Two weeks ago, the Colorado Rockies Todd Helton quietly announced that he would be retiring at the close of this 2013 season. That was it. No major press conference announcement, no Farewell Tour throughout the National League, no gifts from opposing teams. Just "I'm retiring when the season ends in a couple of weeks".
Was Todd Helton a "great player"? I think so, and can you disagree after looking at these numbers?
- Seventeen seasons and 2,244 games (through last night), all with the same team
- 2,518 hits
- 369 home runs
- 1,406 RBI's
- a .954 career OPS
The other day I heard of one of those contrived statistical groupings that have become so popular in recent years, it was something like X number of home runs, plus Y number of doubles, and Z number of hits and a batting average of over .xyz, I can't remember exactly what it was, and in this statistical subset, Helton stands alone with only two other players in baseball history - Stan Musial and Willie Mays. Yeah, it is a contrived category, but you are in the same company with only Musial and Mays, that makes you a pretty special ball player in my book.
Oh, and Todd Helton said good-bye to his Coors Field fans in Thursday night by hitting a home run in his final home game. What a perfect finish.
Many will hold it against him that he played half of his games in the mile high altitude at Coors Field, and also that he played in the "steroid era", although to my knowledge, no PED suspicion has ever been attached to him. However, I say, see you in Cooperstown, Todd.
Now I know that what I say next will cast me as a grouchy old crank in some eyes, but contrast Helton's quiet exit with the year long hoop-la that has surrounded Mariano Rivera. Before you Yankees loyalists jump all over me, I concede that Rivera is the greatest Closer ever (and how one views the position of "closer" is the subject of a whole other debate), and I will take everyone's word that he is a prince of a fellow, but am I the only person out there who has had it up to here with the whole Retirement Tour?
Back in April, when Rivera said this would be his last season, ESPN's Buster Olney was tweeting wondering about what gifts each AL team should give Rivera when he made his last appearance in their city. There followed the deification at the All Star Game, the Sports Center clips on each of his gifts from every team, the "controversy" over whether or not the Red Sox paid him the proper "respect" on his final visit to Fenway last week, a visit which was accompanied by near-weeping tweets from Olney and Peter Gammons, as well as the ESPN Sunday night crew, the Sports Illustrated cover. I mean, C'MON MAN! If Rivera is half the classy guy that everyone tells us he is, I am guessing that the whole deal had to be embarrassing for him.
It was not Rivera's fault, I suppose, but I rather prefer the way that Helton chose to bid adieu to the Major Leagues.
Amen on Rivera!
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