Thorton Police
What was Clint “Deer Meat” Barmes hiding from the rest of us? Is there a drinking problem within the Helton household? Apparently driving 4×4′s under the influence of alcohol – allegedly – isn’t the only thing Todd Helton drives when inebriated. Unfortunately.
Helton has been the face of the Colorado Rockies since the late 1990′s. The one constant that Rockies fans can root for year in and year out. Other than some unfortunate comments by ex-Rockies broadcaster Wayne Hagin suggesting Helton used PED’s, Helton’s name has been pretty darn clean in an era of dirty names.
In the last four to six years Helton’s offensive contributions have diminished in the power department. Once a 40 home run threat, Helton has had a hard time hitting 20 bombs in a single season for a while now. Helton is always a threat to bat around .330 and earlier in his career he even threatened .400. His lifetime average is spectacular and even for a guy who has lost his power playing a power position on the diamond, when he hits .325 he still has value to the organization.
While Helton is quiet and avoids the public eye, doesn’t give great audio for TV or great quotes for the paper, he is loved in Denver. His at-bat music is country and he lives on a large ranch and hunts. He is an outdoorsman and that endears him to many of the folks who root for the Rockies and love horses and the outdoors themselves. (How about that for a generalization…if you love horses you must be an outdoorsman.)
But, now….c’mon man! You can’t drive drunk. No one should drive drunk.
Let’s just say he was driving home from dinner on a Wednesday night after having a couple of beers – and I’m talking a couple, two, not 12 – and was pulled over and barely blew over the limit. While this still isn’t right, it is somewhat easier to stomach. But that isn’t is the case – Helton was driving to the store to buy lottery tickets!!
This guy has made over $160MM playing baseball and who knows how much more from corporate sponsorships. I am willing to bet that the Ford pickup he was driving that night was a gift for all the TV commercials he does. Why does a guy with all that money need a lottery ticket?! Leave some for the rest of us!
How much would that piss off the public if a guy like Tom Cruise won the lottery?? One of those mega-millions jackpots worth like $300 million is won by Kobe Bryant. What?! F OFF KOBE!! Is what I would say. Leave some for me.
Driving drunk is stupid no matter the situation, but driving drunk to go to the store to buy a lottery ticket when you already won the lottery by making a damn good career out of baseball is dumber than Barmes hurting himself “carrying deer meat up some stairs”.
Does this change your opinion on Helton? I know most of us wish he would step aside and let Michael Cuddyer play first to make room for Tyler Colvin on the roster. But what does this do to your opinion of Helton and his career with the Rockies?
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21 comments
Mark McMillan
February 8, 2013 at 8:56 AM (UTC -6)
Talk about an ax to grind. It seems you are more upset with Helton for being rich than for driving drunk.
The insinuation that Clint Barmes must have broken his collar bone because Helton was driving his four wheeler drunk is pretty asinine in and of itself.
Travis Lay
February 8, 2013 at 8:59 AM (UTC -6)
Barmes didn’t get hurt because Helton was driving the 4×4 but do you believe he broke his collar bone walking up the stairs with deer meat? Or maybe there was some other activity at Helton’s ranch that day – including 4×4′s – that caused him to break himself?
I don’t care that Helton is rich, I am one of those who think ballplayers are worth every dime they earn, but it is silly for him to want a lotto ticket so bad he drove to the store drunk to buy one.
Mark McMillan
February 8, 2013 at 1:22 PM (UTC -6)
Nothing like speculating, right? Were you there? Did you talk to anyone who was? Do you have more information than the public? Assuming that Clint Barmes broke his collar bone because Todd Helton was driving him around drunk on a 4-wheeler sounds more far fetched than him falling down the stairs carrying deer meat.
Logan Burdine
February 8, 2013 at 9:54 AM (UTC -6)
You have to admit that there is an incredible amount of irony with a guy who made $20M last year driving drunk to the gas station to pick up some lotto tickets.
I realize everyone loves Todd, but he isn’t above criticism here.
Mark McMillan
February 8, 2013 at 1:25 PM (UTC -6)
$20 million last year? You may want to double check your numbers. Helton not only didn’t make $20 million last year, he never made more than $16.6 million in any season. Last year he made $10 million and this year he will be making $5.
I’m not saying that Helton isn’t above criticism. I am saying that the articles comments about how much money he made in his career come across condescending and veer off of the point that Helton shouldn’t have been driving drunk.
Helton deserves all the criticism that comes with driving drunk, but this criticism comes from him driving drunk while being rich. That is flat dumb.
Logan Burdine
February 8, 2013 at 2:05 PM (UTC -6)
Sorry, made $20 million in 2011. This comment is ridiculous.
Montana Steve
February 8, 2013 at 9:27 AM (UTC -6)
I don’t agree that Helton’s reason for driving drunk somehow makes the crime worse. Is getting a DUI on the way to the hospital because your wife is in labor somehow more noble? I’m not defending him, what he did was incredibly stupid, but I just don’t see the lottery tickets as being relevant to the story.
JD
February 12, 2013 at 4:33 PM (UTC -6)
If the story is “this guy did something stupid” then his reason for driving is relevant. This isn’t a trial for the DUI, it’s the court of public opinion.
Kevin Jordan
February 8, 2013 at 9:57 AM (UTC -6)
I have to defend the readers here – the last half of the column sounds like you are accusing Helton and other rich people who buy lottery tickets of stealing money from you and less wealthy people. Who cares how Helton chooses to spend his money, as long as it’s legal? I say he should spend more on the lottery, since some of that money goes to national parks, among other things. Plus, he also bought chewing tobacco. What if in his drunken stupor, he really wanted a chaw and as he was paying for it, the shiny scratch tickets appealed to him (the article doesn’t mention what lottery tickets he purchased), so he bought a few? And let’s not forget the fact that it was 2:30 in the morning and he was drunk, so who knows what he was thinking. This action sounds like every drunk person I’ve ever known who had a drunken-inspired idea.
The reason for drunk driving doesn’t change the level of stupidity or recklessness. Let’s just be glad nobody got hurt, that he immediately took responsibility for being a dumbass, and maybe donates some money to MADD or AA orgnizations.
One last note to your question at the end. This action proves that Helton is human like the rest of us and makes mistakes. Am I disappointed? Yes. Does it change my opinion of him as a ballplayer? No. Does it change my opinion of him as a person? No.
Finally, do I wish Helton would step aside? Absurd question. You have no right to ridicule a ball player for wanting to play ball – the very thing his entire life has always been about. You have every right to ridicule the organization for not making a change (regardless if that change is right or wrong). As long as they keep asking him to play, why shouldn’t he if he wants to? I may think some players stink and shouldn’t be playing, but I would never insist they retire or step aside just because people think they should.
Mike
February 8, 2013 at 12:10 PM (UTC -6)
What I find myself wondering is what is the appropriate penalty for this type of transgression? If being caught using performance enhancing drugs the first time (which does NOT generally endanger the general public) deserves a 50 game suspension (I am more than willing to argue whether this is appropriate or not), then shouldn’t an action that actively endangers other people deserve a much stiffer penalty, say 100 or 150 games for the first offense (UPON CONVICTION!)?
I also don’t blame any ballplayer for wanting to play until they are physically unable to do so. However, in the case of (for example) Todd Helton, whose skills seem to now largely be in the past, I do blame the management for not helping him to the decision that it is perhaps time to retire and do something else.
Logan Burdine
February 8, 2013 at 12:38 PM (UTC -6)
One of the more reasonable comments on this article. It’s a joke that baseball gets so up in arms over PEDs, but couldn’t care less about DUIs. There really isn’t an argument about which one is worse.
And I hate to say it, but I think we will see very little of Todd this year.
JD
February 12, 2013 at 4:35 PM (UTC -6)
It is not the job of any sports league to police its players’ personal lives. The legal system deals with those.
Kevin Jordan
February 8, 2013 at 1:36 PM (UTC -6)
Your question is a little strange as DUI’s are penalized by state law. If this is Helton’s first DUI, he faces a minimum of 5 days in jail (up to a year, max), $600-$1000 fine, suspended driver’s license for 9 months, 48-96 hours community service, with the caveat that jail time can be suspended in lieu of attending a treatment program. Plea bargains down to reckless driving are also possible. Considering this incident has absolutely zero to do with his job, why would baseball get involved? Outside of jobs that require driving, I’ve never heard of anyone being suspended or fired from their job for a DUI. PED’s directly affect the sport itself and are essentially crimes against that sport, which is why players are suspended for PED’s.
What you really should be asking is why players aren’t being prosecuted for violating state and federal laws for possession of illegal substances, among other laws they might be breaking involving PED’s. Since the authorities seem to have no interest in enforcing susbtance laws, baseball has been forced to do it themselves.
Maybe baseball should institute some sort of program to raise awareness and donate money (if they don’t already), but they should not be piling on punishments when laws already punish them.
Logan Burdine
February 8, 2013 at 2:09 PM (UTC -6)
Other sports leagues suspend players all the time for DUIs. A DUI can prevent you from getting licensed in a number of different industries.
And I’m sorry, but to me, putting other lives in danger is WAY worse than a perceived crime against a sport.
Kevin Jordan
February 8, 2013 at 3:20 PM (UTC -6)
I completely agree that it is way worse than cheating at sports, but that’s not my point. My point is that we already have laws on the books punishing this behavior. I understand businesses punishing employees or future employees where driving is necessary. That makes sense. Other than auto-racing, no sport requires its athletes to drive as part of their job.
If sports want to get serious about reducing this problem, they should be lobbying for stronger punishments by the legal system, which would benefit society as a whole and not just their sport, and have the added benefit of providing de facto suspensions. Let’s say the judge decides to make an example out of Helton and gives him the maximum one year in jail, putting him out of the season for 2012. Do you honestly believe this is not enough punishment?
Furthermore, drunk driving is extremely dangerous and puts lives in danger, but nobody got hurt in this instance. If someone had, we’d be talking about a lot more than just a DUI. As it is, the punishment he receives will be adequate and any notion that he should be suspended for 100-150 games (or a whole year as some other articles have suggested) is far too draconian for a first offense in which nobody got hurt. This is even more relevant if this is a first offense, and yes, a second offense carries far stiffer penalties.
The question of punishing PED’s and DUI’s by sports is a case of apples and oranges. I’ll repeat, DUI’s already carry punishments while PED’s are completely ignored by law enforcement. Let’s also not forget that Helton’s reputation has taken a big hit and may cost him further punishment in the form of lost endorsements.
Logan Burdine
February 8, 2013 at 4:04 PM (UTC -6)
By this rationale, you can’t punish athletes for off-field behavior. Also, we have laws on the books that punish steroid use too.
Kevin Jordan
February 8, 2013 at 6:20 PM (UTC -6)
Right.
Travis Lay
February 8, 2013 at 2:55 PM (UTC -6)
UNCLE!
Travis Lay
February 8, 2013 at 2:56 PM (UTC -6)
I am going to write more speculative, anti-Rockie commentary more often! Love all the comments.
Shake Weight
February 11, 2013 at 1:36 PM (UTC -6)
“let he who is without sin, cast the first stone”
-JC
Who hasn’t had a couple solo cups full of wine and then realized their copenhagen tin has just run dry? Maybe the fact that he made it to the gas station unharmed led him to believe that it was his lucky day, which would explain the lottery ticket purchases. Sure, if you made $20 million last year it would be silly to play the lottery, but don’t drunk people do silly things? Makes sense to me.
PS Don’t drink and drive.
Luke
February 12, 2013 at 3:07 PM (UTC -6)
DUI is embarrassing and not cool. The camo gear, lottery tickets, and mug shot are pretty hilarious, but drinking and driving is crazy dangerous and not funny.
What I find interesting about this is it is distracting fans and the media from questioning Todd Helton’s ability to continue playing. I love the guy for his career, but at this point we need to face the facts – he is a used up waste of a roster spot. Any ABs he takes from Colvin, Cuddyer, or Pacheco hurt the team. It is completely delusional to think “he is a threat to bat around .330″ or that he can come anywhere close to 20 HRs. I feel bad because his body is just shot, but if they trot him out there again, it will be roughly the same as last year- a good year from him would be .250 with 10 HRs, and that ain’t cutting it. Can we force this guy out already??