PHOENIX — Todd Helton paused, as if stepping out of the batter’s box, and confidently addressed his future after months of uncertainty. The greatest player in Rockies history will retire at the end of the season, he told The Denver Post on Saturday.

“Yes, this is it. It just seems like it’s time. It’s a young man’s game. I am 40 years old. I am looking forward to doing something else besides baseball. Whatever that may be. I am not sure yet,” said Helton, sitting next to his wife, Christy. “I am going to start a new chapter not only in my life but our lives. It will be different. It will be difficult, but it will be exciting.”

Helton has been bracing for the day when he revealed his intentions to retire publicly for the first time.

Entering spring training, he was convinced 17 seasons would be enough, but his body sent him mixed signals. He felt better than he had for years after back, hip and knee surgeries.

“During the season I definitely wavered. It usually wasn’t from having a great game. I just enjoyed the competition, and I felt like I had bat speed. That’s what I will miss. The competition. I don’t know how I will replace that yet. There were days, I thought, ‘Maybe I can do this one year,’ ” Helton said. “Then ultimately, it’s the travel, being away from the family. It is just time.”

Helton intentionally waited this long to make sure he was at peace with his decision, as well as to prevent any fuss or a farewell tour. However, the Rockies return to Coors Field on Monday and given his gratitude to the millions of fans who have cheered him for nearly two decades, he wanted a chance to say goodbye during the season’s final nine-game homestand. He will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. Monday.

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“The people have been so nice and welcoming,” Helton said. “And they supported me throughout my career.”

While still capable of grinding out an at-bat or making a terrific scoop at first, Helton realizes his skills have eroded. Even with his recent power surge, he entered Saturday hitting .244 with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs. He could continue, he believes, as a part-time player. He has never had an appetite, though, for pinch hitting, or finishing his career in the American League as a part-time designated hitter.

“If I could play 81 games at home next year, I could do it. I could do it for a couple of more years. And if they had the games scheduled for the same time so I could get a sleeping pattern, I would have a chance,” Helton said. “I am sure come next February, probably even in December when it’s usually time to start getting ready, it will be tough. I don’t know how I am going to react. It will be weird. But I have other things in my life besides baseball.”

Once the season is over, Helton plans on hunting and will resume golfing after taking several years off from the sport to let his back heal. He’s not sure if he will keep involved in baseball.

“Eventually, I’d like to, but not in the near future. I need a break,” Helton said. “I have other things I want to do.”

Christy wondered at times during the season if this was her husband’s curtain call. Saying he was going to retire was a lot different than putting a period on the sentence. She provided support, and acted as a sounding board.

“I kind of correlate it to winning in Vegas. When you are up and feeling good and, in his case, hitting well, I would not have blamed him if he said he wanted to play another year,” she said. “To be able to decide is such a blessing. There was a year that him going up and down the stairs was just painful to watch. Now, it’s not because of injury and nobody wanting him. He’s done his best, and now he’s going to live his life.”

Devoted to Rockies

Helton has spent his entire career with the Rockies. He reached the playoffs twice, igniting the 2007 magical run to the World Series with a walk-off home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2009 playoffs ended with a first-round loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Helton never angled to leave despite the team’s struggles to contend throughout most of his career. He reluctantly agreed to one trade, a deal to the Boston Red Sox in the winter of 2007 involving third baseman Mike Lowell that fell through. By playing for only Colorado, he became the leader of “Todd and the Toddlers,” a young group that blossomed and brought unprecedented glory to the franchise.

“Going to the World Series with the Rockies was better than winning it with the Red Sox,” Helton said. “I just feel like I have so much invested here in this franchise. Sure, I would have liked to have won a ring. But I am not going to lose sleep over it. My favorite moment is still that last out of the National League championship, knowing we were going to the World Series.”

The Rockies finished with a winning record once from 1998 to 2006. Helton was frustrated by the losing, but never lost hope.

“I am not sure why, if I was being naïve or what, but I always thought it would happen with the Rockies. This was my team,” Helton said.

Added Christy: “I have heard other people say the grass would be greener elsewhere, but he’s never said it to me. He has always wanted to win together with his teammates here.”

The Rockies selected Helton out of Tennessee with the eighth overall pick in the 1995 draft, and he made major-league debut his Aug. 2. 1997. Over the next 17 seasons, he evolved from a player with questions about his power and defense into a five-time all-star and three-time Gold Glove winner whose career will leave him firmly in the discussion to become the first Rockie to reach the Hall of Fame.

“When you think about the Rockies, you think about Todd,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said.

Helton briefly considered retiring Feb. 6 after he was charged with driving under the influence near his Thornton-area home, an incident he called “a monumental mistake” that he has taken measures “to prevent from ever happening again.”

In the final season of his contract, which provided a natural stopping point, Helton has earned more than $161 million. He never became a free agent. A few weeks before his death in April 2010, former team president Keli McGregor said he was determined to have Helton spend his entire career with the Rockies. With owner Dick Monfort and general manager Dan O’Dowd on board with the plan, Helton signed a two-year, $9.9 million extension, deferring $13.1 million of his previous contract to help the Rockies re-sign pitcher Jorge De La Rosa and outfielder Brad Hawpe.

Favorite among players

The face of the franchise grew wrinkled over the years, compiling impressive numbers and memorable moments. He delivered his 2,000th hit May 19, 2009, needing the fourth fewest at-bats to reach that number of any player in the past 50 years. He has 585 career doubles.

Knowing the end might be near, Helton collected the baseballs from his last three home runs, not sure if they would be his last.

“If you are a young player and you don’t watch a guy with 2,500 hits, watch how he goes about his business, and see what he does and what’s made him successful, then you are an idiot,” Rockies all-star Michael Cuddyer said.

Helton has endeared himself to teammates and coaches with his work ethic. To the end of his career he has groused about days off, and on more than one occasion has hit batting practice until his hands bled.

“If you aren’t going to go all out, then why do it?” Helton said.

Behind clubhouse doors, Helton exhibited a dry wit, drawing laughs from veterans and puzzled looks from rookies. His maniacal desire to get hits spawned superstitions from shaving facial hair during games to switching cleats and bats and driving the same route to the ballpark after a successful night.

“Those are just routines,” he said.

Helton was happy when he was comfortably miserable. It is ironic given his statistics. He has a lifetime .317 average, .415 on-base percentage and has scored 1,391 runs, nearly 8 percent of the franchise’s total. He burst onto the scene in 1998, batting .315 with 25 home runs and 97 RBIs, finishing second to Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood for National League rookie of the year honors.

During his prime, from 1998 to 2005, he averaged 33 home runs and 114 RBIs. His best season came in 2000, when he won a batting title, hit 42 home runs and flirted with becoming the first player to hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941. It wasn’t a coincidence. In the offseason, he married Christy, his college sweetheart. He met her in 1992 in biology class.

“He wanted to be a vet,” she said.

Helton’s defining at-bat occurred Sept. 18, 2007. Helton hit a walk-off home run off Dodgers closer Takashi Saito. He then stepped out of character, releasing emotion dormant during many empty Septembers. After quickly rounding the bases, his hair disheveled, Helton jumped into the mosh pit at the plate — “It was a stage dive,” teammate Garrett Atkins said — and officially kick-started Rocktober, the franchise’s improbable run to the World Series.

Helton has received multiple curtain calls and rousing cheers since that home run, most notably for his 2,500th hit, fittingly an opposite-field double. But that swing in 2007 said more than anything about who Helton is and what he has meant to the only franchise he’s ever known.

“What I will always remember from that night is the level of respect we all had for him,” former Rockies outfielder Cory Sullivan said. “We waited at our lockers until he came off the field, and we gave him a standing ovation when he walked in. He always let his actions speak far louder than his words. I thought our ovation to him was an appropriate response.”

Troy E. Renck: trenck@denverpost.com or twitter.com/troyrenck

Staff writer Patrick Saunders contributed to this report.