1998 Topps All-Star Rookie First Baseman Todd Helton

Moving ahead to the 1998 Topps All-Star Rookie Roster and we start with a great one. Todd Helton is a Hall of Fame caliber player, and his value as a hitter was evident from the very beginning. His 97 RBI as a rookie was the 2nd most in a quarter-century. Crow all you like about the "Coors-Effect" but know that few hitters had the success that Todd Helton did in the 2000s. Helton was definitely the easy pick for Topps All-Star Rookie at first base. He finished 2nd in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting, leading all NL rookies in hits, average, runs, RBI, Homers, Slugging, OBP, multi-hit games, extra base hits and total bases. 

Helton not only led the league's rookie leaderboards, but also proved to be a team leader in the clubhouse from the start of his career. He was voted by his teammates to be the team's player representative during his rookie season, putting his University of Tennessee education to work!

Helton was ready to shine from an early age - as a college Freshman, Helton made the Team USA roster. He was drafted out of high school by the Padres, but opted to attend Tennessee as a baseball and football player. His first two years, he was the Vols backup QB behind Heath Shuler, then was slotted behind Jerry Colquitt (and ahead of a punk kid named Peyton). A knee injury at QB ended his football career, and he focused his attention squarely on baseball. He was the 1995 National Collegiate Player of the Year (Dick Howser Trophy winner), providing value as a hitter and as a pitcher. He set a Tennessee school record for saves in 1995, and over the course of his collegiate career had a 2.89 ERA in 193 innings pitched. At the plate, he hit .370 for his career for the Vols, and was the school record holder in homers and RBI by the time he was drafted.

Helton was the #8 Overall pick in the 1995 draft, and immediately made his way to the Single A Asheville Tourists. He hit just .254 over 201 at bats and had just 1 homer while striking out more than he walked. Things would turn around quickly, as he blasted AA pitching in 1996. He hit .336 across AA and AAA that year, and walked 62 times while striking out just 49. The following year, He was hitting .352 in AAA for the first 99 games before forcing his way onto the big league roster. His MLB debut on August 2, 1997 found him in Left Field, where he hit his first career homer, and went 2-4 against the Pirates. 

He would hit for the cycle in his 2nd full MLB season, and nearly duplicated the effort 4 other times that year but ultimately fell short. Nevertheless, his stats improved across the board from an already impressive rookie campaign, including an 80 point jump in his OPS. He eclipsed 100 RBI and 100 runs for the first time in his career, which he would repeat each year for the next 4 years. 

During his prime (1999 - 2006), Helton averaged a stat line of .336/.437/.603 with 100 walks, 116 runs, 111 RBI and 32 homers per season. 2000 was his career year - he led the NL in hits, doubles (59!), RBI, batting average, OBP, Slugging, (OPS obviously) and Total Bases. It was his first of 5 straight All-Star appearances, and he also brought home the Silver Slugger award. That 7 year prime included 4 Silver Sluggers and 3 Gold Gloves. Helton had 6 straight seasons of 30 or more homers and was an absolute on base machine. His batting title in 2000 would be his only one, though he was less 1/100th of a point away from a 2nd one in 2003, just behind Albert Pujols. The year 2000 was also his highest finish in NL MVP voting, ending up in 5th place. This could be called the "Reverse Coors Effect" as MVP voters were quick to discount a Rockie's numbers against the rest of the NL. It should also be noted that Pujols and Barry Bonds dominated the MVP discussion for much of Helton's prime years, leaving little room for him to make inroads on the ballot. 

By the end of his career in 2013, Helton was the undisputed "Greatest Rockie of All-Time," leading the franchise in nearly every significant offensive category. For his career he amassed over 2,500 hits, 369 homers, over 1,400 runs, 1,400 RBI, and 1,335 walks. His 592 doubles rank 19th all-time in MLB history, and his career WAR is just below the average Hall of Fame first basemen. He was the first player in MLB history to record 35 or more doubles in 10 straight seasons. His career OPS+ of 133 does take into account his home field advantage and still places him well above the league during his career. 

Does Todd Helton get your Hall of Fame vote? 

Any specific Todd Helton memories you'd like to share? I'd love to read them in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

1993 Topps Traded Set

Found a nice deal on a sealed 1993 Topps Traded Set, so today I am sharing some of the highlights with you! Mike Piazza was already an established star when this set was issued, even though he was still a rookie.

The 1993 Topps Set featured a 2nd player photo on the back, a flourish they hadn't tried in a long long time. But the pressure was on to keep up with Johnny Fleer and Joey Donruss and uh, Janey Upper Deck, so that means photos on both sides! I don't know if this a common issue with the traded set, or a symptom of being in a sealed box for so many years, but the ink on the backs looks a little runny to me.

Also - what's the deal? For the first time, the traded set was no longer in alphabetical order. Also ALSO, " IT - 132T ?" I? Weird.

Piazza was one of 6 Hall of Fame players in the set (with 2 or 3 more possibly to add later?). Boggs defected from Boston to the Yankees, where he would finally win a World Series, and get to ride a NYC Police horse after the clinching game. Andre Dawson went from the Cubs to Beantown, now towards the end of his magnificent career. Greg Maddux and Paul Molitor were thinking championship as well, and both would be rewarded by the end of their tenures with their new teams.

Now that Bowman has returned and the Prospect Machine was in full motion, finding quality rookies in the traded set was becoming more rare. The Team USA issue provided opportunities to add more young players to the set, and like Nomar in 1992, another Freshman made a splash in the new traded set.

The Team USA backs are a little different, so I figured I'd share those, too. Todd was quite the athlete!

The Twins representatives had nearly 20 seasons combined in the big leagues by the time the set came out - granted, they were all from Hall of Fame OF/1B/DH Dave Winfield. Todd Walker technically wasn't with the Twins organization yet, but he'd be drafted in the first round in 1994 by the Twins. David McCarty and Pat Meares were expected to take the reigns in the infield for Greg Gagne and Kent Hrbek. Meares ultimately did become the team's everyday SS, and McCarty had flashes of brilliance, but never really became the player to match the potential.

This group of guys might have a Hall of Famer or 3 in it, you can argue about which 3 they might be. Bonds had card #1T honors, all of these guys became key pieces of their team's success for the rest of the 1990s.

Lastly, here are a couple of my favorite photos from the set, and two guys that were appearing in familiar uniforms. The traded sets can be light on action and personality, but Boomer Wells listening to the national anthem and Erik Pappas sporting some gnarly hat hair. The Big Cat had a miserable 1993 in Saint Louis, playing in fewer than 100 games, and hitting just 10 homers. But Colorado would prove that he still had a few of those 9 lives remaining, and in fact would have the best years of his career. Kirk Gibson was returning to Detroit where he found his early post season success.