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

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Early life and college

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

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo is the List of cities in North Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, Cass County. The population was 125,990 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which was e ...

. He was a letterman in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. In football, he was a three-time All-Conference honoree. In basketball, he led the state in scoring. Helling accepted a scholarship to play

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

but

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a freshman and transferred to Kishwaukee College during his first semester in order to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

. He performed well enough at Kishwaukee to earn a baseball scholarship to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. While at Stanford he joined Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity. He was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 1st round of the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft. Writer Chuck Klosterman describes Rick Helling as his personal archenemy.

Baseball career

Helling was an early critic of

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve at ...

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). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

Championship teams: the 1997 World Series Champion Florida Marlins and the

2003 World Series The 2003 World Series (also known as the Centennial World Series) was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2003 Major League Baseball season, 2003 season. The 99th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-s ...

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 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 against the Nashville Sounds. 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 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 the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

lead in wins with David Cone and Roger Clemens. 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. 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 (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

. Helling spent half the season in Baltimore before being traded back to the Florida Marlins. Helling did not pitch in 2004 due to injury. On June 20, , Helling struck out three batters on nine pitches— Curtis Granderson,

Plácido Polanco Plácido Enrique Polanco (; born October 10, 1975) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins. He was ...

and

Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 27, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball catcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Ran ...

—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 club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

, thereby becoming the 38th pitcher in major league history to throw an immaculate inning. 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 (MLBPA) is the labor union representing all current Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held ...

, Donald Fehr. 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 New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

. 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 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players for the United States 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 Baseball players at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in baseball Stanford Cardinal baseball players North Dakota Fighting Hawks football players

Early life and college

Baseball career

Post-baseball life

See also

References

External links