Skip to main content

Cooperstown! VFL Todd Helton named to the National Baseball Hall of Fame   

On3 imageby:Eric Cain•01/23/24•

_Cainer

Tennessee Baseball's Tony Vitello Recaps Volunteers Fall Practice Session I Tennessee Vols I Gbo

Former Tennessee all-star Todd Helton has reached the pinnacle of the game of baseball as the Colorado Rockies legend has been named to the 2024 Hall of Fame class in his sixth year on the ballot, earning 79.7 percent of votes.

The class is comprised of three players this year as Helton joins Adrian Beltre and Joe Mauer.

Helton has been on the bubble of late, clocking 72.2 percent of the needed 75 percent plateau to get induction on his fifth year on the ballot. Across 17 seasons at the big-league level, the first baseman registered a .316 batting average with 369 home runs, 1,406 RBI and 1,401 runs scored. He tallied a career slugging percentage of .539, on-base percentage of .414 and OPS (on base + slugging percentage) of .953 while racking up 2,519 hits. 

There was a 10-year stretch of his career where Helton averaged .300 at the plate with 30 home runs and 108 RBI a season. Though he never finished higher than fifth in the National League MVP voting – potentially due to the steroid era and playing at Coors Field – Helton was a five-time All-Star, won three Gold Gloves and four Silver Sluggers while winning the NL batting title (.372 average) and NL Hank Aaron Award following the 2000 season that saw him lead Major League Baseball in average, hits (216), doubles (59), RBI (147), OBP (.463), SLG (.698), OPS (1.162) and total bases (405).

That same season, the first baseman led the NL with an 8.9 WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a metric that is popular now in determining a player’s value to the team. Helton batted .320 for the Rockies in 2007, a World Series squad that fell short to the Boston Red Sox.

Todd Helton. Credit: Tennessee Athletics Communications

The first baseman holds franchise records for games played (2,247), hits (2,519), runs (1,401), home runs (368) and RBI (1,406) and becomes the second Rockies player inducted into the Hall – joining Larry Walker (2020). Helton played all 17 seasons in Colorado, retiring in 2013. He also attended Knoxville Central High School where he was tabbed the 1992 Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year in both football and baseball. The local product is already in the National College Baseball Hall of Fame and had his No. 3 jersey retired by Tennessee baseball in 2018.

Helton gets the call to Cooperstown on his sixth year on the ballot. Previously, the former Vol received 16.5 percent from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in his first year in 2019. He followed it up with 29.2 percent in 2020, 44.9 percent in 2021, 52.0 percent in 2022 and 72.2 percent in 2023 – inching closer and closer every year. Players have 10 years of eligibility on the ballot.  

During his Volunteer tenure, Helton was a three-time All-American and the 1995 National and Southeastern Conference Player of the Year. That same season, Helton pitched a gem in the first game of the College World Series, going the distance against Clemson where he allowed one run on four hits with nine strikeouts in the 3-1 victory.

Helton also played quarterback for the Vols during his time in Knoxville. The Tennessee legend now joins Frank Thomas (Auburn) as the only players from the Southeastern Conference elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2024 will officially be introduced in Cooperstown on July 21.  

You may also like