With the Yankees recently having played in Colorado, one of the great baseball players of the last two decades (save 2008, 2010 and 2012, but everyone has bad or injured years over the course of a career) wasn't talked about much again.  He has been underrated through the years.  Why?  Who knows?  But Todd Helton is a future Hall of Famer.  

Don't get caught-up in that Coors Field stuff, where baseballs left the park more regularly than anywhere else in baseball during the 1990's and 2000's and even now with that silly humidor.  Todd Helton has played plenty of road games too, and the guy would hit anywhere.  He is a flat-out pure hitter and power hitter.  Baseball players are Hall of Famers based on numbers first.  Let's have a look at Helton's (NOTE:  Just because his numbers might be better than others that doesn't mean he is a better player than some mentioned, this is simply a pure comparable case for JUST Helton being in the Hall).

Helton is a .320 hitter, good for 56th all-time, better than guys like Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Derek Jeter, Lloyd Waner, Jackie Robinson, Bill Dickey, George Brett, Pete Rose and Willie Mays.  Helton has 2,434 hits as of May 10, 2013, very Hall-worthy.  Helton balances that with 350+ home runs and over 550 doubles.  Talk about hitting!  That is hitting for power and average and hitting in the gaps.

His slugging is .544 career and OBP is .418, very respectable.  Helton has 4,000+ total bases.  His 1,357 RBI as of May 10, 2013, are 82nd all-time.  He should be over 1,400 after this year and near 1,500 next year if he decides to play.  These numbers trump or will trump guys like Brooks Robinson, Orlando Cepeda, Johnny Bench, Duke Snider, Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, George Sisler, Clemente and Waner again and possibly guys like Yogi Berra (1,430), Jim Rice (1,451) and Eddie Matthews (1,453).

Helton also won the National League batting title in 2000 thanks to a .372 average and has four Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves.  Helton doesn't have the luxury of hitting DH to save his body because he plays in the National League.  And most of his Rockies teams were average or below average through the years (1997-today, save the 2007 pennant winning ballclub and only other playoff teams in franchise history in 1995 and 2009).

Todd Helton has the numbers.  Baseball is based on numbers.  Todd Helton is a Hall of Famer.  Not on the first ballot or second ballot, but eventually (not through The Veterans Committee, but on a real ballot) Helton deserves his plaque in Cooperstown.

By:  Mike Lindsley, "Mid-Day with Mike," 1-4, Yankees pre-post game host on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio.  Follow him on Twitter @MikeLSports.

 

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