KERSEY — Enormous, leafy cottonwoods provide cooling shade as Todd Helton kicks back on the patio of his small house on The 17 Ranch.
Twirling a 9-iron in his hand the way he used to fiddle with his baseball bat, Helton talks about his recent excursion to Pine Valley Golf Club in southern New Jersey, ranked by Golf Magazine as the No. 1 course in the world.
“It was really hard,” Helton says. “I shot an 88, on a par-70 course.”
Did he take any mulligans?
“No, no mulligans! An 88 the hard way,” Helton says, feigning anger that someone would question his skill or sportsmanship.
Since retiring at the end of last season, after 17 seasons in the majors that included 2,247 games, 2,519 hits and 369 home runs, Helton had to find something to satisfy his ravenous appetite for competition.
“Knowing Todd as a good friend and a teammate, I am quite aware of his desire to win and compete,” said Rockies reliever Matt Belisle. “I was wondering where he could find that when he left baseball.
“So I think that’s why the golf course has seen a little more of Todd recently. Todd likes the pressure of trying to make himself great, so when that’s not around, Todd can end up twiddling his thumbs and get bored. But so far, he’s had enough interests to keep him happy.”
PHOTOS: Ranch life with Todd Helton in retirement
It was that insatiable drive that helped make Helton a five-time all-star first baseman, the undisputed face of Rockies baseball and a possible Hall of Famer someday. Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, the Rockies will retire Helton’s number, making the slugger the first player in franchise history so honored.
“It’s amazing. It’s significant,” Helton said. “To be the first person to have your number retired? That’s kind of hard to put into words. Everybody talks about ‘Hall of Fame this, Hall of Fame that.’ But to have your number retired by the only team you played for, that’s pretty awesome.”
The 17 Ranch, a 4,000-acre spread outside the small town of Kersey in Weld County, is Helton’s idea of paradise. It’s flanked by the South Platte River, and its ponds, creeks, woods and grasses are teeming with fish and wildlife.
“The duck hunting is phenomenal,” he said. “I grew up duck hunting with my grandfather (Don) in Tennessee. So this place brings back some of that.”
Great place to escape
Helton and his family — wife Christy and daughters Tierney Faith, 11, and Gentry Grace, 4 — live full time near Brighton. But The 17 Ranch, only 45 minutes away, is where the family escapes to ride horses and relax. The ranch also is where Helton keeps NXS A True Bustamove, the four-time American Paint Horse Association world champion the Rockies gave him as a retirement gift last September.
There’s also been a lot of work to do at the ranch. Last September’s floods swamped the house with 4 feet of water. Christy has spent a lot of time remodeling the house, using wood from corrals and barns as part of the decor.
Next to the house is a red barn that Helton transformed into the ultimate man cave. But it flooded, too, and Helton has only recently finished fixing it up. The wall are lined with Helton’s hunting trophies — deer, elk and even a bobcat he shot on the south side of his property.
Open a bank vault door and Helton’s vast collection of hunting guns are on display.
“A little redneck heaven,” he quipped.
Last September, in the visitors clubhouse before a game at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, Helton was munching on a chocolate-covered ice cream bar.
“Man, I’ll bet you’ll put on 50 pounds by this time next year,” razed teammate Troy Tulowitzki.
“You know it!” Helton said, grinning and rubbing his stomach.
But the truth is, Helton looks fit and trim. His famously thick black goatee shows only a few slivers of silver. He’ll celebrate his 41st birthday Wednesday, and he seems content.
“All in all, I had plenty of time to prepare for retirement, so life is good,” he said, munching on a slice of cheese pizza. “I love small towns, and plus, we have Kersey Pizza. Best pizza in Colorado.”
Baseball was always central to Helton’s life, so naturally, there is a void.
“I don’t miss the grind and I don’t miss the travel, but I do miss the game,” he said. “I miss just getting prepared to play the game. I miss the one-on-one competition with the pitcher.”
His wife sees a contented man.
“Todd is doing well,” said Christy, who’s known Helton for 22 years and been married to him for 14. ” I think he was at peace with the fact that it was time. We all get older; you can’t stop time. So Todd made no bones about facing the end of baseball. He has no grudges or regrets. It was time.”
He’s “death on skis”
Helton’s life, in many ways, is fuller than it was in his playing days. He took his daughters skiing three times at Vail this past winter and he’s a part-time coach for Tierney’s softball team. He owns a deer hunting ranch in north Texas with Belisle and Brad Hawpe, another former Rockies teammate and close friend.
Skiing, Helton found, gave him a feeling of freedom.
“I’m still death on skis, so people had better watch out when I go down the hill,” he said with a laugh. “I love blue cruisers. I’m a blue cruiser type of guy. Gentry Grace goes downhill like me; she doesn’t pizza. Tierney is a more cautious skier. It’s a pain in the butt to get everybody up there and get going, but it’s sure fun when we go down the mountain. That’s what Colorado is all about, right?”
Helton, of course, knows about the Rockies’ struggles this season. It pains him to see them playing so poorly. He consulted with Tulowitzki before Tulo underwent surgery Friday to repair a torn labrum in his hip — a procedure Helton underwent in 2012.
But Helton admits he hasn’t played close attention to the team’s travails.
“Truthfully, I have never really enjoyed watching the game of baseball. I enjoyed playing the game of baseball,” he said. “I wanted to take a year off from the game. It doesn’t mean I won’t start watching again, it doesn’t mean anything. I wanted to get away and know there are other things besides baseball.”
Someday, perhaps, Helton will get back in the game, possibly in some capacity with the Rockies, the team that drafted him in the first round out of the University of Tennessee in 1995.
But for now, Helton appears content being a rancher, golfer, hunter, fisherman, husband and father.
“Todd looked at his new situation and said: ‘Now I get to be with my kids. I get to dive into being Mr. Mom,’ ” Belisle said. “It’s so funny. A little while ago, I was talking to Todd on the phone and he said, ‘Well, Matthew, I’m mowing the outfield of Tierney’s softball field with a push mower, so I’ve got to go.’
“I thought to myself: ‘That’s perfect for Todd right now. That’s exactly what he should be doing.’ “
Elite company
When the Rockies retire Todd Helton’s No. 17 on Sunday at Coors Field, Helton will join an elite club of athletes who had their numbers retired by Colorado’s major professional sports teams:
BRONCOS
No. 7, John Elway: Hall of Fame quarterback. Most famous athlete in Colorado history.
No. 44, Floyd Little: Hall of Fame running back, made franchise respectable.
No. 18, Frank Tripucka: Broncos’ original quarterback.
AVALANCHE
No. 19, Joe Sakic: Hall of Famer wore the captain’s “C” for 16 consecutive seasons.
No. 21, Peter Forsberg: In his prime, “Peter the Great” was as good as there was.
No. 33, Patrick Roy: Hall of Fame goalie. Best ever at his position?
No. 77, Ray Bourque: Got his Stanley Cup with Avs. Bruins also retired his number.
No. 52, Adam Foote: The ultimate grinder, spent 17 years with Avs.
NUGGETS
No. 2, Alex English: A skilled scorer,he retired with 25,613 points.
No. 33, David Thompson: Before there was Michael Jordan, there was D.T.
No. 40, Byron Beck: One of six players who participated in all nine seasons (1967-1976) of the original ABA.
No. 44, Dan Issel: At the time of his retirement, his 27,482 total points placed him fifth on the all-time combined ABA/NBA scoring list.
No. 432, Doug Moe: The winningest coach in Nuggets history, with 432 W’s.
Sunday’s festivities
The Rockies will retire Todd Helton’s No. 17 jersey Sunday at Coors Field, making the slugger the first player in franchise history so honored:
The first 15,000 fans will receive a Todd Helton “Retire 17” bobblehead gnome.
A pregame ceremony and celebration honoring Helton begins at 1:30 p.m.
All baseballs, as well as the bases, will feature a No. 17 logo in honor of Helton.
Updated Aug. 18, 9:56 a.m.: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the river near Todd Helton’s 17 Ranch in Weld County. It is the South Platte River, not South Plate River.
