Another asterisk, another success goes to Gary Sheffield as he launched his #500th home run in Citi Field for the New York Mets. According to the New York Daily News, Sheffield said that everything happens for a reason and that there was a reason why he hit 19 homers instead of 20 last year; and now doing it in the biggest stage made it more special for him. Sheffield also talked piously about having a “higher purpose” as well as “a bigger reason.”

Gary Sheffield is the sole 25th player to have entered the 500 club. He is the fourth oldest but his accomplishments deserves one of the bigger asterisks given out in the steroid area. Sheffield was elected to the Hall of Fame but this is still far from assurance despite his newest statistical feat. Sheffield admitted using a performance enhancing cream in 2001 though claiming that he had no idea during that time about the chemical make up or potency of the cream. Sheffield had been named in the Mitchell Report. If Sheffield’s feat sells more caps, jerseys and tickets then it’s all OK. It’s like one big MLB Ponzi scheme and if Sheffield gets one penny for each home run, he will be able to buy one share of Citibank Stock.

On his narrative on the subject, it was believable as that the tales we’ve heard from Marion Jones and Barry Bonds on all these years. No reporter was going to bother Sheffield about those things on a Friday night, but a slugger showed up at the post-games press conference with two children on his knees and his wife beside him. And if you think that the crowd at the Citi Field cared in the least about any of his seventh inning, down run, and then maybe you don’t know much about baseball fans. The fans would definitely cheer the cream itself and right on to the container if they thought it can win then a pennant. Jerry Manuel said that they needed it in a big way when as asked about the homer.

Gary Antonian Sheffield was born on 18th of November in Tampa, Florida. He is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the New York Mets. And he has played for eight major league ball clubs as an outfielder and a designated hitter. Most of Sheffield’s career was played right field, though he also played left field, shortstop, third base and a couple of games at first base.

He used to play with the Milwaukee Brewers, Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. He was with the Detroit Tigers but was released even if he was still under contract. He is currently playing for the New York Mets. Sheffield had been a first round pick for the Brewers who also selected him sixth in the overall in the 1986 amateur draft after a standout prep career at Hillsborough High School in Tampa. Starting the 2009 season, Sheffield has ranked 3rd among all the active players in runs (1,592), 3rd in walks (1,435), 4th in RBIs (1,633) and hits (2,615) and 6th in home runs with (500) and hits by pitches (133). On April 17, 2009, Sheffield hit his 500th home run mark.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS