Gary Sheffield: HoF worthy?

[Pauly]

With Rotoword help: Gary Sheffield retired on Wednesday after a 22-year career. The nine-time All-Star batted .292/.393/.514 with 509 homers and 253 stolen bases, finishing with 304 more walks than strikeouts. Sheffield will first appear on the HOF ballot after the 2014 season.

World Series winner in 1997 with Florida; NL player of the year in 2003; 5-time silver slugger; one second- and two third-place finishes in MVP voting.

Recent comparison: Recent inductee Andre Dawson batted .279/.323/.482 with 438 HR and 315 SB in 21 years.

Of course, Sheff's name was supposedly in the mitchell report, so I guess he could be in Palmiero territory.

[Hammer]

He also admitted to throwing a game. I would have to think thats a strike against him.

[chancellor]

Throwing a game? Hell, he basically threw a whole season in Milwaukee. Combine that with his 'roid use, and the only way he should get in the Hall is with a paid ticket...and he ought to have to pay double.

[onejayhawk]

Not no. Hades and Perdition no.

J

[Pauly]

If he threw a whole season in Milwaukee, it would have been just 4.5% of his career play time. Just saying

[Hornsby]

If he threw a whole season in Milwaukee, it would have been just 4.5% of his career play time. Just saying

The numbers are probably there, the attitude and baggage will likely keep him out.

[Erik]

The numbers are probably there, the attitude and baggage will likely keep him out.

This.

[willthethrill]

The numbers are probably there, the attitude and baggage will likely keep him out.

Also agree.

[amcg]

This most recent era requires, IMO, years of perspective. The writers just don't have that right now. In fact, they're lashing out at the most recent candidates (e.g. Bagwell) in an effort to distract everybody else from the fact that they all knew that PEDs were being used but didn't say squat about it at the time.

So, will Sheff get in? Some day, most probably. And so will Palmeiro and perhaps Kevin Brown. But it might be years from now or even via a veterans committee.

[joncarlos]

The line forms behind manny, thome and maybe even Edgar for people who were mostly bat for a really long time

[off_the_wall]

I never thought of him as a HOF player during his career, thus no.

[Pauly]

So, will Sheff get in? Some day, most probably. And so will Palmeiro and perhaps Kevin Brown. But it might be years from now or even via a veterans committee.

Well Kevin Brown will never get in. He only got 2% of the vote this past year, so he is off the ballot forever. Unless the veterans committee steps in when he has passed away or something.

[B-Fly]

I think Sheffield is a HOFer and will get in when MLB gets around to acknowledging that they just need to put an asterisk on the "steroid era" rather than picking and choosing which specific players to "punish" in the HOF voting.

[DJBeasties]

From BR:

Hall Of Fame StatisticsPlayer rank in (·)

Black Ink Batting - 4 (415), Average HOFer ≈ 27

Gray Ink Batting - 123 (153), Average HOFer ≈ 144

Hall of Fame Monitor Batting - 156 (77), Likely HOFer ≈ 100

Hall of Fame Standards Batting - 61 (28), Average HOFer ≈ 50

[The Goat]

This most recent era requires, IMO, years of perspective. The writers just don't have that right now. In fact, they're lashing out at the most recent candidates (e.g. Bagwell) in an effort to distract everybody else from the fact that they all knew that PEDs were being used but didn't say squat about it at the time.

So, will Sheff get in? Some day, most probably. And so will Palmeiro and perhaps Kevin Brown. But it might be years from now or even via a veterans committee.

This is the biggest issue I have with the entire situation. It's not as though PED use was a shock to anyone. Pundits everywhere lauded the "long ball", and cheered all of the top stars they're now damning. The hypocrisy of the whole thing really irritates me.