#rick helling

[iamseamus]

While pitching in a spring training game against the Phillies, a line drive hit Helling in the leg and broke his fibula. I felt terrible about this, specifically because I'd written the sentence "As long as Rick Helling walks this earth, I shall never sleep soundly." I certainly didn't believe I had cosmically caused this injury, but I didn't like that I'd expressed a desire for a man to cease walking just before his leg shattered. It was not the type of irony I was looking for. My obsession with Helling had always been semi-performative, but now it seemed sick...in 2009 I happened to be reading an issue of Time Magazine

...To my horror, I realized the Man they were referring to was Rick Helling.

For all practical purposes, Helling well be remembered as the first player in Major League Baseball to take a meaningful stand against performance-enhancing drugs.

I Wear The Black Hat. Chuck Klosterman

[cabintwelve-blog-blog]

July 12, 2012 Jamestown Sun By: Dave Selvig He (Rick Helling) received a scholarship to play football at UND, but prior to his freshman season in Grand Forks he helped the Fargo Post 2 American Legion baseball team to the World Series where he became a hot commodity in scouting circles. He red-shirted his one season in Grand Forks, but was still being tugged by scouts and teammates to stick with baseball. So after much consideration he transferred to a community college in Illinois and had more success, which led to being recruited by Stanford. His grades were “good enough to get in,” to the academically renowned university and after a strong season for Stanford in 1992 he was drafted by the Rangers in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. “I went from being a nobody literally, to in a couple of years I’m at Stanford, then pitching on the Olympic team (1992) to being a first-round pick,” Helling said. “There was a lot of hard work in there obviously, but I was fortunate too. For whatever reason things fell into place.” Not blessed with great stuff like Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and other greats of his era, Helling was a true pitcher. His 93-81 career record included a 20-7 mark in 1998. He was also a two-time World Series champion. He did not finish the season with the Florida Marlins when they won in 1997, he was traded to Texas in the middle of the season, but was still awarded a championship ring. He was back with the Marlins in 2003 when they beat the New York Yankees.