Is Todd Helton the next Colorado Rockies Hall of Famer?

“Even if you adjust for the context, Todd Helton was a Hall of Famer.”

–Bill James, The 2019 Bill James Handbook

Larry Walker may have been the Rockies first Gold Glover, MVP, and now first Hall of Famer, but he’s not the guy at the top of all of the Colorado Rockies franchise leaderboards. That honor, of course, belongs to Todd Helton, who leads the franchise in hits, runs, RBI, doubles, homers, and total WAR.

Helton had some truly eye-popping seasons (just take a moment to drool over his numbers in 2000), a lengthy 17-year career, and he captained the franchise to their first (and still only) World Series appearance. Despite his achievements, the fact that Helton played in Coors Field at the height of the Steroid Era led to his receiving only 16.5% of the vote in his first year of Hall eligibility in 2019.

Helton jumped to 29.2% of the vote this year which, of course, also saw the first election of any player to have played a majority of their seasons in Colorado. So now that the Rox have one HoFer, what are the chances of them adding another any time soon? Did this year prove that the voters can get over their anti-Coors field bias, or will they go right back to discounting the numbers of anyone that played half their games in altitude? Simply put: Will Todd Helton ever make the Hall of Fame?