Tommy Helms

Did You Know?

• Helms struck out only 301 times in nearly 5,000 at-bats over his 14-year MLB career.
• His sons Tommy Helms Jr. and Ryan Helms both played in minor league organizations and died months apart in 2014.

Minor league career

Helms began his professional career in 1959–60 as a shortstop for the Palatka RedLegs of the Class-D Florida State League. In 1960, he batted .292 with a .918 fielding percentage over 137 games. He moved to the Class-B Topeka Reds in 1961, hitting .277 with a .936 fielding percentage. Promoted to the Single-A Macon Peaches in 1962, he hit .340 with an .809 OPS and a .953 fielding percentage. In 1963, he reached the Triple-A San Diego Padres, where he played some second base but mostly shortstop; his batting average fell to .225, though his shortstop fielding percentage rose to .963. Over 1964–65, he remained with the Padres, batting .309 in 1964 and .319 in 1965, when he posted a minor league career-best .973 fielding percentage. He also appeared in 21 games for the Reds in 1965, ending his minor league tenure.

MLB career

Helms debuted with the Reds on September 23, 1964, appearing in only two games that year. In 1965, he hit .381 in 46 plate appearances, including a 4-for-4 doubleheader on September 1 with two triples. His first full season came in 1966, when the Reds moved him from shortstop to third base after Leo Cárdenas held shortstop; Helms originally played second base while Pete Rose shifted to third, but Rose returned to second and Helms took over third, a position he had never played.

He hit .284 with nine home runs and posted a .961 fielding percentage, second among NL third basemen, earning the 1966 National League Rookie of the Year Award. In 1967, the Reds moved Tony Pérez to third, Helms to second, and Rose to left field. Helms was an NL All-Star in 1967 and 1968, starting the 1968 game with a hit and a walk in three at-bats; he also served U.S. Marines reserves duty in 1967, requiring a furlough to play in the All-Star Game.

He was 25th in MVP voting in 1968. On July 1, 1970, he hit the first Reds home run at Riverfront Stadium, his only homer that year, and started all five games of the 1970 World Series, collecting four hits and a walk as the Reds lost to the Baltimore Orioles. He won Gold Glove Awards at second base in 1970 and 1971, setting a Reds record with 130 double plays in 1971, which led all major league second basemen. He also led NL second basemen in fielding percentage in 1970 (.983) and 1971 (.990).

Managerial career

After retiring, Helms worked briefly in catering before joining the Texas Rangers as a coach for the 1981 season. He became a Reds coach in 1983 under Russ Nixon and remained on the staff under managers Vern Rapp and Pete Rose. When Rose was suspended for 30 days on April 30, 1988, after making physical contact with umpire Dave Pallone, Helms managed the Reds to a 12–15 record. On August 24, 1989, after Rose accepted a permanent place on baseball's ineligible list due to gambling accusations, Helms again replaced him as manager, leading the team to a 16–21 record. He was replaced at season's end by Lou Piniella; Helms believed Reds ownership mistreated him by not offering the permanent managerial job despite player support. He later managed the Charlotte Knights of the Southern League in 1990 and the Atlantic City Surf of the independent Atlantic League in 2000 and 2001.