Todd Helton
Todd Lynn Helton is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played his entire 17-year Major League Baseball career for the Colorado Rockies. A five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, and three-time Gold Glove Award winner, Helton holds the Rockies' club records for hits, home runs, doubles, walks, runs scored, runs batted in, games played, and total bases, among others.
Helton grew up in Tennessee and played college baseball and football for the Tennessee Volunteers. The Rockies drafted him in the first round of the 1995 MLB draft, and he debuted in the majors in 1997.
During his peak from 1999 to 2004, Helton met or topped these benchmarks each season:.320 batting average, 39 doubles, 30 home runs, 107 runs scored, 96 RBI,.577 slugging percentage and.981 on-base plus slugging. In 2000, he won the batting title with a.372 average and also led MLB with a.698 slugging percentage, 59 doubles, and 147 RBI and the National League with 216 hits. Helton helped the Rockies win the NL pennant in 2007 before being swept in the World Series. He collected his 2,000th career hit in May 19, 2009 and his 2,500th on September 1, 2013. He retired at the end of that season, homering in his final game at Coors Field. Helton was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in.
Amateur career
Helton attended Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee and was a letterman in football and baseball. In football, he posted 2,772 total yards as a quarterback. In baseball, as a senior, Helton had a.655 batting average and 12 home runs and was named the Regional Player of the Year. Baseball America named him an All-American his senior season. He was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for football and baseball in Tennessee.Helton was drafted in the second round by the San Diego Padres in the 1992 MLB draft. He did not sign and chose to attend college.
University of Tennessee
Helton received an athletic scholarship from the University of Tennessee to play both football and baseball. As a freshman and sophomore, he backed up Heath Shuler at quarterback. Entering his junior season in 1994, he was the backup to senior Jerry Colquitt and ahead of Peyton Manning, then a true freshman. After tore knee ligaments in the season opener at UCLA, Helton took over as the starter. Three weeks later against Mississippi State, he suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Manning, who went on to break several records. Helton appeared in 12 games during his career with the Volunteers football team, completing 41 of 75 passes for 484 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions.In baseball, Helton was awarded the Dick Howser Trophy as the national college baseball player of the year, following his junior baseball season in 1995. During his career at Tennessee, he recorded a.370 batting average with 38 home runs and 238 RBI, while also pitching 193 innings, registering an ERA of 2.24, with 172 strikeouts and 23 saves. In 1995, he set the Tennessee saves record with 11, while posting a 0.89 ERA. Helton also has the second-longest streak of consecutive scoreless innings in NCAA Division I, with 47 in 1994.
Helton spent the summer of 1994 playing for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he was named a league all-star. He was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2024.
MLB career
Draft and debut
The Colorado Rockies selected Helton with the eighth overall pick of the 1995 Major League Baseball draft. He signed on August 1, 1995. He spent the next two years in the minor leagues, playing for the Class-A Asheville Tourists, Double-A New Haven Ravens, and Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox before moving up to the majors. He made his major-league debut on August 2, 1997, a 6–5 road loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He started in left field, flied out in his first at-bat, singled in his next time up off Francisco Córdova, and hit a solo home run off Marc Wilkins.1997–1999: Early career
During the 1997 season, Helton hit for a.280/.337/.484 slash line, with five home runs, in 35 games. When Rockies first baseman Andrés Galarraga went to the Atlanta Braves in 1998, Helton became the full-time starter at first base for Colorado during the 1998 season. The Rockies named Helton their club representative in 1998, the first time the team ever gave a rookie that role. He hit.315/.380/.530, with 25 home runs and 97 RBI, in 152 games. He led all rookies in average, home runs, RBI, multi-hit games, total bases, slugging percentage and extra base hits. He also led all National League rookies in runs, hits and on-base percentage. At the time, only Mike Piazza, David Justice, and Darryl Strawberry had hit more home runs as an NL rookie since 1972, and only Piazza had more RBI. Helton finished second to Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs in the voting for NL Rookie of the Year. The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame named Helton its 1998 Professional Athlete of the Year.In 1999, Helton hit.320/.395/.587. He slugged 35 home runs and 113 RBI while drawing 68 walks. On June 19, in a 10–2 home win over the Florida Marlins, Helton hit for the cycle. He fell short of hitting a second cycle on four occasions during the 1999 season, which would have made him only the second player since 1900 to hit two cycles in one season.
2000–2006: Mid-career
Helton enjoyed arguably his best season in 2000, leading the major leagues in batting average, RBI, doubles, total bases, extra base hits, slugging percentage and OPS. He led the NL in hits and on-base percentage. Helton hit a league-leading home batting average of.391 and was third in the NL in road batting average. Helton's MLB-leading 103 extra base hits tied for the fourth most in MLB history and the second most in NL history. His league-leading numbers in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and batting average gave him the "percentage triple crown." Helton became the second Rockies player, after Larry Walker in 1999, to accomplish that feat. Helton and Walker made the Rockies the first team in MLB history to record percentage triple crowns in consecutive seasons with different players. Helton became only the fourth player in NL history to lead the league in both batting average and RBI. He became the first player in NL history and the fifth player in MLB history to have at least 200 hits, 40 home runs, 100 RBI, 100 runs, 100 extra base hits, and 100 walks in one season.Helton was invited to his first career MLB All-Star Game in 2000. He also received NL Player of the Month honors for May and August. He finished fifth in voting for the MVP award. However, the Associated Press, Sporting News, USA Baseball Alumni, and Baseball Digest all named Helton the MLB Player of the Year. Buck O'Neil and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum presented Helton with the Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard Legacy Award. Helton was also given the team-honored version of the Roberto Clemente Award, for his community contributions to eastern Tennessee. Furthermore, he was the NL winner of the second annual Hank Aaron Award. Each season from 2000 to 2003, he was named the Rockies Player of the Year.
Monetizing his success, Helton signed a nine-year, $141.5 million contract in April 2001 that took effect in 2003. That season, Helton hit a career-high 49 home runs. He tied Walker for the most home runs ever by a Rockies player in one season. Additionally, Helton had a.336/.432/.685 slash line. He had 105 extra base hits, making him the first player in MLB history to have at least 100 total extra base hits in back-to-back seasons. Furthermore, Helton attained 402 total bases, making him only the fourth player in MLB history to do so in consecutive seasons. Helton appeared in his second consecutive All-Star Game in 2001 — his first as a starter. He won his first Gold Glove at first base and was once again a top candidate for MVP, but was beaten in balloting by Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds.
In 2002, Helton had a.329 batting average, 30 home runs, 109 RBI, 98 walks, 107 runs,.577 SLG and 319 total bases. He became the first player in Rockies history to score at least 100 runs in four consecutive seasons. He was named NL Player of the Month for May, when he hit.347 with six doubles, one triple, 10 home runs and 28 RBI. Helton was named to his third consecutive All-Star Game — his second straight as a starter. He also received his second consecutive Gold Glove.
2003 saw Helton involved in the closest NL batting race in history, as he hit.35849, while St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols finished first with a.35871 batting average. Helton also had 33 home runs, 117 RBI, 135 runs, 49 doubles and five triples. He won his fourth Player of the Month honor for April, when he hit.337 with six home runs, 27 RBI, 28 runs, 11 doubles and 24 walks. He also appeared in his fourth consecutive All-Star Game.
During the 2004 season, Helton again finished second in the NL batting race, as he hit.347, while San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds hit.362. Helton also had 32 home runs and 96 RBI on the season. He became the first player in MLB history to hit at least.315 with 25 home runs and 95 RBI in each of his first seven full seasons in the majors. He became only the third player in MLB history to accomplish that feat during any seven-year stretch in a career. He set a franchise record by hitting at least 30 home runs in six consecutive seasons. Helton was named to his team-record fifth consecutive All-Star Game and won his third Gold Glove during the season.
In 2005, Helton spent time on the disabled list for the first time in his career with a strained left calf muscle. He hit.320 with 20 home runs, 79 RBI, 92 runs, and 45 doubles for the season. He was under 1.000 in OPS for the first time since 1999. Helton also was not named to the NL All-Star team for the first time since 1999. However, he join Gehrig and Bill Terry as the only first basemen in MLB history to have at least a.315 batting average in eight consecutive seasons. Also in 2005, St. Louis Cardinals radio broadcaster Wayne Hagin claimed manager Don Baylor said that Helton had "tried the juice" in the 1990s, implying steroid use. Helton vehemently denied the allegation and considered legal action against Hagin. Hagin later apologized clarifying his comments saying he was "referring to supplements, creatine, not steroids" when he said "juiced". Baylor said of his conversation with Hagin, "We discussed creatine and that was the end of the conversation. Steroid use was never even a question with me in regards to Todd Helton. has his facts wrong."
The following season, Helton had to spend time on the disabled list again, this time from April 20 to May 4, 2006, as he was diagnosed with acute terminal ileitis. He hit.302 with 15 home runs, 81 RBI, 40 doubles, 91 walks, and a.404 on-base percentage for the season. He ended the season below.900 in OPS for the first time since entering the league in 1997 when he only played 35 games that year. Helton finished third on the team in runs, hits, doubles, total bases, and multi-hit games.