Gary Sheffield Officially Retires: Will the Hall of Fame Come Calling?

Gary Sheffield filed his retirement papers on Thursday, ending over a year of unofficial retirement from Major League Baseball.

Sheffield played 22 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets.

He's been around so long, he could have played for Chico’s Bail Bonds, Long Island Tigers, Chicago Clowns, Rockford Peaches and been DH for Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle Church softball team.

All told, Sheffield hit 509 HRs and had a career slash line of .292/.393/.514. He also chipped in 253 SBs.

Those are some Hall of Fame numbers, if you ask me.

But as we all know, having Hall of Fame numbers don’t necessarily get you into the Hall of Fame, and I don’t think Sheffield gets into the HOF in five years or anytime after that.

My reason is the same reason I gave as to why Andy Pettitte won’t get into the HOF. Guys who have been suspected of using perfomance-enhancing-drugs or have admitted to using PEDs won’t get any love from the voters. Sheffield was in the Mitchell Report, and that pretty much sealed his fate.

Not only was Sheffield on the Mitchell Report, but let’s face it, he wasn’t a media darling by any stretch of the imagination. I think the perception he gave off is what people will remember about Sheffield the most. He came off and was perceived as a jerk, and that will be count against him come voting time.

If you just want to go on pure stats, Sheffield is certainly a worthy candidate. However, were his numbers any better than what Larry Walker, Jeff Bagwell or Fred McGriff put up? Tough call, but all their numbers are comparable on some level.

I really can’t see how Sheffield would get in when those guys won’t.

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