Gary Sheffield
Gary Sheffield was born in Tampa, Florida, United States on November 18th, 1968 and is the Baseball Player. At the age of 55, Gary Sheffield biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 55 years old, Gary Sheffield has this physical status:
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 was shipped to Helena 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, 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. As 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 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 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. While his playing improved, there were issues with Sheffield 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 Spiers played. 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.
In 1993, he started the season by hitting 10 home runs and batting .295 and was traded in midseason to the Florida Marlins.
On June 24, 1993, he was traded, with Rich Rodriguez, to the Florida Marlins for Trevor Hoffman, José Martínez and Andrés Berumen. He finished the season hitting 10 home runs, batting .292 and knocking in 37 runs while with the Marlins, and was the starting third baseman for the NL 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 third base. During the 1994 season, the Marlins moved him from third base to right field. 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. On July 13, 1997, Sheffield became the first player in Florida Marlins history to hit two home runs in one inning. 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 popular Dodger Mike Piazza.
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 3½ 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 off-season, 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.
On January 15, 2002, Sheffield was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Brian Jordan, Odalis Pérez, and Andrew Brown. He spent two seasons with the Braves hitting 64 home runs and knocking in 216 RBIs 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.
On December 19, 2003, after negotiations between Sheffield and George Steinbrenner, a contract was agreed upon with the New York Yankees worth $39 million over three years. This deal included $13.5 million in deferred money and a $13 million team option for 2007. He joined a lineup that included Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi and the newly acquired Alex Rodriguez. In his first season with the Yankees, Sheffield started slowly, but finished the season with 36 home runs, 121 RBIs, and a .290 batting average, helping him finish second in the MVP voting behind Vladimir Guerrero. On July 27 Sheffield hit his 400th career home run off of Micheal Nakamura of the Toronto Blue Jays in the top of the 9th inning. 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 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 despite the injury, but ultimately needed wrist surgery. Sheffield did not return until late September. He had lost his right field job to Bobby Abreu, whom the Yankees had acquired in a trade deadline transaction. This forced Sheffield to play first base for the first time in his MLB career. At the end of the 2006 season, the Yankees picked up Sheffield's 2007 option and traded him to the 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 extension. In his first season with the Tigers, he hit 25 home runs, with 75 RBIs, and a .265 batting average. Sheffield also hit his first triple since 2004 and stole 20 bases for the first time since 1990. He was also one of only six 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 teammate at the time 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 Baseball-Reference.com. The home run was a grand slam off Gio González; Sheffield had hit baseball's 249,999th home run against Gonzalez in his previous at-bat. Sheffield ended the 2008 season with 499 career home runs.
On March 31, 2009, Sheffield was released by the Tigers despite being owed $14M. The Tigers said in a statement that they wanted to have more versatility with the DH position.
On April 3, Sheffield agreed to a deal with the New York Mets for the 2009 season, and he finalized the deal the following day.
On April 17, Sheffield hit his 500th home run 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. Sheffield would also become the third player in Major League history to hit home runs before age 20 and after age 40, joining Ty Cobb and Rusty Staub. Alex Rodriguez became the fourth player to do so in 2015. Sheffield sat out a game in August when the Mets declined to offer him a contract extension.
Sheffield did not play in 2010. Though he initially suggested he wanted to sign with a team for the 2011 season, he announced his retirement at the beginning of 2011 spring training.
Career highlights
Sheffield has appeared on balloting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame since 2015, when he received 11.7% of the vote, well short of the 75% required for election, but above the 5% minimum required to remain on the ballot. His support has increased to 40.6% as of the 2022 ballot, his eighth appearance. A player may appear on the ballot a maximum of 10 times.