Ricky Allen Helling (born December 15, 1970) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

High school and college

Helling attended Lakota High School in Lakota, North Dakota for three years, before graduating from

Shanley High School Shanley High School (formerly Sacred Heart Academy), is a Catholic high school located in Fargo, North Dakota and operated by the Diocese of Fargo as part of the John Paul II Catholic Schools Network. As of 2014, it served approximately 314 stude ...

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo (Help:IPA/English, /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the ...

. He was a letterman in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. In football, he was a three-time All-Conference honoree. Helling played college ball at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. While there he joined

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapter ...

International Fraternity. He was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 1st round of the 1992

Major League Baseball Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

. Writer

Chuck Klosterman Charles John Klosterman (; born 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for ''Esquire'' and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for ''The New York Times Magazine''. K ...

describes Rick Helling as his personal archenemy.

Baseball career

Helling was an early critic of

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...

in Major League Baseball, warning the Players Union as early as 1998 that drugs were a problem in the sport; he served as a Union Executive Board Member from 1999 to 2007. Helling was a member of two

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

Championship teams: the

1997 World Series The 1997 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1997 season. The 93rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians and the National L ...

Champion

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

and the

2003 World Series The 2003 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2003 season. The 99th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Florida Marlins and the American Lea ...

Champion Florida Marlins. Despite being traded to the Texas Rangers earlier in the 1997 season, which meant he did not participate in the Marlins' World Series win that year, he was awarded a

World Series ring A World Series ring is an award given to Major League Baseball players who win the World Series. Since only one Commissioner's Trophy is awarded to the team, a World Series ring is an individual award that players and staff of each World Series ...

by his former teammates because of his half-season contribution. On August 13, 1996, Helling pitched a perfect game while with the Rangers' Triple-A

Oklahoma City 89ers Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

against the

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the city's association with the music indus ...

. He struck out four batters in the nine-inning game. In 1998 he won five straight games on the road; no Texas pitcher matched that accomplishment until

Scott Feldman Scott Wynne Feldman (born February 7, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, and Cincinnati ...

surpassed it in 2009. Helling had his best season in going 20–7, tying for the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

lead in wins with

David Cone David Brian Cone (born January 2, 1963) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, and current color commentator for the New York Yankees on the YES Network and WPIX as well as for ESPN on Sunday Night Baseball.Roger Clemens William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...

. His 11 road victories in 1998 set a club record, later matched by Vicente Padilla (2008) and surpassed by Feldman (2009). In 1999, Helling started 35 games for the Rangers, going 13-11 while leading the majors with 41 home runs allowed. In , Helling broke a 30-year-old record by giving up 66

doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles te ...

. One year later, he broke his record by allowing 68 doubles. In 2001, Helling led the majors in hits allowed (256), earned runs (124) and home runs allowed (38). Helling signed a one-year deal with the Diamondbacks in 2002. In his lone season with Arizona, Helling went 10–12 in 30 starts. After the season, Helling signed with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

. Helling spent half the season in Baltimore before being traded back to the

. Helling did not pitch in 2004 due to injury. On June 20, , Helling struck out three batters on nine pitches—

Curtis Granderson Curtis Granderson Jr. (born March 16, 1981), nicknamed the "Grandyman", is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Ange ...

, Plácido Polanco and Iván Rodríguez—in the first inning of a 10–1 loss to the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, thereby becoming the 38th pitcher in major league history to throw an

immaculate inning In baseball, a strikeout occurs when a pitcher throws three strikes to a batter during his time at bat. An immaculate inning occurs when a pitcher strikes out all three batters he faces in one inning, using the minimum possible number of pitche ...

. On February 5, , he announced his retirement to spend more time with his family.

Post-baseball life

On March 17, 2009, he was hired as a special assistant to the head of the

Major League Baseball Players Association The Major League Baseball Players Association (or MLBPA) is the union representing all current Major League Baseball players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held a signed contract with a Major League cl ...

Donald Fehr Donald Martin Fehr (born July 18, 1948) is the fifth executive director of the NHL Players Association, since 2010. He became nationally prominent while serving as the executive director of the MLB Players Association from 1983 to 2009. Life a ...

. He currently resides in

Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, Minnesota River, Minnesota and St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota) ...

. He also coaches football at Minnetonka High School. Notable former players include K'Andre Miller of the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

in the NHL. K'Andre considers Helling as a mentor.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helling, Rick Living people 1970 births Major League Baseball pitchers Kishwaukee Kougars baseball players Florida Marlins players Milwaukee Brewers players Arizona Diamondbacks players Texas Rangers players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players at the 1991 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Olympic baseball players of the United States Baseball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics American League wins champions Charlotte Rangers players Tulsa Drillers players Tucson Sidewinders players Rochester Red Wings players Oklahoma City 89ers players Nashville Sounds players New Britain Rock Cats players Oklahoma RedHawks players People from Nelson County, North Dakota People from Ramsey County, North Dakota Baseball players from North Dakota Pan American Games medalists in baseball Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Stanford Cardinal baseball players

High school and college

Baseball career

Post-baseball life

See also

References

External links