Todd Helton will likely be announced as a member of the latest class in the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening, assuming his trend of votes stays the course when the rest of the ballots are revealed.
Sal says it will be latest travesty, not that Helton will be Cooperstown bound, but that he will be and Don Mattingly won’t.
“Todd Helton is gonna get in…I think he’s borderline…he was a great player,” Sal said. “If Helton is, and he’s gonna get in, than Don Mattingly is.
“Mattingly won an MVP, won a batting title, nine Gold Gloves, six-time All-Star. Mattingly was the better player than Helton. Even for a shortened period, I still think he’s better than Helton.”
Back problems ended Mattingly’s career after 14 years and just 1,785 games, dinging his Cooperstown case despite his peak years in the 1980s making him one of the best in baseball at the time. Helton, a five-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and a batting champion, lasted 17 big league seasons, all with the Rockies. While his offensive numbers were certainly aided by playing in Colorado, he still posted a career OPS over .800 on the road. So while Sal isn’t denying Helton as a Hall of Famer, he is denying the idea that Helton is and Mattingly isn’t.
“You’re gonna have a Hall of Fame where young kids go to see it, and Todd Helton is gonna be in the Hall of Fame and yet Don Mattingly is not,” Sal said. “That’s what’s wrong with the sport. Mattingly was the better player.”