Hall of Fame Poll: Todd Helton

Next on the ballot is Todd Helton.

It is Helton’s second time on the ballot, he got 29.2% of the vote last year. If he can add to that each year, he has a good shot at making it.

Todd was one of those rare players who played their entire career with one team. 17 seasons, all with the Colorado Rockies.

Helton hit .316/.414/.539, with 2519 hits (97th in MLB history), including 369 home runs (80th in MLB history) in 2247 games. His career bWAR is 61.2.

He hit .315/.380/.430 in 152 games and finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting in his rookie season.

Two years later, he hit .372/.463/.698 with a league leading 216 hits, 59 doubles (also league-leading), 42 home runs, and 147 RBIs (league-leading). He finished 5th in MVP voting.

Todd would make 5 All-Star teams, won 3 Gold Gloves. 4 Silver Sluggers, and got MVP votes 6 times.

He had a streak of 5 straight seasons with OPS over 1.000.

Like many guys in the Hall of Fame, he had a very high peak and then continued his career-long enough to build great career numbers.

The question is how much the Writers will discount his numbers because he played in Denver all his career. Larry Walker finally made it, so many Helton will too.

The NL had some good first basemen in his era. I’m not sure where to rank him against Albert Pujols and Jeff Bagwell. Well I guess I do, Pujols and Bagwell were better players. But Helton wasn’t all that far behind.