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Todd Helton

Colorado Rockies — No. 17
First Baseman
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
Major League Baseball debut
August 2, 1997 for the Colorado Rockies
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
AVG	.333
RBI	996
HR	286

Todd Lynn Helton (born August 20, 1973 in Knoxville, Tennessee) is a Major League Baseball first baseman who has played for the Colorado Rockies since the 1997 season. He bats and throws left-handed.

Through the 2006 season, he had the highest career batting average of any active player (.329), and was 2nd in on base percentage (.430), 4th in slugging percentage (.593), 8th in intentional walks (146, tied with Mike Piazza), and 16th in doubles (413).

Contents 1 High school years 2 Football career 3 Early career 4 Major-league career 4.1 2000-2004: The Glory Years 4.2 2005-2006 decline 4.3 2007-present 5 Quotes 6 Accomplishments 7 See also 8 Notes and references 9 External links

Helton attended Knox Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee and was a letterman in football and baseball. In football, he posted 2772 total yards as a senior.

In baseball, as a senior, he posted a .690 batting average and 12 home runs and was named the Regional Player of the Year. Helton graduated from Central High School in 1992 with a 3.97 grade point average.

Helton received a scholarship from the University of Tennessee to play both football and baseball, after turning down a deal from the San Diego Padres. During his freshman and sophomore years at Tennessee he backed up Heath Shuler. Starting his junior season he was the back-up behind Jerry Colquitt and ahead of Peyton Manning. After an injury to Colquitt, Helton got the starting spot only to face injury himself and be replaced by Peyton Manning great quarterback, who never relinquished the starting spot. Following his junior baseball season Helton was drafted by the Colorado Rockies.

Helton was drafted in the 1st round, 5th overall, in 1995 by the Colorado Rockies. Todd spent the next few years playing for the Asheville Tourists A, New Haven Ravens, AA and Colorado Springs Sky Sox AAA. He made his major-league debut on July 21, 1997.

After the end of the 1997 season he hit .280/.337/.484, and 5 home runs. When Andrés Galarraga went to the Atlanta Braves in 1998, Helton proved to be a worthy replacement, hitting .315/.380/.530, 25 home runs, and 97 RBI while finishing second in the NL Rookie of the Year race. In 1999 Helton carried the Rockies on his back by hitting .320/.395/.587, 35 home runs, and 113 RBI, and drawing 68 walks. They would go on to finish an unimpressive 72-90. Since then, he has consistently remained Colorado's best hitter.

In 2000, Helton enjoyed his best season, leading the National League hitters in batting average (.372) and also winning the overall major league batting title over the American League leading Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. In 2000 Helton led the major leagues in RBI (147), hits (216), doubles (59), total bases (405), on base percentage (.463), slugging average (.698) and OPS (1.162). He was also considered for the MVP award (5th). The next season, 2001, was another impressive one for Helton, who had a career high 49 home runs and 146 RBI, in addition to averaging .336/.432/.685 and drawing 98 walks. The 49 home runs tied his teammate Larry Walker for the most home runs ever by a Colorado Rockies player in a single season. Helton was a top candidate for MVP, but was overshadowed by Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, and the fact that he plays half his games at hitter-friendly Coors Field. Helton would have a good season in 2002 by hitting 329, and leading the Rockies with 30 homers, and 109 RBI's. In 2003 he was in the closest NL batting race in history. He hit 358, but Albert Pujols who hit 359 would win the NL Batting title by one point. He also had 33 home runs, and 117 RBI. In 2004 Helton again hit for a high average 347, but was beaten by Barry Bonds 362 dispite he only had 373 at bats. Helton hit 32 homers, and finished with 96 RBI's.

During the 2005 season Helton was in the biggest slump in his career in offensive categories. Helton would bounce back to hit .383 (92-for-240) over final 69 games beginning July 1, highest average in the majors in that span, 24 points higher than the next closest batter (Cleveland's Victor Martinez, .359) & then hit .367 (76-for-207) after the All-Star break, In 2005 he injured his left calf muscle forcing him out of play from July 26 to August 9th. It was the first time Helton was ever on the disabled list. In 146 games Todd hit 320, 20 homers, and 81 RBI. The 2006 season was also a tough year for Todd. Despite hitting 302, he only had 15 homers and 81 RBI. That offseason, the Rockies attpemted to trade him to the Boston Red Sox. A deal was close to being completed until it fell through when the Red Sox refused to give up top prospects Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen.

The Rockies are hoping Todd will return to form in the 2007 season to help the Rockies contend in the NL West. If Todd returned to form the Rockies could have 3 guys others being Matt Holliday, and Garrett Atkins who are capable of 300, 30 HR, and 100 RBI.

He has played his entire career in Colorado; in the era of free agency, this is a rare feat, with only a relative handful of greats, among them Cal Ripken, Jr., Tony Gwynn, Mike Schmidt, Carl Yastrzemski, Robin Yount, Johnny Bench, and George Brett also spending extended careers with only one team. Helton currently has the fourth-largest deal in baseball history, making $141.5 million over 9 years. He is currently in the fifth year of the deal and will be a free agent after the 2011 season.

With his glove, Helton is solid at first base. A winner of three Gold Glove Awards (2001, 2002, 2004), he looks smooth around the bag. However, his arm is average, though as a first baseman, he is not often required to make critical throws. As of the start of the 2007 season, he has the highest batting average among all active players at .333, which is second to Gwynn's .338 among all players whose careers began after World War II.^[1]

As of the start of the 2007 season, Helton holds the Colorado Rockies club records for hits (1700), home runs (286), doubles (413), walks (864), runs scored (1018), RBI (996), on-base percentage (.430), games played (1424), total bases (3029), and other categories.

His favorite players growing up were Rod Carew and Don Mattingly.^{[citation needed]}

I don't try to be a Christian to be a better baseball player. I try to be a Christian to be a better person and father. I struggle with it every day, like everyone else in the world. I want to be a better person, like everybody else. We're dirt bags, like 99 percent of the world. Maybe worse, because we are baseball players. Some guys are Christians and some guys aren't.

— Todd Helton on FoxSports.com^{[citation needed]}

• 5-time All-Star (2000-2004)
• 5-time Silver Slugger Award (2000-2004)
• Dick Howser Trophy (Best National College Baseball Player, 1995)
• The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award (1998)
• Hit for the cycle (2000)
• NL Hank Aaron Award (2001)
• The Associated Press Player of the Year award (2001)
• Helton is the only player in MLB history to have 100-plus extra base hits in consecutive seasons: 109 in 2000, and 118 in 2001. The only others to do it twice in their careers, but not consecutively, were Lou Gehrig (1925, 1930) and Chuck Klein (1930, 1934).
• Helton is also one of only four players to have reached 400 total bases in consecutive seasons (405 in 2000, 402 in 2001). Klein accomplished this feat in 1931 and 1933; Gehrig did so in 1927 and 1932; and Jimmie Foxx did so in 1934 and 1936. Gehrig reached 400 total bases in four other seasons (1925, 1930, 1936), and Klein did so once more (1934). The other players to reach 400 total bases twice in a career were Babe Ruth (1921, 1928), Rogers Hornsby (1922, 1929), and Sammy Sosa (1997, 2001).
• Among active players with at least 5000 at bats, he is currently first in batting average, second in on-base percentage and third in slugging percentage, behind Barry Bonds and behind Bonds and Manny Ramírez respectively.

• List of NL Gold Glove Winners at First Base
• Top 500 home run hitters of all time

• Baseball-Reference.com Todd Helton Page
• MLB.com Todd Helton Page

Preceded by Vladimir Guerrero	National League Player of the Month May 2000	Succeeded by Jeff Kent
Preceded by Sammy Sosa	National League Player of the Month August 2000	Succeeded by Richard Hidalgo
Preceded by Larry Walker	National League Batting Champion 2000	Succeeded by Larry Walker
Preceded by Mark McGwire	National League RBI Champion 2000	Succeeded by Sammy Sosa
Preceded by Sammy Sosa	National League Hank Aaron Award 2000	Succeeded by Barry Bonds
Preceded by Vladimir Guerrero	National League Player of the Month May 2002	Succeeded by Jeff Kent
Preceded by Brian Jordan	National League Player of the Month April 2003	Succeeded by Albert Pujols