Sheffield, Gary 1968–

PERSONAL:

Born November 18, 1968, in Tampa, FL; son of Betty Gooden; married DeLeon Richards (a gospel singer), February 4, 1999; children: Ebony, Charissa; (with Laurie Liss) Gary, Jr.; Zachary, Alexis; (with Richards) Jaden Amir.

ADDRESSES:

Home— FL.

CAREER:

Baseball player with Milwaukee Brewers, 1988-91, San Diego Padres, 1992-93, Florida Marlins, 1993-98, Los Angeles Dodgers, 1998-2001, Atlanta Braves, 2002-03, New York Yankees, 2004-06, and Detroit Tigers, 2007—.

WRITINGS:

(With David Ritz)Inside Power, Crown Publishing (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

In Inside Power, baseball player Gary Sheffield relates the story of his life and checkered career in the major leagues. He has played on seven different teams and has been part of championship play on most of them. "With a new three-year deal from the Tigers, Sheffield is eyeing 500 career home runs … and maybe the Hall of Fame," wrote Sam Alipour in an ESPN interview. "This is what makes Sheffield uniquely suited to serve as a tour guide through the good, the bad, and the steroid that is modern major league baseball." "With a pen as punishing as his bat and as provocative as its proprietor," Alipour continued, "Sheffield writes about not knowing his real father, handling the finger-numbing fastballs of uncle and backyard throwing mate Dwight Gooden … and dealing with some of the game's most feared execs—often without the help of an agent—during his seven-team, 19-year career inside the wicked business of baseball."

Sheffield's arrival as a baseball superstar came as the culmination of a long, hard struggle with a hot temper, conflict with his teammates and bosses, and rumors of steroid use. When his contract was held by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2000-01, Gary "decided to use the press to get himself run out of town," wrote a JockBio contributor in an online biography of the superstar. "He insulted his teammates, derided club management, called chairman Bob Daly a liar, screamed racism when the club refused to double the value of his contract, and made vague accusations about misdeeds he had uncovered within the organization." In 2004, declared the JockBio writer, "Gary's name was being linked directly to the federal investigation into Victor Conte and Greg Anderson of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. Both were accused of providing performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes and track and field stars, including Barry Bonds, Bill Romanowski and Marion Jones. Gary was also among those implicated, though he denied any involvement."

Inside Power shows how Sheffield changed that reputation, becoming a supportive team player for the Detroit Tigers partly by finding religion. "The way he was once portrayed, the gifted wild child of baseball," stated Rod Beaton in Baseball Digest, "is at odds with the kind of man he has become. ‘I felt all along that God put certain things on our shoulders and that I can handle it,’ said Sheffield, who finished the 2000 season with a career-high forty-three home runs. ‘Then I can talk to players who go through what I went through. You're going to have good times in baseball and have bad times. You can't let the bad make you bitter.’" "In his mind," explained Detroit Free Press contributor Shawn Windsor, "the faces he envisions on the field and his philosophy on life have nothing to do with one another. ‘I really don't have anything to prove anymore,’ he said. ‘If I haven't proved it in eighteen years, I never will.’" "As he begins his 20th big-league season," Windsor concluded, "he says he is finally at peace."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Baseball Digest, March 2001, Rod Beaton, "Gary Sheffield: Growing into Major League Stardom," p. 56.

Booklist, March 1, 2007, Wes Lukowsky, review of Inside Power, p. 52.

Detroit Free Press, April 1, 2007, Shawn Windsor, "Sheffspeak: Tigers' Sheffield Doesn't Sugarcoat His Feelings about Baseball, Life."

Footwear News, July 23, 2007, "On Deck; Veteran Slugger Gary Sheffield Is Hoping to Hit a Fashion Home Run with His First Collection of Footwear," p. 162.

GQ: Gentlemen's Quarterly, June 2007, "Whack!-ipedia," p. 224.

Jet, January 12, 2004, "New Yankee," p. 51.

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2007, review of Inside Power.

ONLINE

ESPN,http://sports.espn.go.com/ (November 5, 2007), Sam Alipour, "A Trip inside Gary Sheffield," and author biography.

Gary Sheffield Home Page,http://www.garysheffield.com (November 5, 2007), author biography.

JockBio,http://www.jockbio.com/ (November 5, 2007), author biography.

New York Times Online, January 16, 2007,http://www.nytimes.com/ (November 5, 2007), Ben Shpigel, "Sheffield Makes Noise Again, This Time in a Book."

NNDB,http://www.nndb.com/ (November 5, 2007), author biography.

700 Club,http://www.cbn.com/ (November 5, 2007), Andrew Knox and Aaron Little, "Gary Sheffield: The Power Within."