Helton Joins 2,000 Hit Club
ATLANTA – Todd Helton was speechless.
It wasn’t the 2,000th hit that put his emotions in a knot. Heck, he had 1,999 other hits before that third inning single off Atlanta right-hander Jair Jurrgens on Tuesday night.
It was the emotion of his teammates that stirred up the emotions in Helton.
Oh, the ball that he lined through the vacated hole to shortstop on an 0-2 slider as Atlanta shortstop Yunel Escobar broke to cover second because Dexter Fowler was running on the pitch, will be a nice souvenir.
But it wasn’t he ball that Helton, the lone Rockies player remaining to shower, carefully carried out to the waiting room outside the visiting clubhouse at Turner Field to show his wife, Christy.
No, it was the single shot rifle that his teammates had purchased and on which the phrase 2,000 Hits was etched on a gold plate that Helton wanted to share.
“It can go up on the wall, above the fireplace,’’ said Christy.
“Something, isn’t it,’’ Helton mumbled.
Something because his teammates had taken the time to acknowledge the man who is the face of the franchise, who on Tuesday night became the 255th player in major league history to reach the 2,000 hit plateau, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, official statistican of Major League Baseball. He joined the club the night after catcher Jason Kendall.
And all 2,000 of those hits, beginning with that third inning single off Francisco Cordova in Pittsburgh back on Aug. 2, 1997, have come in a Rockies uniform. Only three other active players compiled 2,000 hits with one team, and only two others, Chipper Jones in Atlanta and Derek Jeter with the Yankees, are still with that team. Garrett Anderson reached 2,000 with the Angels, but was shown the door last off-season and wound up signing a free-agent deal in Atlanta for 2009.
“Who would have thought it,’’ said Helton.
But then Helton wouldn’t have had it any other way.
He is a Rockie because he wants to be a Rockie.
Back in the spring of 2001, when the Rockies were talking about a contract extension that would take a contract that was supposed to end after 2002 and run it through 2011, the major factor for Helton was an assured he would spend his career with the Rockies. He admitted there was some sentimental lure of Atlanta because of the proximity to his hometown, Knoxville, but no other city was a close second.
Oh, prior to 2007, he did give the Rockies permission to deal him to Boston, but that wasn’t because Helton wanted out. It was because he had been approached and asked to help the team, and if that’s what the team felt was important he was willing to do it – but only to Boston – and he made it clear that if the deal wasn’t done then it wouldn’t be done later because he wasn’t going to annually deal with rumors of his departure.
For Helton and his fans, the good news is the deal didn’t happen. And he’s still with the Rockies, finishing his career where it began, although he has no idea when that end might be and isn’t about to try and make the prediction.
“Too many uncertainties,’’ he said.
And never did that become more apparent to him than last year. Back problems, which required off-season surgery, limited him to just two at-bats after July 4 last season. It served as a notice to Helton of just how fragile the career was.
It was evident when he was asked about the possibility of reaching 3,000 this, which would virtually assure an eventual induction into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
“I learned not to think too far ahead,’’ said Helton. “Shoot, I thought I’d get the 2,000th last year.’’
But at least he got the 2,000th, and he got it with a hit that underscored what a competitive hitter he is.
The count was 0-2. The pitch was a slider, down and away. The challenge was driving the ball, which he did, right though that spot that Escobar opened for him.
And as opposed to Monday, when there was a brief thought that he reached 2,000 only to have it denied by an official scoring decision, there was no reason to hesitate celebrating on Tuesday.
“None of that matters,’’ said Helton.
What Helton has done, however, matters.
It matters enough that Hurdle smiled when he showed the media the copies of the lineup that he filled out. Hurdle, after all, has been Helton’s guardian since the former Tennessee quarterback signed as a first-round draft pick in 1995. Hurdle was the organizational hitting instructor back then. When Helton arrived in the big leagues in 1997, Hurdle was the big-league hitting coach. And when Helton climbed the 2,000-hit plateau he was the manager.
“I throw most of these away,’’ said Hurdle. “These, though, won’t be among the ones I throw away.’’
