- Gary Sheffield hit 509 home runs in a 22-year MLB career.
- Sheffield struck out 10 times on the Hall of Fame ballot, but is up for another vote.
- Sheffield’s support increased to 62.9% during his time on the ballot.
Gary Sheffield, one of baseball’s most intimidating players, has a confession to make.
If that phone call arrives Sunday evening, if his name pops up on the TV screen when MLB Network announces the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in a vote from the contemporary era committee, he just might cry.
Well, check that.
He will cry.
“I know it will be emotional, and the first person I’ll think about is my granddaddy,’ Sheffield tells USA TODAY Sports. “He’s the one who got me into baseball. He’s the one who told me that I was a chosen baseball player. He always had dreams for me. He always believed in me. He groomed me to be a great baseball player, and told everyone, ‘That boy is going to be special.’
“So, if I’m blessed to get into the Hall of Fame, it won’t be just me getting in, it will be my entire family, knowing this wouldn’t be possible without my granddaddy.’
Sheffield’s grandfather is Dan Gooden, the father of former Cy Young winner Dwight Gooden, whose jersey was retired last year by the New York Mets. Gooden is Sheffield’s uncle, with his sister, Betty, Sheffield’s mother.
Dan Gooden, who died in 1997 at the age of 69, had Dwight and Gary playing baseball by the age of six. His favorite player was Hank Aaron. His favorite teams were Milwaukee and Atlanta, wherever Aaron was playing. That was the player, on and off the field, he wanted his son and grandson to become one day.
“My granddaddy talked about him all of the time,’ Sheffield said. “Hammering Hank. The Hammer. Everything in the house was about Hank Aaron. And for Dwight, since he was a pitcher, it was always Bob Gibson. He made Doc throw fastballs up and in. He didn’t even let him throw a breaking ball until high school.
“He always hoped that Dwight and I would play on the same team one day. He had a great relationship with (former Yankees owner) George Steinbrenner, and was hoping that we would be drafted by the Yankees. And his dream was that one day we would both be in the Hall of Fame.’
Gooden was supposed to be the first family member to reach Cooperstown, winning the Cy Young award in 1985 after going 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts at the age of 20 in his second season. Cocaine and alcohol abuse put up a roadblock that curtailed Gooden’s greatness.
Sheffield, four years younger than Gooden, saw the pain his grandfather endured with Dwight’s drug abuse, and vowed to live a clean life, doing everything in his power to make his grandfather proud.
Sheffield never touched a drug in his life. Never smoked a joint. Rarely drank. And never, ever, he insisted, did he use steroids or performance-enhancing drugs.
“I saw my uncle go through that and the pain he caused for the family,’ Sheffield said. “Imagine the pain of watching my uncle, who was really like my big brother, going through that my entire 22-year career. It still hurts to this day.
“You can only take so much. The pain doesn’t go away.’
This is why Sheffield gets exasperated when his name is lumped with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
“People associate my name with theirs, and that’s not right,’ Sheffield said. “I don’t know who did what, but I’m nothing like the guys that are guilty. I can promise you that.’
He spent three weeks working out with Bonds in the Bay Area before the 2002 season. He was introduced to Victor Conte and the folks at BALCO. Sure, he worked out religiously with Bonds. He ate the meals cooked by his private chef. He even stayed at his house.
But knowingly take performance-enhancing drugs?
“I played this game clean, and was proud that I played it clean,’ Sheffield says. “Never, ever, did I cheat the game, and I’m proud of that.’
Gary Sheffield defends himself against steroid link
Go ahead, try to find anyone who ever accused Sheffield of lying. He was the most honest, unfiltered player in the sport.
“If you asked me a question, I didn’t do the political stuff,’ Sheffield says, “I never ran away from an interview. I just told the truth. I still wonder if that’s what hurt Dwight. He always did the political side, and maybe that’s what drove him to drugs. He was never authentic.’
Sheffield swears up and down that the only time he put a foreign substance on his body is when stitches ripped out from his cyst surgery while lifting weights with Bonds. One of Bonds’ handlers applied a balm on his knee to stop the bleeding. That was it.
“BALCO had nothing to do with me,’ Sheffield says. “I didn’t stay because I had a falling out with Barry and didn’t like the people hanging around him. So I went home. I was never accused of anything.
“I went to court as a witness to testify what I knew about Barry and BALCO. I was never a suspect.’
Conte, the founder of BALCO, told USA TODAY Sports three years ago: “I never, ever had a conversation, an email, a text message, with Gary Sheffield about steroids. The only thing we talked about was vitamins. He was getting his vitamins at GNC stores, and didn’t understand the various forms of minerals and vitamins and zinc and calcium.
“He got absolutely railroaded.’
Sheffield’s name surfaced in the Mitchell Report because a check, written for $146 by his wife, showed up in a BALCO raid.
“I was just trying to figure out who I owed for my time there,’ Sheffield said. “That was it. So I had my wife write a check. That was the whole paper trail.
“That check has sabotaged me when I have done nothing wrong. I have no regrets. I played this game hard. I played this game right. And I always respected this game.’
Gary Sheffield’s Hall of Fame chances
Certainly, few in Sheffield’s era have ever played it better. He undoubtedly is the greatest player on the contemporary era ballot outside of Bonds and Clemens, with numbers that dwarf Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Carlos Delgado and Jeff Kent.
Sheffield, now 57, was a nine-time All-Star, a five-time Silver Slugger and had six top-10 MVP finishes.
He batted .292, hit 509 homers with 1,676 RBIs, produced 2,689 hits, stole 253 bases, had a .393 on-base percentage, .514 slugging percentage, and a .907 OPS – 40 points better than the league average.
The only other players in history to produce at least 500 homers, 2,500 hits, 1,500 RBIs, 1,400 walks, 200 stolen bases and bat .290 are Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson and Bonds.
The only players in history who have more homers and RBIs not in the Hall of Fame – and whose careers are not tainted by steroid allegations – are Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera, not yet eligible for the Hall.
Sheffield, whose body never dramatically changed throughout his career, was a model of consistency.
He hit at least 20 homers in 14 seasons, but never more than 43 in a single year.
He drove in 100 runs eight times, but never led the league. He struck out an average of just 53 times a year over his 22-year career, and only twice struck out more than 80 times.
And he played at least 130 games in 12 seasons, including five years with at least 150.
While metrics knock his outfield defense, Sheffield insists he played out of position his entire career. He came up as a shortstop. The Brewers were the ones who moved him off the position at the age of 19. If he were permitted to stay at shortstop, he may have produced the most homers and RBIs by a shortstop in baseball history.
“I never did get the opportunity to play my natural position,’ Sheffield says, “when they moved me to the outfield. I would have loved to stay at shortstop instead of going to the outfield, but I was willing to do whatever to help the team.’’
And if Sheffield really was that poor of an outfielder, then why wasn’t he a full-time DH until his final two seasons?
Sheffield’s peers know he belongs in Cooperstown. Hall of Famers keep telling him that it’s going to happen.
Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre grabbed Sheffield by his face at last year’s induction ceremony, looked into Sheffield’s eyes, and said, “We’ve got to get you in. You belong.’
Now, is the time, with no one on this contemporary era ballot more deserving than Gary Antonian Sheffield.
“I just wish my granddaddy were alive to see this,’ Sheffield said. “He always said I was destined for this, going to the Little League World Series when I was 11, winning it when I was 13, being the Gatorade Player of the Year, drafted in the first round, playing 22 years in the majors, and now hopefully going to where every player dreams of going one day.
“I know I put the numbers up the right way. I gave baseball everything I had. If I’m blessed to get that call, well, it’s going to be emotional for all of us. I’ve always had the chill mentality, and have been trying to be cool about this, but with my kids, my wife, my family, I know what this would mean.
“And for my granddaddy, well, I know he’d be up there smiling, gloating, and letting everyone know what his grandson accomplished.’
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