We have certainly enjoyed watching Todd Helton play here in the Mile High City, and Coors Field won't be the same once he hangs up his eye black. I don't think he makes it into the Hall of Fame-he's got the stigma of playing his entire career here in the thin air, and while he's always been in the conversation of great hitters of his era, he's never had one of "those" seasons that made folks outside of our Market sit up and take notice. He's done some remarkable things, but hasn't done them with enough fanfare to launch him to the next level:
Craig Wright, a statistician, author and Bill James disciple who ranks players according to a measure called Win Shares Above Replacement Level, ranks Helton as the 27th-best first baseman of all time. He regards Fred McGriff, Will Clark, Norm Cash, Carlos Delgado and John Olerud as more worthy Hall of Fame candidates who will most likely never get to Cooperstown.
"Helton has had a fine career and been a great ballplayer, but clearly not great enough for the Hall of Fame unless the voters are snowed by the impact of his home park," Wright said in an email to ESPN.com.
Still, if you judge a man by the company he keeps, Helton resides on a higher plane. In 2000, he joined Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Greenberg as the only players in history to record at least 200 hits, 40 home runs, 100 runs, 100 RBIs, 100 extra-base hits and 100 walks in a season. Over the past 50 seasons, only Wade Boggs, Rod Carew and Tony Gwynnreached 2,000 hits in fewer at-bats than Helton required. And the list goes on.
We'll savor the rest of his at-bats this season, keep our fingers crossed for hit number 2500, and hope that Colorado fans get one more season with #17 on first base.
My favorite image of Todd is one of him completeing the play at first to put the Rockies into the World Series:
Can't get much better than that for the face of your franchise..
