DENVER – Before the Broncos kicked against the Jaguars Sunday afternoon, they honored recently retired Rockies first baseman and former college teammate of Peyton Manning, Todd Helton
Helton was an honorary captain for the coin toss, which the Broncos won.
"It was fun to be out there for the coin toss," Helton said. "It was a very classy thing of the Broncos to do having me out there. I'm a big fan so it was nice to be out there and be on the field."
The 2013 season was Helton's 17th with the Rockies. In that time Helton racked up 2,519 hits in 2,247 regular season games for a career average of .316. He holds the Rockies' records for career hits and homeruns.
He was a five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger and three-time National League Gold Glove Award winner. In 2000 he won the NL batting title.
In his final game at Coors Field he blasted his 369th homerun.
Since the season ended Helton said that he has been hunting, relaxing and spending time with his family.
The fans at Sports Authority Field at Mile High gave Helton a standing ovation during his introduction – which included the song he used as his pre-at bat music this season.
"The Broncos are great, obviously," Helton said. "Peyton probably helped me out a little bit. I appreciate it. I'm very honored to be out here."
