Los Angeles – How do you like Todd Helton now?
In a season of priceless memories, the $16.6 million salary being paid Helton by the Rockies has been worth every last dime.
A Denver baseball hero who was abandoned by many longtime fans, dissed as washed up and nearly dumped by the team’s brain trust in a trade has come back swinging.
On Wednesday, when Colorado beat Los Angeles 2-0 for a club-record 10th straight victory, Toddy Ballgame lifted the mask from his old-school, tough guy mug to reveal how much the lack of faith from folks in the bleachers to executives in the front office stung him.
“I don’t want to be anywhere where I’m not wanted. And it’s hard to hear that from fans,” said Helton, who knows as the face of a franchise that lost for years you’re bound to get some mud slung at you. “But you realize that not everybody’s going to love you. And not everybody’s going to hate you. So you have to go on and play.”
But here’s the happy truth: There is nowhere Helton would rather be than right here, in the middle of a Colorado clubhouse full of players who love him like a big brother and in the heat of a playoff race he has toiled for more than a decade as a major-leaguer to enjoy for the first time.
In a fascinating tale of a team that seems to invent a new little miracle every day, maybe the best story of all is the old man of the Kid Rocks.
“I don’t take anything for granted in this game,” said Helton, an uncommonly intense man who admitted that at age 34, he has finally learned how stop grinding his teeth long enough to smile. “I’m grateful we’re winning. I’m excited about it. And I don’t feel like I’m owed anything.”
For all the haters of Helton who were convinced the smartest baseball move the Rockies could make was to unload his salary, it is now only proper to give the first baseman what he deserves.
A standing ovation of thanks.
How lucky is Colorado the proposed trade of Helton to the Boston Red Sox last winter fell apart?
The Rockies would not be where they are now, on the most magical, mystical run of the franchise’s 15-year history, without Helton.
From his golden glove work to a 10-game hitting streak that coincides with the improbable winning streak, Helton has made it trendy for folks to fall in love with the Rockies again.
His walkoff home run against the Dodgers last week was the defining moment of a September to remember. That crazy, happy scene at Coors Field, with a fist-pumping Helton running to a happy mob of teammates waiting at the plate was worth untold millions by itself. Teams truly serious about winning the World Series don’t ever sell short a clutch player.
There is one strange dynamic at work here, however.
Young teammates are infinitely loyal to Helton, because he threw an enthusiastic arm of support on them when the Rockies decided to grow a contender down on the farm rather than spend big bucks in the free-agent market.
But Rockies ownership and management are not as close to Helton as they once were, whether the result of his production decline in recent years or the inevitable tension caused when a superstar is on the trade block.
“Do you mean they talk to me and ask for my input? No, they don’t talk to me and don’t ask for my input,” said Helton, discussing his current relationship with team brass. “And that’s fine.”
But isn’t the silence a change from the time when the Rockies encouraged Helton to be the face of the franchise, as fans were asked to be patient with the care and nurturing of prospects such as Matt Holliday and Jeff Francis?
“Yeah,” responded Helton, showing not a trace of bitterness.
The face of the franchise is hitting .396 in September. He’s Beltin’ Helton again. But the old man of the Kid Rocks is having far too much fun to take a shot at his critics.
“It’s part of the job: Some people like me and some don’t. I mean, some people tell me to shave my beard and some people tell me they like it,” Helton said. “You just have to realize that you can only be who you are, respect the game and play as hard as you can. If people like it, they do. And if they don’t, they don’t.”
Winning is the best revenge.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
