KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Todd Helton was a two-sport athlete at the University of Tennessee and played both football and baseball with the Vols. As Helton prepares to be enshrined at the National Baseball Hall of Fame later this month, he recalled the biggest lesson football taught him that helped his success on the diamond.
"In football, you practice all week for that one game, and that one game is so important. It's everything, that one game, especially in the SEC, so I took that mentality into baseball," Helton said. "162 games, I played my hardest."
Helton also remembered the moment he knew he had a much more realistic future in professional baseball instead of football, and his teammates in the quarterback room at Tennessee were the ones who helped him come to that realization.
"It was not a difficult decision. I had the honor of playing with Heath Shuler and Peyton Manning and I got to see what an NFL quarterback was really like. When I saw Heath for the first time at practice my freshman year, I knew I was a baseball player."
Helton also remembered how his attitude changed about baseball when he got to college, and how that influenced his decision to focus more on baseball as his career at Tennessee evolved.
"High school football is just so much fun. College football is a job. You put in hours, you work, you meet before and after every practice and the beauty of baseball is just you go out and play, and that was more my style."
The Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024 will be formally inducted beginning on Sunday, July 21 at 1:30 p.m. Helton, along with Joe Mauer, Adrian Beltre and Jim Leyland will be enshrined in Cooperstown, N.Y.