Needs a strong end of career to be a sure thing. Has never done anything wrong and has very good numbers.

Want to hear something weird? It used to be that if you batted a career .333 had over 300 HR's and 1000 RBI's, you were a machine, a first ballot lock for the HOF. Now? Maybe not so much. BA tends to mean a bit less, and 300 dingers is becoming commonplace. Does Todd get in? I certainly hope so. Will it be first ballot? Nope.

Helton has a gaudy lifetime average, and has been a very good hitter even outside of Colorado. However, he's been declining lately- especially as far as power goes- he only hit .302 with 15 homers this year. Those are good numbers, but more like Sean Casey numbers than a real slugging first baseman. He's good defensively, and had some monster numbers around the turn of the decade (372 with 42 homers and 147 rbi's in 2000, 49/146/ 336 the next year.) Those are certainly HOF caliber numbers, Coors Field or not. However, he turns 34 in August and is almost certainly waning as a force in the N.L. Colorado is not exactly a media powerhouse, and he may need to play in a higher profile market, as he tends to be somewhat overlooked- and that might combat the bias of playing for the Rockies. The jury's out on this one for now.

A great player and a great career, but not enough people pay attention to him because he's been playing in the mountains.

If he keeps it up, absolutely.

Todd Helton is a hell of a player who puts up great numbers. However, I think that like Larry Walker he will have those who doubt his numbers because of Coors Field. I think he has to continue to play at a high level into his late 30's to have a chance, but I wouldn't count him out yet.