Gary Sheffield

Gary Antonian Sheffield (born November 18, 1968 in Tampa, Florida) is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the New York Mets. He has played for eight major league ball clubs, primarily as an outfielder and designated hitter.

Minor Leagues

After high school, the Milwaukee Brewers drafted Sheffield with the 6th pick of the first round of the 1986 MLB Draft. After being drafted he was shipped to Helena of the Pioneer League, where he dominated with a .365 batting average and 71 RBI in only 57 games. The only question was what position he would play. He was slotted at shortstop, but struggled at the position, committing many errors and wild throws. In 1987, he was assigned to Stockton of the Class-A California League, where his defense improved and he produced at the plate. His batting average went below .300, but he still led the league in RBI with 103, and at the end of the year he was voted the Brewers best prospect.

In his third season, he went from Double-A all the way to the majors. In 134 games for El Paso and Denver, he batted .327 with 28 homers and 118 RBI and was considered ready for the majors.


Milwaukee Brewers

Sheffield was called up from the minors when rosters were expanded in September and made his major league debut on September 3, 1988. At first, the team used him as a third baseman and outfielder, but after an injury to Dale Sveum he moved to shortstop. He got off to a fast start with his first career hit being a home run off Mark Langston. After a great start, his numbers started to decline. He finished the season with only a .238 batting average and 4 home runs in 24 games. After a decline in play and several injuries, he found himself competing with Bill Spiers in a race for starting shortstop. After this, he was moved to third base and criticized the team saying it was a black and white issue. At the end of the 1989 season, he only batted .247 with only 5 home runs and 32 RBI.

In 1990, he had had a solid season thanks to the hiring of Don Baylor as their hitting coach. He finished the season batting .294, but still only had 10 home runs. The Brewers thought they were finally getting the player they drafted in the first round, but there was still one concern: he was becoming a pain in the clubhouse, and went as far as accusing the organization of being racist after keeping him at third instead of playing him at shortstop where the white Bill Spiers played. In his final season with the Brewers, he "injured" his wrist, thumb, and shoulder, playing in only 50 games.


San Diego Padres

After 4 seasons of underperforming in Milwaukee and his numerous criticisms of coaches, the Brewers traded him to the San Diego Padres for Ricky Bones, José Valentin, and Matt Mieske on March 26, 1992. Sheffield faced his uncle Dwight Gooden for the first time in a Major League game on May 24, getting one hit in 3 at-bats. In this, his first All-Star season, he contended for the Triple Crown for much of the year; while he missed out on the home run (33, two fewer than the leader, teammate Fred McGriff) and RBI (100, nine less than leader Darren Daulton) titles, he did win the National League batting title with a .330 average. The batting title is currently the only one of the nine in Padre history won by someone other than Tony Gwynn.

In 1993, he started off what seemed to be a productive season with the Padres hitting 10 home runs and batting .295 but was unexpectedly traded midseason to the Florida Marlins.


Florida Marlins

On June 24, 1993, he was traded along with Rich Rodriguez to the Florida Marlins for Trevor Hoffman, Jose Martinez, and Andres Berumen. At first he wasn't thrilled about being traded to the expansion Marlins, and would rather have played for a contending team like the Padres, but the Marlins offered some upside with their young talent. He finished the 1993 season hitting 10 home runs, batting .292 and knocking in 37 runs while with the Marlins, and was the starting third baseman in the All-Star Game. At the end of the season, the Marlins gave him a four-year deal that made him the highest-paid player at the third base position.

During the 1994 season, the Marlins moved him from third baseman to right field, where he showed great success with a rocket arm. Sheffield hit 112 home runs with the Marlins from 1994 to 1998, including 42 in 1996, making the All-Star Game in 1996, and leading them to victory in the 1997 World Series against the Cleveland Indians. He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1998 because the Marlins allegedly could not afford a contract extension and because the Dodgers parent company at the time, News Corporation was looking to secure a television contract with the Marlins in exchange for trading massively popular Dodger Mike Piazza.


Los Angeles Dodgers

On May 14, 1998, he was traded along with Manuel Barrios, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla, and Jim Eisenreich to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile. Sheffield finished the season with the Dodgers batting .316 and hitting 16 homers while driving in 57 runs. In 3 1/2 seasons with the Dodgers, he hit 129 home runs and drove in 367 runs. He made three All-Star games while playing with the Dodgers and had become one of the best outfielders in the game. But during the offseason, he began lobbying for a trade because he thought the Dodgers were spending their money stupidly and sliding in the wrong direction, and publicly criticized coaches and teammates.


Atlanta Braves

On January 15, 2002, Sheffield was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Brian Jordan, Odalis Perez, and Andrew Brown. He spent two seasons with the Braves hitting 64 home runs and knocking in 216 RBI including 132 in 2003. After two seasons with the Braves, he became a free agent for the first time in his long career on October 27, 2003.


New York Yankees

On December 19, 2003, after intense negotiations between Sheffield and George Steinbrenner, he agreed to a deal with the New York Yankees worth $38 million over 3 years. He joined a lineup full of stars that included Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi and the newly acquired Alex Rodriguez. In his first season with the Yankees, Sheffield started slow, but finished the season with 36 home runs, 121 RBI, and a .290 batting average, helping him finish second in the MVP voting at the end of the season, only behind Vladimir Guerrero. In his second season with the Yankees, he continued to play well, hitting another 34 home runs and driving in 123 runs. Sheffield started the 2006 season strong, on pace for a .300 batting average and 30 homers, before he collided with Shea Hillenbrand of the Toronto Blue Jays on April 29, 2006. He tried to play in spite of the injury, but ultimately needed wrist surgery. Sheffield didn't return until late September. He had lost his right fielding job to Bobby Abreu, who the Yankees had acquired in a trade deadline transaction. The Yankees tried him at first base but with mixed results. Sheffield showed public distaste about the situation and claimed to be better than Abreu. His fiery personality also led him to have friction with other Yankees in the clubhouse despite his friendship with Alex Rodriguez. At the end of the 2006 season, the Yankees picked up his 2007 option and traded him.


Detroit Tigers

On November 10, 2006, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers for minor league pitchers Humberto Sánchez, Kevin Whelan, and Anthony Claggett. After the trade, Sheffield agreed to a two-year $28 million dollar extension. In his first season with the Tigers, he hit 25 home runs, with 75 RBI, and a .265 batting average. He also hit his first triple since 2004 and stole 20 bases for the first time since 1990. He was also one of only 6 batters in the AL to have at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, along with Alex Rodriguez, Grady Sizemore, Ian Kinsler, B.J. Upton and Curtis Granderson.

On September 8, 2008 in a game against Oakland, Sheffield hit the 250,000th regular season home run in Major League Baseball history, according to research by Baseball-Reference.com. The home run was a grand slam off Gio Gonzalez; Sheffield had hit baseball's 249,999th home run against Gonzalez in his previous at-bat. Despite a late season surge, Sheffield ended the 2008 season with 499 home runs.

On March 31, 2009, Sheffield was released by the Tigers despite owing him $14M. The Tigers said in a statement that they wanted to have more versatility with the DH position.


New York Mets

On April 3, Sheffield agreed to a deal with the New York Mets for the 2009 season, and finalized the deal the following day. On April 17, Sheffield hit home run #500 in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, becoming the 25th player in MLB history to reach that milestone, the first player to achieve this as a pinch hitter, and the first to do so in a Mets uniform.