Too bad Yankees higher-ups didn’t get a chance to preview the festivities surrounding Todd Helton’s final game in Colorado with the Rockies.
Perhaps they could have used gift-giving tips for one of their franchise’s all-time greats. The Rockies sent Helton into retirement with a horse – an actual, living, breathing horse — as part of a pregame tribute honoring his 17 years with the team. Helton plans to take the horse with him to his Colorado ranch. The Yankees gave legendary closer Mariano Rivera a rocking chair, plaques and a crystal.
Advantage: Rockies.
Helton caught the ceremonial first pitch from his daughter, and his wife, younger daughter and good friend Peyton Manning also took part in the memorable moments on the field.
Then, a cowboy entered from left field with the black-and-white gelding Paint horse named A Tru Bustamove. The horse came with a saddle that featured the Rockies logo, Helton’s No. 17 and a silver handle.
“Seventeen years goes by in a heartbeat,” Helton said. “Once you get caught up in a season, caught up going out there and playing, it just happens. The next thing you know you’re retiring.”
Once the game began, Helton gave the raucous crowd one last memory — a solo homer in his first-bat.
But was it another gift? Red Sox starter Jake Peavy, a familiar Helton opponent from his days with the Padres in the NL West, seemed to serve up a meatball, a fastball over the heart of the plate.
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It capped a great career that included three Gold Gloves, five All-Star teams and leading the Rockies to the 2007 World Series. He’s one of two players to have at least 2,500 hits, 550 doubles, 350 home runs and hit .315 or higher for his career. The only other player to do so is Hall of Famer Stan Musial.