todd helton is in my hall of famer collection

earlier tonight we learned that todd helton was elected to the national baseball hall of fame. he's in my hall of famer collection now, too, with this card as his entry:

that's a 2017 panini flawless greats autograph, numbered 13/25. here's the back:

helton received 79.7% of the vote on this, his sixth appearance on the ballot. one of the knocks against him has been the fact that the played his entire career for the rockies and so it is assumed that his numbers are inflated due to coors field being a known hitter's park. sure, his splits 

are more extreme than those of jim rice (another single franchise hall of famer who hit better at home) 

but my opinion is that major league baseball is being played in denver, and therefore, stats accrued in denver are as legitimate as those accrued anywhere else. no reason to penalize the player for doing their best. helton's stats - 2,519 hits, 369 homers, .414 obp, .316 bating average - put him in hall of fame status for me, as well as the vast majority of those who actually have a vote.

i got to see helton play in person four times. the first was in san diego on may 27, 2002. he was 1 for 4 with a double, hitting in a lineup that had three todds in a row (helton, hollandsworth, and zeile). i saw him play two days in a row at coors field against the dodgers in june of 2006 (he was 1 for 7) and then in minneapolis against the twins on june 17, 2010. that game was a good one - a bunch of friends and i went to see the pitching matchup of ubaldo jimenez and francisco liriano (both were lights out to that point in the season) and jimenez didn't disappoint. as for helton, he went 1 for 5 against liriano and the twins' bullpen that day. that means that helton was 2 for 9 with a double in the away games and just 1 for 7 with a single in the home games, so, in my experience, he hit better on the road than at home!

as a reminder, you can see helton and the other members of my hall of famer collection (including helton's fellow inductees adrian beltre and joe mauer) here!