An Ode to Todd Helton

There were a lot of questions concerning Todd Helton this offseason.  Could he stay healthy?  Could he still be productive?  Is he too old?  Todd is doing his best this year to prove those doubters wrong.

Here's a look at Helton's stat line so far this year:

	GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2011 Regular Season	25	83	11	26	7	0	3	13	7	8	0	0	.313	.370	.506	.876

Those are some impressive numbers if you ask me.  Todd's doing what has worked for him in the past.  He's driving the ball to the gaps for doubles, he's seeing a lot of pitches at the plate and he's getting on base.  Helton is the guy that young players should model their games after.  He the consummate pro and works his butt off day in and day out, and that's led to a successful and lengthy Major League career.


The stats speak for themselves when it comes to Todd's performance this year.  Recently, he's been one year on, one year off in terms of performance, and when he performs, the Rockies succeed.  At 37 years old, there's not a lot of time left for Todd, and he's trying to make the most of his remaining time in the bigs.


As a Rockies fan, there is no other player who exemplifies Colorado baseball like Todd.  He is, and for a long time will be, the face of the Rockies until Tulo and CarGo reach the stage Todd has.  You can talk about the Blake Street Bombers of the '90's, but to me, none of them measure up to Todd.  He stuck with this team when they were god awful.  He came to the park everyday, played his heart out and they still would lose, and for him to not abandon Colorado the way we see so many athletes do in this age of sports, that is extremely admirable and makes be proud to be a Rockies fan and a Coloradan.


As number 17's career winds down, take time to appreciate what this man has meant to the Rockies and the community.  It's not often you find a man like this in sports.  Todd Helton is a special player and will live on in Rockies lore forever.