When Todd Helton hits the links at the Tennessee National Golf Club in Knoxville, he dons purple.
“(Manager) Tommy Lasorda used to say, ‘I bleed Dodger Blue.’ Well, I bleed Colorado Rockies’ purple,” Helton said Friday during a national Zoom call from his home outside Knoxville. “If you look at my golf shirts, the majority of them are purple.”
The iconic first baseman will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on July 21 in Cooperstown, N.Y. Expect a purple tie.
Helton is proud that he played all 17 seasons in Colorado. The state has never left him.
“It’s all I ever knew,” he said. “I loved every minute of it. Well, not every minute. Talking to you (media) guys (stunk), but I loved every other minute of my time there.”
Presumably, Helton was joking about the media. Presumably.
“Even the bad stretches (of play), I enjoyed,” he continued. “Just being able to go out on the field and compete and to wear the pinstripes of the Colorado Rockies, I’m very proud of that.”
Helton lived in Colorado full-time for more than 20 years before moving back to his native Tennessee. But he still owns The 17 Ranch, a 4,000-acre spread outside the small town of Kersey in Weld County. The South Platte River flanks the ranch, and its ponds, creeks, woods and grasses are teeming with fish and wildlife.
He goes there often, sometimes bringing his wife, Christy, and their two daughters, Tierney Faith and Gentry Grace, with him.
“My favorite place in the world is that ranch,” he said. “We build fires every night, and the falls there are just amazing, as they are in Tennessee. But at the ranch, I can do a lot more hunting and doing the things I enjoy.”
Helton anticipates that more than 300 people he knows will attend his Hall of Fame induction, including former Colorado teammates from the minors and majors. Several members of the 1990 Knoxville Central High School baseball team that won the state championship will be there. So will teammates from the University of Tennessee, where Helton played baseball and football.
“The only number I know (for sure) is that the Rockies are throwing a party Saturday night and they said that I can invite 30 or 40 people, and 147 have RSVP’d,” he said. “So, I’m going to owe (owner) Dick Monfort money on that.”
Helton has already written his speech.
“It will be simple,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of people help me with it. I’m a baseball player, not a speaker. But that’s not what I’m nervous about. I’ve given many speeches. I’ll either screw it up, or I’ll do well. It is what it is.I’m nervous about meeting the (Hall of Famers), meeting my heroes.”
Helton declined to reveal what he will say in his speech, but you can bet he will open his heart about the Rockies organization.
“People around here in Knoxville, and in Colorado, would agree that I speak a lot about Colorado and what a class organization it is and what they have done for me,” he said. “And I’m not trying to be too cheesy here, but the people in that organization helped me to become a better person and they took care of me when things weren’t good in my own personal life. They have always had my back, even when they didn’t have to.”
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Originally Published: July 12, 2024 at 5:36 p.m.
