He received just 16.5% of the vote in his first year, 3.8% less than Walker did in his 2011 debut, but thanks to a less crowded ballot - and perhaps Walker’s coattails, as he jumped 22 percentage points and was elected in his final year of eligibility - Helton rose to 29.2% on the 2020 ballot, and to 44.9% in ’21 those gains were the fourth- and second-largest among all candidates, respectively. But like former teammate Larry Walker, a more complete player who spent just 59% of his career with the Rockies, Helton’s candidacy started slowly. Thanks to Helton’s staying power, and to advanced statistics that adjust for the high-offense environment in a particularly high-scoring period in baseball history, we can more clearly see that he ranked among his era’s best players, and has credentials that wouldn’t be out of place in Cooperstown. He was “ The Greatest Player Nobody Knows,” as The New York Times called him in 2000, a year when he flirted with a. That he did so with as little self-promotion as possible - and scarcely more exposure - while toiling for a team that had the majors’ sixth-worst record during his tenure makes such dismissal that much easier, as does the drop-off at the tail end of his career, when injuries, most notably chronic back woes, had sapped his power. He drew at least 100 walks in a season five times, yet only struck out 100 times or more once nine times, he walked more than he struck out.īecause Helton did all of this while spending half of his time at Coors Field, many dismiss his accomplishments without a second thought.
![homer pro tutorials homer pro tutorials](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/3e96d0_7137986061b94826b4190e1482461dd8~mv2.jpg)
He mashed 40 doubles or more seven times and 30 homers or more six times twice, he topped 400 total bases, a feat that only one other player ( Sammy Sosa) has repeated in the post-1960 expansion era. 400 nine times, and slugging percentages above.
![homer pro tutorials homer pro tutorials](https://www.mdpi.com/energies/energies-14-03360/article_deploy/html/images/energies-14-03360-g003.png)
He made five All-Star teams, won three Gold Gloves, a slash line triple crown - leading in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage in the same season - and served as a starter and a team leader for two playoff teams, including Colorado’s only pennant winner. “The Toddfather” was without a doubt the greatest player in franchise history, its leader in most major offensive counting stat categories. A Knoxville native whose career path initially led to the gridiron, ahead of Peyton Manning on the University of Tennessee quarterback depth chart, Helton shifted his emphasis back to baseball in college and spent his entire 17-year career (1997–2013) playing for the Rockies.