COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — VFL Todd Helton was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday evening. He finally made the cut in his sixth year on the ballot with 79.7% of votes, surpassing the 75% needed to make it in.
Helton played for the Colorado Rockies from 1997 to 2013 and spent his entire MLB career with the program. He is the second former Rockies player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame behind Larry Walker.
The Knoxville native graduated from Central High School and then played right down the road at the University of Tennessee. Helton is the first former Vol to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and just the second former SEC baseball player to make it in. Frank Thomas, who played at Auburn, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.
In 1995, he most notably won the Dick Howser Trophy in his junior season. This award is given to the National Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year.
Later that year, the Rockies took him eighth overall in the MLB Draft. He spent two years in the minors before making it to the big leagues.
In January 2023, Helton was 11 votes shy of being selected for a spot in Cooperstown. He landed 72.2% of ballots out of 75% needed to be elected.
He was a five-time MLB All-Star, a three-time Golden Glove winner, and a four-time Silver Slugger Award winner. He was also the NL batting champion and MLB RBI leader in 2000.
Helton was the first player to have his jersey number retired when the Rockies retired his No. 17 in 2014.
