During the 3rd inning of yesterday’s Colorado Rockies versus Atlanta Braves game, Todd Helton became the 255th member of the 2,000 hit club with a single. Milwaukee’s Jason Kendall joined the club on Monday.
After the game, Helton was presented with a hunting rifle by Aaron Cook, a bottle of Dom Perignon that was autographed by the team and skipper Clint Hurdle gave him a bottle of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades champagne.
Including Helton, only fours players have reached the 2,000 hit milestone with one team. They are Derek Jeter (Yankees), Chipper Jones (Braves) and Garrett Anderson (Angels). Anderson is now a member of the Braves.
Helton went to the University of Tennessee where he played football and baseball. He was the backup quarterback to Heath Shuler his first two seasons there and then started his junior season as the backup to Jerry Colquitt. After an injury to Colquitt, Helton took over at quarterback only to suffer an injury. The man who replaced him at quarterback for the Volunteers was Peyton Manning. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of him.
In 1995, Helton was named the winner of the Dick Howser Trophy, which goes to the National Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year. Helton played first base and also was the closer at Tennessee but the Rockies drafted him that year 8th overall as a first baseman.
They signed him in 1995 of that year giving him a signing of bonus of $892,000 and assigned him to the Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League. In 54 games with the Tourists, Helton hit .254 with 1 home run and 15 RBIs.
I first met Helton in 1996 when he was assigned to the New Haven Ravens in the Eastern League. They also happened to be my employer at the time as I was the home clubhouse manager. When I first started working in baseball, people warned me about the “bonus babies” aka the guys with large signing bonuses and how some of them were very egotistical.
That season we actually had a few “bonus babies” in Helton, Jamey Wright, the late Doug Million and Derrick Gibson among others. I can honestly tell you that these guys were some of the nicest guys I have ever met during my time spent working in minor league baseball.
Helton dominated the Eastern League that year hitting .332 with 7 home runs and 51 RBIs. You might not think that’s a lot but if you’ve ever been to Yale Field in West Haven, CT, you’d know it was definitely a pitcher’s park as most of the Eastern League stadiums back then.
Scouts and front office types would always say that if you can play in the Eastern League, you could play in the big leagues.
The Ravens had a crappy season that year going 59-82 but one of the bright spots was Helton. I still remember the day he was called up to Triple-A Colorado Springs. I knew he was happy to get out of New Haven, as most players were, but for him there wasn’t much more he could do in the Eastern League. He was a tough out.
The day we packed up his locker, I asked him to autograph a few things. One of the things that he autographed for me was his nameplate that was above his locker.
Click on image for actual size.
To this day, one of my fondest memories of Helton has to be when my best friend Marc and I made a trip out to Denver to see the Rockies play the San Francisco Giants in 1996. I had been given tickets to their weekend series and it was the weekend they were honoring their minor league players of the year.
The tickets we had for the night were right down on the field next to the first base line. I remember walking down to the seats and the first person to greet me was Helton who said “hey Ian what are you doing here?” So I told why we were out there and that was that.
Helton started the 1997 in Colorado Springs and ended up being called up to the Rockies that year where he’s been a mainstay ever since.
When I went to the 2007 World Series with Texy from Center Field, I made sure I went down to the field to try and say hi to him and the other guys I knew on the Rockies. While I wasn’t able to talk to him, I was able to talk to Marc Gustafson, who was my trainer in New Haven from 1995-1998, and is now the Director of Player Development for the Rockies.
I was sure to tell him to tell Helton I said hi and Brian Fuentes, who was also in New Haven when we were affiliated with the Mariners. I was also able to talk with the bullpen catcher, Mark Strittmatter and bullpen coach Rick Matthews.
While I know Helton probably won’t read this, I’d like to offer my congratulations on reaching 2000 hits in your career.
