“I am sure it will be mentioned and debated but from my standpoint I know who is in the Hall of Fame,” Gary Sheffield told The New York Post following his retirement in 2011. “A lot of them don’t belong in the Hall of Fame. If someone wants to debate me, check the stats.”
As we head into the stretch run of the 2015 Hall of Fame season, I think it is pretty safe to say that Sheffield has had one of the quietest campaigns ever. Seriously. Ever. I get it though, he wasn’t particularly well-liked by the media (which is huge) and, like a number of his contemporaries, the 22-year pro has been linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
But, still…the Sheffield talk has been non-existent. Mike Piazza’s bacne has gotten more proverbial ink than the lifetime .292 hitter.
So what do I think? Funny you should ask.
I love the guy. Just take a look at his resume…what’s not to like?
Let’s break it down.
Most impressive are his power numbers. At the time of his retirement, Sheffield’s 509 home run ranked him 24th all-time. Eight times, “Sheff” topped 30 home runs and in each of those years…he had 100 or more RBI. His 1676 RBI ranked him 25th all-time at the time of his retirement with Palmeiro being the only Hall-eligible (albeit as a future Veterans Committee candidate) player ahead of him that doesn’t have his likeness on a plaque in New York.
It’s also worth pointing out that, at the time of his retirement, only Sheffield, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Frank Robinson and Reggie Jackson have at least 500 home runs, at least 2500 hits, 1500 RBI and 200 stolen bases.
When he last swung a bat, Sheffield was near the top of the active hits list with 2689 base knocks. It’s safe to say that without a couple of injury-plagued seasons (and yes, I know we could say that about a lot of guys), we’d be talking about a guy with close to 3000 hits and 550 home runs.
From his first hit (fittingly, a home run) at 19 in 1988 until his last one (a single to left field) in September 2009, Sheffield’s career was a colorful one filled with lots of stops, with his longest stint with any team being the six seasons he spent with the Florida Marlins. 1997, his last full season in Miami, marked the only time he played in (and won) a World Series.
For what it’s worth, Sheffield played in nine All-Star games and is the only player to have represented five different teams, spanning both leagues. Never an MVP, Sheffield finished in the top three on three different occasions and in the top ten in voting three other times. Like with his All-Star appearances, Sheffield garnered MVP votes with each of the teams he played for except Milwaukee and Detroit.
Sheffield is also the only player to have hit 25 or more home runs with six different teams and five times, he took home the Silver Slugger Award. But unlike most home run hitters, Sheffield had remarkable control at the plate.
He was a free swinger, but he never struck out more than 83 times in a season. By comparison, someone like Sammy Sosa has never struck out less than 83 times in a season.
Good friend of The Hall Jeff Montgomery faced Sheffield seven times in his career and held him in check…striking him out twice and only allowing one hit.
The former Kansas City Royals closer approached Sheffield like most of the free swinging right handed hitters that liked to drive in runs.
“(I’d) let ‘em get themselves out,” Montgomery told The Hall following Sheffield’s retirement. “They don’t want the guy standing in the on deck circle to drive in the runs so they are likely to swing at a pitch out of the zone. Slider, slider, slider. All off the plate. If I had to throw a fastball it was above the strike zone. He didn’t miss many mistakes!”
One mistake Sheffield did make was hanging out with Barry Bonds. It’s said that during a 2001 workout, a trainer applied some infamous cream to Sheffield’s surgically repaired knee. While Sheffield claims the cream did nothing to strengthen his knee, he was mentioned in the 2007 Mitchell Report as one of the players who had obtained and used steroids.
And we’ve seen how the players linked to PEDs have been handled in Cooperstown.
Controversy aside, if you ask me, Sheffield should be a shoe-in. His numbers are better than a lot of those already enshrined (regardless of the era) and while many people will laugh at how “feared” hitters are or aren’t…dude was.
“Hall of Fame…it’s pretty simple,” Sheffield’s former skipper Jim Leyland once told the Detroit Free Press. “I think there were several years in baseball where it was the general consensus that (Sheffield had) the fastest bat in baseball.”
Word on the interwebs is that Sheffield won’t be heading to Cooperstown anytime soon. Matter of fact, he’s going to be clawing and scratching to stay on the ballot for Year Two, but what are your thoughts, gang…is Gary Sheffield a Hall of Famer?
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