Acquiring Iconic Rookies: The Toddfather

I'm always looking for them, those iconic rookies of hall of famers or future hall-of-famers or near-missers like the unfairly ignored Sweet Lou Whitaker.

Well, here's one of those rookies every collection needs:

It's a very awkward Mr. Helton from 1993 Topps Traded with his aluminum bat and his USA uniform. What's not to love about this? Sometimes a rookie card is like looking at embarrassing pictures of someone posing for their freshman year Chess Team photo.

I snagged this off of eBay for $1.50 shipped, which is a pretty decent deal. This card has definitely become more affordable lately, it seems.

Helton's gearing up for his 17th year with the Rockies. He's also reaching his 40th birthday. He's likely looking at his last season or close to it. It'll be the end of an era for Rockies fans, I'm sure. I doubt there's a player that's more of a posterboy for that team. Without a doubt, though, this is what I'd call an iconic rookie card of the '90s.