Random Topps Card of the Day: 2004 Topps #110 Todd Helton

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, December 2, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2004 Topps #110.
• Player Name, position, team: Todd Helton, first baseman, Colorado Rockies.
• Major League Debut: August 2, 1997.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2003 stats (Rockies): 160 G, 583 AB, 135 R, 209 H, 49 2B, 5 3B, 33 HR, 117 RBI, 0 SB, 111 BB, 72 SO, .630 SLG, 1.088 OPS, .358 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Rockies #1st, June 1995. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 18. This is his ninth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: The great hitters can't be kept down forever, as Todd proved on May 29, 2003. Entering the game amidst the longest home run drought (89 at-bats) of his career, he cracked three in a 12-5 romp over the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was his second "tater trifecta" - hte first coming on May 1, 2000 versus the Montréal Expos."
• Commentary: The man who will be forever known as "Mr. Rockie" Todd Lynn Helton may just be the first Rockies player to be inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame, as long as the writers get past any prejudice over the notion that he spent his entire career in the thin air of Denver. I mean heck, they did install that humidor, and that seems to have evened the playing field. During Helton's first seven full seasons in the majors (not counting his 35 game cup-of-coffee in 1997), Helton was among the game's best hitters, hitting a ridiculous .340 with 246 home runs, 825 rbi's, percentages of
  .434/.620/1.053. In 2004, he made his fifth straight All-Star team and won his third Gold Glove award in five years. But from 2005 through 2013, his offensive production went down (not that two seasons were cut short due to injury should be used as part of the reason why), but he would go on to hit a cumulative .293 in 1112 games, hit 118 homers (you can't blame the humidor, that was installed into Coors field in time for the 2002 season), and drove in 570 rbi's. He did help lead the Rox to their first World Series appearance in 2007, and as the team's first baseman for 17 seasons, he committed only 79 errors in 20,694 chances, giving him a fielding percentage of .996. Todd Helton announced his retirement during the 2013 season. Will Cooperstown be calling next?
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.10-$0.30.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 119 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1983 Topps #442. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama