Gary Sheffield for HOF?

[csh19792001]

Is he a lock for the HOF? Should he be?

[leecemark]

--I surely wouldn't call him a lock at this point. On the one hand, until last season he was a 300/400/500 player over a pretty substantial career. He is likely to be somewhere close to 290/390/500 when he hangs them up. He has an excellent chance to be a 500 HR, 1500 RBI guy. On the other hand, he probaly has to hit those numbers if he has any hope to get into Cooperstown.
--Sheffield spent most of his career alienating organizations, writers and fans with immature and/or selfish behavior. He has had a nomadic and injury prone journey through the league which breaks up his career and keeps him from having any real support base. His numbers have also been brought into question by being implicated in the Balco mess.
--Sheffield did apparently turn himself into something of a fan favorite in New York by playing through injuries last season. If he can stay healthy and effective long enough to hit 500 as a Yankee he would be tough to keep out. If he doesn't, it will at least be a long wait - if he ever makes it.

[BoSox Rule]

Definitley not a lock, but he has a chance to get in.

[Chadwick]

Sheffield has earned a plaque. He's definately deserving. Not a "lock" in that his chances rest on the swine the pearls of voting rights are thrown to. He should be a lock.

[Cougar]

His career is probably good enough. It surely will be if he can extend his prime a couple more years.

[The Commissioner]

Sheff should be a definite Hall of Famer at this point. However,as we have too often seen, should and will be are two different monsters in this area. the one thing I can see being held (unjustly) against him is that he jumped around from team to team. This seems to have unfairly diminished the likes of Fred McGriff in many people's minds. However, by finally playing on the high profile Yankees, perhaps he will garnered more focus... Oh, heck. I've given up on trying to see things from the baseball writers' perpsective. Most will probably just flip a coin.

[mac195]

147 OPS+ and .319 EqA in close to 9000 plate apperances, and still going strong... he is already in Duke Snider's neighborhood, and will be knocking on Reggie Jackson's door if he plays 2 or 3 more years. Based on career numbers, he is a solid HOFer.

[KHenry14]

Sheff is a real unusual case. For a guy who has pretty good HOF credentials, he sure wears out his welcome in places. I can't recall a guy with his talents moving through so many teams like he has. Teams must have thought they could do better without him at times.

KH14

[Chadwick]

For a guy who has pretty good HOF credentials, he sure wears out his welcome in places. I can't recall a guy with his talents moving through so many teams like he has. Teams must have thought they could do better without him at times.

Milwaukee to San Diego, 1992
Sheffield was a talented, but immature kid in Milwaukee. Best known as Dwight Gooden's nephew. He appeared in only 50 games in 1991 due to injuries and the team traded him to the Padres during spring training, 1992. In parts of four seasons with Milwaukee, Sheffield hit better than .247 once, hadn't had more than 10 homers in a season and struggled to mature. He'd batted .194 his last year with the team. Milwaukee got Rickey Bones, Jose Valentin and Matt Mieske out of Sheffield and a minor leaguer. The Brewers (who's front office wasn't ever terribly intelligent under Bud Selig's ownership) probably also noticed that Sheffield got an 88% raise just a month earlier as he had become arbitration eligible. Sheffield's immature behavior probably played a part in the trade, too.

San Diego to Florida, 1993
Sheffield had a breakout season in his first year with San Diego, nearly winning a triple crown, and establishing himself as one of the best hitters in the league. Arbitration that winter saw Sheffield's salary jump from $330,000 to $3.11 million! (Back when that was real money!) When Sheff was traded the in June that summer the Padres were 19.5 games out of first and in 6th place in the National League West. They sent Sheffield to the expansion Marlins for Trevor Hoffman and others. The Padres were trading from strength (they had Fred McGriff at first, Phil Plantier's 34 HR and Tony Gwynn at the outfield corners and probably felt a third basemen wouldn't be hard to replace. They went after Ken Caminiti the a year later, after all. Hoffman stepped in and replaced Gene Harris as the closer. "Trader Jack" McKeon was the GM during these days anyway. I think he liked to make a deal for the sake of making a deal. You can also guess how much less payroll the Padres were dealing with after this trade.

Florida to Los Angeles, 1998
Sheffield was the heart-and-soul of the World Champion Marlins in 1997 and the gutted him, like they did the rest of the team in a mega-deal that sent Sheffield with Bobby Bonilla and change to the Dodgers for Mike Piazza and change. (How many of you forgot that Piazza was a Marlin for two weeks? Come on...admit it! You forgot!) Sheffield's $14.9 million salary made him the highest paid player in the game in 1998. Wayne - "Thank God He's Out of Baseball!" - Huzeinga dumped his best player on one of the richest teams in the league.

Los Angeles to Atlanta, 2002
As early as 2000, Sheffield had been trying to talk with Dodger officials about a contract extension that would keep him in LA for the rest of his career. Ruppert Murdoch's club (along with all the others) was beating the war drums for their offensive against the MLBPA in the upcoming labor negotiations. The Dodger brass treated Sheffield particularly poorly, trashing him to the fans and press in order to score publicity points against another "overpaid" star. Sheffield was practically run out of town over money issues. Ownership needed to put faces on the bad boys at the MLBPA and major league stars (like Sheffield or Frank Thomas) were easy targets. Sheffield eventually realized that Dodger ownership wasn't interested in resigning him and requested a trade. They gave him one in the 2001-2002 off-season, netting a good young southpaw (Odalis Perez), a servicable outfielder (Brian Jordan) and a minor league prospect in return.

Atlanta to New York, 2004
Sheffield became a free agent after 2 years as the best player on the Braves and was one of the most sought-after free agents on the market. He signed with the Yankees stating his goal of wanting a championship before he retires. He's carried his production and professionalism with him in pinstripes (something Jason Giambi has been unable to do.)

Summary
Sheffield hasn't had a poor season since his time in Milwaukee. He left when he was 22 years old because the team had given up on a talented, but immature youth prematurely. Being traded by San Diego, Florida and Los Angeles since have been because (a) those teams made errors in judgement and (b) because those teams valued money over winning. Sheffield has, in no way, been a clubhouse cancer, a distraction on or off the field and has, since maturing in San Diego, consistently been one of the five best hitters in the game.

I doubt any of his managers, with the exception of Tom Trebelhorn in Milwaukee, thought the team was better off without Sheffield.

[Russ]

He's also admitted to using steroids. Although many people don't lump him in the same category as Giambi. If McGwire's non-testimony in Congress can hurt his chances, why not Sheff?

[ElHalo]

Because, for whatever reason, people believe Sheffield's statements about him not using steroids knowingly... and since his production hasn't spiked (a la Bonds) or plummeted (a la Giambi) since using steroids, people figure his use was limited and not a big factor.

[Pine Tar]

Gary Sheffield for the Hall?

To me this is a silly question, but I am wondering if it really is a given that Sheffield will go to the hall of fame. I have heard some recently who do not believe that he will go at all or that his career doesn't merit enshrinement.

To me he has been a force in baseball for the last 15 years. He has hit for average (.297 career average, .399 obp) and power (448 hrs, 1473 RBIs), fielded well, and has over 200 stolen bases. He won a world series with Florida in 1993 and has done well in the postseason. His career adjusted OPS + is 147 (47th best all-time), and he is a 9 time all star. Although he has never won a MVP he is 66th all-time for MVP shares and is bound to pick up a few votes this year. For you win shares fans, he is fourth amoung active players behind Bonds, Clemens, and Biggio with 398.

Here is a link to his baseball fever stats page to help you make your decision.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sheffga01.shtml

[Gooch]

Sheffield's a Hall of Famer, but probably not on the first or second year of eligibility. His career numbers (thus far) are pretty similar to Billy Williams of the Cubs.
I think Sheff's surly attitude may hurt him with many writers though.
But this leads me to ask why Jim Rice isn't in yet????

[dgarza]

But this leads me to ask why Jim Rice isn't in yet????

I hope we don't get into that here.

[dgarza]

I don't think he'll be in right away. He'll make it in before he reaches the VC.
I would stick him on in, but I'm not a voter.