Gary Antonian Sheffield (born November 18, 1968) is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams from 1988 to 2009. After his playing career, he became a sports agent.
For most of his career, Sheffield played right field, though he has also played left field, third base, shortstop, and a handful of games at first base. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and the New York Mets. Sheffield was a first-round pick of the Brewers, who selected him sixth overall in the 1986 amateur draft after a standout prep career at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida. He batted and threw right-handed. Sheffield hit his 500th home run on April 17, 2009. As of his last game, Sheffield ranked second among all active players in walks (1,475), third in runs (1,636), fourth in RBIs (1,676), fifth in hits (2,689) and home runs (509), and sixth in hit by pitches (135). He is the only player in history to record 100 RBIs in a season for five different teams. Sheffield's batting swing was an exemplary mix of savage speed and pinpoint control. Despite his high home run total, Sheffield only topped 80 strikeouts twice in 22 seasons, while finishing his career among the all-time top 20 walks leaders. Because of his combination of skill, sportswriter Joe Posnanski wrote, "I can't imagine there has ever been a scarier hitter to face." His first manager Tom Trebelhorn said, "Gary can turn on a 38-caliber bullet.”
He is the nephew of Dwight Gooden. After retirement, he started to work as an agent. His clients include former reliever Jason Grilli. Sheffield was mentioned in the Mitchell Report and implicated in the BALCO scandal with respect to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Sheffield was born in Tampa, Florida and grew up in Belmont Heights, near the Ponce de Leon projects. He and his family lived with his uncle, Dwight Gooden, who would go on to become an ace pitcher for the New York Mets. They played baseball frequently and Sheffield learned how to hit a fastball from Gooden, who is only four years older than he is.
Sheffield was a good hitter in Little League. However, he had problems with his temper and attitude, which would continue in the majors. Once, when he was late to practice, his coach benched him and Sheffield picked up a bat and chased the coach all over the field, resulting in him being kicked off the team for a year. When Sheffield was eleven, he was selected to the Belmont Heights Little League All-Stars, which included future Chicago Cubs first round pick Ty Griffin, future major leaguer Derek Bell, and other future Major League Baseball (MLB) players. The team made it to the finals of the 1980 Little League World Series but lost to Taiwan 4–3. Sheffield set a record for doubles that would be broken in 2012 by Bradley Smith.
In 1983, Sheffield made the Hillsborough High School varsity baseball team. During his junior year, he bulked up to 175 pounds and was a pitcher and third baseman. During his senior year, his fastball reached the upper 80's and he frequently showed home run power. As a batter, Sheffield hit .500 and 15 home runs in 62 official at-bats. At the end of the season, he was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year.
After high school, the Milwaukee Brewers drafted Sheffield with the sixth pick of the first round of the 1986 MLB draft. Sheffield later said that if he had not been drafted in the first round, he probably would have played college baseball for the Miami Hurricanes. After being drafted he played for the Helena Brewers of the Pioneer League, where he had a .365 batting average and 71 RBIs in 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 led the league in RBIs 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 to the majors. In 134 games for the El Paso Diablos and Denver Zephyrs, he batted .327 with 28 homers and 118 RBIs.
Sheffield was called up from the minors when rosters were expanded in September and made his major league debut on September 3, 1988. Still a teenager, he got off to a fast start, with his first career hit being a home run off Mark Langston, though Sheffield finished the season with a .238 batting average and four home runs in 24 games. After mediocre play and injuries that forced him to miss two months in the summer of 1989, Sheffield was moved to third base, replaced by Bill Spiers at shortstop. Sheffield said he was shocked by the move and criticized the team. He also said his race affected the reception from other players, management, and fans in Milwaukee. In his rookie season, he batted .247 with five home runs and 32 RBIs. In 1990, he worked under Don Baylor, who had been hired as their hitting coach. He finished the season batting .294, with 10 home runs. In his final season with the Brewers, he injured his wrist, thumb, and shoulder, playing in only 50 games.
After four seasons in Milwaukee, the Brewers traded Sheffield 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 12, 1992, getting a hit in three at-bats. In 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 RBIs (100, nine fewer than leader Darren Daulton) titles, he won the National League batting title (the only one of the nine in Padre history not won by Tony Gwynn) with a .330 average. He started the 1993 season by hitting 10 home runs and batting .295 with the Padres.
On June 24, 1993, Sheffield was traded with Rich Rodriguez to the Florida Marlins for Trevor Hoffman, José Martínez, and Andrés Berumen in what was thought to be a cost-cutting measure by the team. He finished the season hitting 10 home runs, batting .292, and driving in 37 runs with the Marlins and was the starting third baseman for the National League in the All-Star Game. After the season, Sheffield signed a four-year, $22.5 million contract with the Marlins that made him the highest-paid third baseman. In 1994, the Marlins moved him from third base to right field. He never regularly played in the infield for the rest of his career. Sheffield hit 112 home runs with the Marlins from 1994 to 1998, including 42 in 1996, which saw him named to the All-Star Game for the first time since 1993.
In April 1997, he signed a six-year contract extension worth $61 million that would run through the 2003 season. While the 1997 season saw Sheffield play only 135 games, he batted .250 while having 21 home runs and 121 walks. On July 13 of that season, Sheffield became the first player in franchise history to hit two home runs in one inning. The Marlins ended up reaching the postseason that year and Sheffield played a key part in all sixteen games of their run to the World Series. The World Series pitted the Marlins versus the Cleveland Indians. Sheffield batted .292 in the series while leading both teams in walks with eight. Three of his five hits in the series game in Game 3, where he had a leadoff home run and drove in five total runs in the 14–11 victory. The Marlins ultimately won the Series in seven games for their first championship.
By early 1998, the Marlins were already set on trading pieces of their championship team away, with Kevin Brown and Moises Alou being the first to go. In April, Sheffield claimed he would've restructured his contract to keep the team together and was not consulted after the trades of Brown and Alou.