TUCSON — It’s a perfect, sun-splashed desert morning and Todd Helton is striding across the outfield grass at Hi Corbett Field. He’s in a hurry to get to his workout and has little time to talk about his least-favorite subject — himself.
Told that the story is about his role as the Rockies’ leader, Helton rolls his eyes. “Talk to the other guys,” he said.
Told that his teammates have already expressed their respect for him, and that one called him “the ultimate professional,” Helton stops in midstride.
“That’s good; it means a lot to be respected by your teammates for what you’ve done,” he said.
Then he disappears through a door in the outfield wall and heads to the weight room.
Despite his wise-cracking, “good ol’ boy” persona, Helton is far from a rah-rah guy. Though he needles teammates incessantly and plays the part of a 34-year-old clubhouse frat boy, he never preaches or makes speeches. His influence on this close-knit team lies just below the surface.
“He sets the tone for all of us,” right fielder Brad Hawpe said. “When you have the best player the franchise has ever had, and he’s older than most of the guys but still works harder than anybody else, that’s impressive.”
Clint Barmes remembers back to the spring of 2002 when, at age 22, he got called over from the minor-league camp to take batting practice with the big-league team for the first time.
“I was hitting in the group right before Todd’s,” Barmes recalled. “He approached me, told me my swing looked good, asked me how things were going. I will never forget that, because of who he was and where I was at that point in my career. From my rookie season on, I have always looked up to him.”
Last week, unhappy with his swing, Helton took 30 minutes worth of extra batting practice after a game. The next day, he hit a homer off Luis Mendoza of the Texas Rangers.
“You watch what Todd does and you know if you’re not doing that, you should be,” outfielder Cory Sullivan said. “It’s impossible not to hold yourself to a high standard when you see how hard he works.”
One of the lasting images of the Rockies’ wild run last fall came Sept. 18, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Facing closer Takashi Saito, Helton hit a two-out, two-strike, two-run, walk-off homer. Helton, his helmet thrown off and his fist pumping, arrived at home plate and a sea of jubilant teammates.
“It’s one of my favorite moments ever,” slugger Matt Holliday said that night. “It’s something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
For Helton, it was a rare display of on-field emotion that set the timbre for a magical streak during which the Rockies won 21 of 22 games en route to their first World Series.
“That was a big moment, but I think maybe people got the wrong idea about it,” Hawpe said. “Sure, Todd was excited because he hit that homer, but he was most excited because we won the game. He’s always about the team. And whenever something happens on this team, everybody is going to look in his direction. It’s like, ‘How does Todd react?’ If we lose, he takes it harder than anybody else.”
After Helton hit that dramatic homer, he received an impromptu standing ovation from his teammates in the clubhouse, a simple gesture of respect.
“It was just the guys standing up to say thank you,” Hawpe said.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
