Statistically speaking, Gary Sheffield should have been voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame already.
In 2024, his 10th year of eligibility, Sheffield again fell short of the necessary 75 percent of votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) to reach the Hall of Fame. His inclusion now depends on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee beginning next December, possibly with the Class of 2026.
The Contemporary Baseball Era for players consists of those who have made their greatest impact on the game since 1980.
In a sport that prides itself on statistical accomplishments, perhaps more than any of the three other major professional sports leagues in North America, Sheffield, 56, remains in elite company. A No. 1 draft pick in 1986 by the Milwaukee Brewers, he had 100-plus RBIs for five clubs, was selected to nine All-Star games, won a National League batting title, was a five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, swatted 509 home runs, played on a World Series winner, and still a significant number of the BBWAA membership hasn’t checked off his name on their ballots.
Those numbers haven’t changed since Sheffield played his last game with the New York Mets on Sept. 30, 2009. If his 63.9 percent of votes is going to rise to the 75 percent threshold, opinions of him will have to change.
Perhaps the lone roadblock for BBWAA approval dates back to his “casual” relationship with MLB home run king Barry Bonds. Prior to the 2002 season, when Sheffield had just finished his fourth season as a Los Angeles Dodger and was preparing for his first with the Atlanta Braves, the two superstars trained together in San Francisco.
After coming off consecutive seasons of hitting 43 and 36 home runs for the Dodgers, Sheffield said agent Scott Boros suggested he consider working out with Bonds.
“I’ve always worked hard in the off-season. I play for eight months, take three weeks off, then four months of workouts to get ready for the season. I’ve been blessed with talent since I was 8 years old. Barry’s agent set up the meeting for us to train together,” Sheffield told The Epoch Times during a recent phone call.
The two weeks that Sheffield and Bonds trained together could be what BBWAA members continue to focus on when making Hall of Fame decisions. It was at this time that Sheffield began rehabilitating his right knee from surgery that he had paid for on his own.
“Barry insisted that I stay with him and his family in San Francisco. I intended to get an apartment, have my chef with me, and train,” said Sheffield, who had his patellar tendon repaired, and was recommended a three- to four-week rehabilitation period.
But during the two weeks of training with Bonds and his team, including trainer Greg Anderson, Sheffield suffered a setback in the gym. While squatting as much as 400 pounds, according to Sheffield, sutures in his right knee came undone. Sheffield remembers Anderson wrapping his knee to stop the bleeding, and medical attention was sought shortly after. It was during this time that Anderson introduced Sheffield to a “cream,” or as it was also referred to later during federal grand jury testimony, the “clear,” to help the healing process.
Later on a federal investigation into BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative), located in San Francisco, found it to be supplying anabolic steroids to athletes. Sheffield’s name was associated with BALCO, and he was included among those who received steroids from the Bay Area company. The cream was being supplied by Anderson through BALCO, but Sheffield testified in 2003 that he did not know he was receiving a steroid-laced product. He rubbed it daily on his knee, and it was helping the rehabilitation.
During a search of Anderson’s condominium in February 2003, a single FedEx receipt, from Sheffield to BALCO, was discovered. Sheffield received vitamins, along with the cream from BALCO. He has never denied this. Sheffield’s wife paid BALCO by check. There has never been an attempt to hide the association.
“I kept [the cream] in my locker,” said Sheffield, when he played the 2003 season in Atlanta. “I used it every day. I never tried to hide it.”
Among the names on a 2003 list of MLB players who had been tied to positive test results for PEDs were Sheffield, Bonds, and Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz, affectionately known as “Big Papi.” Fast-forward to the end of the 2016 season, when MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made a stunning announcement at Boston’s Fenway Park. Speaking with the media on the last day of the season, and the final regular season game in the career of Ortiz, the commissioner said that it was entirely possible that Ortiz and others that were tested, in fact did not test positive, and that there were legitimate scientific questions about whether or not those results were truly positive.
Living and training briefly with Bonds, who has always denied using performance-enhancing drugs, and receiving a cream that he didn’t realize was questionable, seem to be blocking baseball’s ultimate award for Sheffield.
“I have told the truth, and I have left nothing out,” said Sheffield, who was voted the 1992 Sporting News Player of the Year, and the publication’s 1988 Co-Minor League Player of the Year. “My track record speaks for itself. I’ve never done anything illegal or unconstitutional. I don’t have a problem telling the truth.”
Having his reputation cleared could ultimately lead to the next selection of voters finding a home for Sheffield in Cooperstown.
