Over 17 seasons within the Main Leagues, Todd Helton performed 2,247 video games for the Rockies — and 0 for all the different 29 franchises. He’s the franchise chief in video games, hits, runs, house runs and RBIs.
Helton additionally established requirements in additional subjective methods. That’s a part of the rationale his candidacy has gained momentum forward of Tuesday’s unveiling of the 2024 Baseball Writers’ Affiliation of America Corridor of Fame election outcomes, stay on MLB Community at 6 p.m. ET.
Helton was a five-time All-Star by the point Troy Tulowitzki made his MLB debut in August 2006. One 12 months later, Tulowitzki helped be certain that the Rockies reached the World Collection for the primary — and nonetheless solely — time of their historical past.
“That season for me — as a younger participant — I used to be actually taking part in for Todd and serious about how badly I wished him to expertise a World Collection,” Tulowitzki stated in a latest phone interview. “At that time, he’d already been taking part in for thus lengthy. I wished him to be rewarded for the whole lot he’d achieved for the group. I revered him a lot for what he did each day.”
Helton’s signature second of the storybook 2007 season arrived on Sept. 18. The Rockies awoke that morning dealing with a five-game deficit for the Nationwide League Wild Card, with solely two weeks left within the common season.
However a doubleheader sweep of the Dodgers remodeled the staff’s momentum, punctuated by Helton’s walk-off house run in opposition to Takashi Saito. The Rockies gained 14 of their last 15 video games, together with an exciting victory over the San Diego Padres within the Wild Card tiebreaker. Helton posted a 1.098 OPS with 4 house runs over that span.
“We knew how necessary a recreation that was, and he will get the large hit,” Tulowitzki recalled. “Hastily, we’re on a roll, and he’s main us, on and off the sphere. I bear in mind pondering, ‘That is going to be particular.’ Boston was a bit of deeper and extra skilled [in the World Series], however that complete run wouldn’t have been potential with out Todd.”
Tulowitzki, who turns 40 this 12 months, retired after showing in 5 video games with the Yankees in 2019. He’s now the director of participant improvement for the College of Texas baseball program — a job that offers him new appreciation for Helton’s affect.
“As a younger participant, I informed myself that if I used to be ever in the identical spot as Todd, I might deal with the youthful guys the best way he handled me,” stated Tulowitzki, a five-time All-Star. “I labored laborious to earn his approval. That’s the stuff he wouldn’t know — how a lot he meant to our staff, how necessary his vitality was.”
Tulowitzki stated he discovered totally different features of the sport from Helton and Matt Holliday, who additionally seems on this 12 months’s Corridor of Fame poll. Holliday would have in-depth conversations with Tulowitzki about hitting or baseball typically. Helton typically led by instance, particularly as he neared his retirement after the 2013 season.
Helton was restricted to 69 video games in 2012 as a consequence of a proper hip labrum tear that required season-ending surgical procedure.
“Towards the again finish of his profession, I may inform there was plenty of stuff hurting him, but when he was ok to play, he was going to be within the lineup,” Tulowitzki stated. “I simply watched him and stated, ‘This man completely doesn’t give in to the truth that his again is hurting him.’ He may look dangerous within the cage that day, then exit and throw two or three hits on the market. He may put collectively a 10-pitch at-bat. It’s his mentality that all the time stood out to me.”
To reply the perpetual query: Sure, Tulowitzki sees Helton as a deserving Corridor of Famer regardless of the advantages of hitting at Coors Subject.
In any case, as MLB Community researcher Craig Nordquist has noticed, Helton’s .855 OPS on the highway is best than Carl Yastrzemski’s total profession OPS.
“If we went on the highway to San Francisco after 10 days at house, you’d say, ‘Wow, I haven’t seen a slider chew like this in a very long time,’” Tulowitzki stated. “You needed to modify. There was undoubtedly an artwork to it. The longer you performed there, the higher you’d get on the highway.
“For me, being a participant, I take a look at [a Hall of Famer] as, ‘Was he a totally totally different participant?’ And [Todd] was totally different. He was the most effective hitter on the staff. He may work an at-bat like I’d by no means seen. And he was a Gold Glover at first base.”