Gary Sheffield's numbers and legacy state he belongs in the Hall of Fame. His image, however, could keep him out.
Gary Sheffield has always been controversial. We get the image that he spent a lot of time in the corner during kindergarten.
If Sheffield were a movie star, he'd be Colin Farrell. If he were a director he'd be Oliver Stone. If he were a political topic he'd be abortion.
Gary Sheffield is, with the bat and with his reputation, explosive.
We'll always remember him for that.
Sure, Sheffield has a reputation as a clubhouse cancer, wearing out his welcome in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.
So he's developed an image as a thug.
He was even shot in the shoulder while being the victim of a robbery in 1995.
But he can't be that bad a fellow since he's been in the playoffs six times.
It says something about him that he's the first player to hit 25 home runs with six different clubs.
What it says is no matter how much of a pain in Bud he's been, someone's always willing to fork over the big bucks to get him on their roster.
Considering he's collected 501 home runs and accumulated a .292 batting average and twice vied for the triple crown and stole 252 bases, you'd probably be willing to put him in the Hall of Fame.
You'd be willing to forgive him for being a real life Oscar the Grouch.
But there's a problem.
He's tied to performance enhancing drugs. His name is in the Mitchell Report and, in his autobiography, admits to unknowingly using steroids.
So we've posed the question of whether or not we would vote Sheffield into Cooperstown to two colleagues, York Daily Record visuals editor Brad Jennings and Evening Sun sports writer Corey Mull.
Here's what they had to say.
We'll start with Mr. Mull.
"Sheffield, absolutely, without a doubt, is a Hall of Famer in my book. Aside from his polarizing persona, which often times was blown out of proportion, the guy was one of the best hitters in his prime, and during the Marlins' World Series run, almost single-handedly took Florida there."
Corey goes so far as to say he finds Sheffield's brash attitude endearing.
"Sure, he has his problems. He wears out his welcome fast, and by no means apologizes for anything of certain regret that he may or may have not done in the past. But I like that about him."
As for Mr. Jennings, he's taking a guarded approach. He said, if people get in or not,
"depends on how you feel about the steroid crew."
He added: "And I haven't figured that out yet in my head. Unless you have a definitive list of everyone who did or didn't take them, I don't know how you could keep some out and let others in just based on the evidence we have. So ... assuming we're letting everybody in, then Sheffield should probably go in at some point. Although, it seems the steroids area has upped the bar on things like the 500-HR plateau, so maybe that mark isn't as impressive as it once was."
So both Jennings and Mull would put Sheffield in the Hall.
We here at the Southpaw, however, would as well. And it's for a kind of convoluted reason. Sheffield came clean about the steroid use in 2004. Sure we're skeptical how honest he was being, but with Sheffield's image, who expected him to be honest? That showed us something. However, we would vote for him once, and only once. If he didn't make it on the ballot that first time, that's tough bananas for him.
Interesting that I would offer the counter point on this being that Sheffield has been one of the big reasons the Mets have won 11 of their last 14, but I'd be a bit more reluctant to put Sheffield in the Hall.
For all of his cumulative numbers over 22 seasons, he has certainly had an impressive career. But he has never stood out to me as one of the marquee players of his generation. He has never won an MVP and finished second only once. He won one batting title in 1992, but no NL batting champion has won the crown with as low an average as his .330 since (only Bill Mueller and Joe Mauer have in the American League). His stolen base totals were a product of longevity as he only had three seasons with more than 20.
And even if I were to overlook the steroid issue, what does the once magical number of 500 home runs really mean anymore? Now, it's good for only 25th on the all-time list. It would be very tough to justify putting Sheffield in while Mark McGwire - 8th on the all-time list - continues to get left out.
While numbers can always be used to make arguments for either side, I just have a gut feeling Sheffield could be one of those borderline guys sitting on the wrong side of the border.