change, in the area that we spent six months out of the year, feels good.”

Rockies players regularly make visits to Children’s, announced and unannounced. Those have stayed with the McMahons, who welcomed their first child, a daughter named Austyn Brooke McMahon, in February. But the family has more visits to the hospital planned.

“When we met with the two ladies from Children’s Hospital, they just sold me on it,” McMahon said. “They were so passionate about it. They broke down how it was going to get used and why it was so important. Seeing their passion about all of it, that’s all I needed.”