Gary Sheffield

1968-

American baseball player

One of the most feared sluggers in baseball, Gary Sheffield has had a controversial, up-and-down career. The nephew of Dwight Gooden, the once overpowering pitcher of the New York Mets, he overcame an upbringing in a rough neighborhood in Tampa and became the top high school player in the nation. Frequently traded and often injured, Sheffield has been quick to criticize management wherever he has played. When healthy and

happy, however, he is a consistent offensive force, combining a high batting average and on-base percentage with power. Sheffield, who at one time was the highest-paid player in the game, is a prime example of the modern baseball star: highly paid, self-protective, and more concerned about individual performance than team loyalty.

Fearless and Promising

Gary Sheffield learned to be fearless at any early age. He grew up in the tough Belmont Heights section of Tampa, Florida. His mother, Betty, was 17 when he was born, and he never knew his father. For the first seven years of his life he lived with his stepfather, Harold Jones, his mother and his mother's younger brother, Gooden. By the time Gary was six years old, he was playing ball every day with Gooden, a future star for the New York Mets. Gooden already had a menacing fastball, and Sheffield learned to catch it and hit it. Hitting against Gooden helped him develop quick hands—the most important element in a batter's arsenal. Sheffield also often swung a broomstick in his front yard and tried to hit rocks his stepfather tossed at him.

Young Sheffield also developed a quick temper. He frequently got into fights at school, in the neighborhood, and on the ball field. On one occasion in Little League, Sheffield was benched for missing a practice and chased his coach around the field with a bat. He was suspended and had to miss the league championship game. Later, Sheffield appeared in the Little League World Series when his junior team lost to Taiwan, 4-3, in the 1980 championship game. Two years later, Sheffield pitched his senior Little League team to the 1982 world title.

At Hillsborough High School, Sheffield was a dominant force as a pitcher and third baseman and attracted so much attention from scouts that he was named the nation's top high school baseball player by USA Today. As a pitcher, he displayed a 90-mile-an-hour fastball, but his hitting overshadowed his pitching, with a .500 average, 15 home runs and no strikeouts in 62 at-bats. The Milwaukee Brewers selected him as the sixth pick over-all in the 1986 draft and gave him a $152,000 signing bonus. Off the field Sheffield had problems, already fathering two children by different mothers.

Sheffield rocketed through the Brewers' minor league system. In a rookie league, he batted .365 at Helena, Montana, playing mostly at shortstop, an unfamiliar position. After the season, he, Gooden and two others were arrested after a traffic stop in Tampa for fighting with a police officer and resisting arrest; Sheffield pleaded no contest and was given two years' probation.

The next season Sheffield knocked in 103 runs at Class A Stockton. In 1988 he hit a combined .327 with 28 home runs and 119 runs batted in at Class AA El Paso and Class AAA Denver. At Denver he was moved back to third base because he had made too many throwing errors at shortstop. He was named minor league coplayer of the year by the Sporting News and was called up to Milwaukee for his big-league debut. On September 3, 1988, he broke into the majors in dramatic fashion, hitting a game-tying home run in the ninth inning and driving in the winning run with a single in the 11th. When Milwaukee's regular shortstop, Dale Sveum, was injured, Sheffield was placed there and made several dazzling plays. Manager Tom Trebelhorn told him shortstop was his position to lose the next spring.

Trouble Brewing

After such a promising beginning, things went swiftly downhill for Sheffield in Milwaukee. First, he became angry because he was shifted back to third base to make room for rookie Bill Spiers. Then Sheffield hurt his foot, but the team doctors found nothing wrong with it. He was accused of faking the injury and shipped back to Denver. Sheffield consulted his own doctor, who found a broken bone. After that, there was no trust between Brewers management and Sheffield. He often criticized his teammates, made errors at third base, and was frequently booed by fans. Sheffield crowded the plate and pitchers threw at him, and he complained that Brewers pitchers didn't retaliate. He later admitted that he sometimes purposely overthrew first base to show his disdain for the team.

During the 1990 season, Sheffield took an unauthorized leave from the team and ended up hospitalized with an unexplained illness. In spring training the next year, he was fined for refusing to run sprints. Sheffield hit .194 in 1991, playing in only 50 games because of injuries and turmoil. Finally, before the 1992 season, he was traded to the San Diego Padres, and Sheffield was overjoyed. "Everything you asked for in Milwaukee, you didn't get," he told Tim Kurkjian of Sports Illustrated. "Ask for good weather, you don't get it. Ask for a good playing surface, you don't get it. Ask for a first-class organization, you don't get it."

Homecoming

San Diego proved to be a much sunnier climate for Sheffield. Management let him alone, and Sheffield had his first injury-free season. It was a highly productive one: He batted .330, leading the National League, with 33 home runs and 100 RBI, nearly winning the Triple Crown, and the Sporting News named him Major League Player of the Year.

The Padres, however, faced a financial crisis and shipped Sheffield to Florida during the 1993 season to save on salary. The Marlins moved him from third base to the outfield, where he worked on his notoriously poor defense and began to cut down on his errors. Sheffield also dramatically increased his walk totals.

Chronology

Awards and Accomplishments

Sheffield's return to his home state landed him in plenty of off-field trouble. He was accused of threatening his son's mother. A complaint of aggravated battery was lodged against him. Sheffield's mother was the target of a murder plot. He was stalked by a female fan, was convicted of drunk driving, had an ex-girlfriend file a lawsuit against him, and he fathered a third child out of wedlock. One night, while sitting at a traffic light in Tampa, Sheffield was shot, but luckily the bullet only grazed him. When Gooden ran into well-publicized troubles with a cocaine addiction, Sheffield was frequently searched and tested for drugs. With all these distractions, he had another bout of injuries and his playing time shrank in 1994 and 1995. At one point, though, Sheffield had eight consecutive hits during the 1995 season.

In 1996, Sheffield hired a public relations agent, started his own charity, took lessons in public speaking, posed for a fashion magazine, and moved to Miami. All these efforts at repairing his image and avoiding off-field trouble paid off on the field, as well, with his second excellent season. He hit .314 with 42 home runs and 120 runs batted in.

At the start of the 1997 season, Sheffield became the richest player in baseball by signing a six-year, $61 million contract extension. Pitchers decided to pitch around him, and Sheffield, notorious for his frequent strikeouts, decided to stop swinging at bad pitches. He slumped to.250, but he had 121 walks, 21 home runs and 71 RBI. For the rest of his career Sheffield always enjoyed high on-base percentages. He was frequently on base during the 1997 playoffs and World Series, which the Marlins won in their first and only post-season appearance, hitting .320 for the post-season with a remarkable .514 on-base percentage.

Starting Over

After the Marlins won the World Series, owner Wayne Huizenga sold the team and the new owners unloaded their high-priced players. Sheffield was sent to Los Angeles in a blockbuster trade. Through the 2001 season Sheffield was a fixture in the Dodgers' lineup. Playing left field for Los Angeles, Sheffield continued to bat over.300 with power and plenty of walks. In 2000 he had 43 home runs and 109 RBI while batting .325 with a .438 on-base percentage and a .643 slugging percentage. In 2001 he became the first player in major league history to win three 1-0 games in a season with home runs.

Yet, after three solid seasons, Sheffield demanded to be traded, saying he was unhappy in Los Angeles. In 2002, he went to the Atlanta Braves, his fourth major league team, in a trade for Brian Jordan, Odalis Perez and a minor-league pitcher. In Atlanta, Sheffield was overjoyed to be playing for Bobby Cox, a manager he'd liked ever since Cox batted him third in the National League All-Star team lineup in 1993. Sheffield seemed relaxed as he helped the Braves to a National League Eastern Division title with another outstanding season.

Career Statistics

Sheffield's accomplishments might have given him a shot at the Hall of Fame, had he not missed so much playing time early in his career with injuries. In baseball he is widely known as one of the top offensive threats, but he has failed to achieve the superstardom once predicted for him.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

The Baseball Encyclopedia. Macmillan, 1997.

Shatzkin, Mike. The Ballplayers. William Morrow, 1990.

Periodicals

Gammons, Peter. "Street Smarts." Sports Illustrated, 70 (April 5, 1989): 92.

Geffner, Michael P. "A Fish Out of Water." Sporting News, 220 (July 1, 1996): 7.

Kurkjian, Tim. "A Blessing for the Padres." Sports Illustrated, 76 (April 27, 1992): 54.

Nightengale, Bob. "Diamonds are Forever for Sheffield." Sporting News, 221 (April 14, 1997): 37.

Nightengale, Bob. "Sheffield is Baseball's Most Tormented Player." Sporting News. 220 (April 15, 1996): 18.

Reilly, Rick. "Can't Take Nothin' Off Nobody." Sports Illustrated, 77 (September 14, 1992): 54.

Verducci, Tom. "Part of the Crowd." Sports Illustrated, 84 (May 27, 1996): 68.

Other

baseball-reference.com, http://www.baseball-reference.com (December 23, 2002)

"Dwight Gooden." Baseball Library.com http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/G/Gooden_Dwight.stm (December 23, 2002).

"Gary Sheffield." Baseball Library.com http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/S/Sheffield_Gary.stm (December 22, 2002).

"Gary Sheffield." CNNSI.com Baseball http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/2114/index.html (December 22, 2002).

Romano, John. "Sheffield Concentrates on Future." St. Petersburg Times Online http://www.sptimes.com/News/031801/news_pf/Sports/Sheffield_concentrate.shtml (December 23, 2002).

Shea, John. "Latest Twist in the Sheffield Saga." SF Gate.com http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/03/11/SP139150.DTL (December 23, 2002).

Shea, John. "Sheffield Blue, But Not the Dodger Kind." SFGate.com http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/261/SP150412.DTL (December 23, 2002).

Vecsey, George. "Sheffield's Bat Wins Over Atlanta." SFGate.com http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/08/SP201910.DTL (December 23, 2002).

Sketch by Michael Betzold