Gary Sheffield

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Gary Sheffield

2021 Hall of Fame Ballot Series: Gary Sheffield

Five facts about Gary Sheffield:

Gary Sheffield played in the 1980 Little League World Series representing his hometown of Tampa, Florida and set a Little League World Series record with four doubles. Sheffield’s team lost in the finals, 4-3, to a team from Taiwan.

Gary Sheffield was the youngest player in major-league baseball when he made his debut on September 3, 1988 at the age of 19. Sheffield was the first person younger than me to play major-league baseball. .

Gary Sheffield batted .300 or better ten times in his career. He had an on-base percentage of .400 or better ten times. He hit 30 or more home runs eight times. He scored 100 or more runs seven times. He had 100 or more RBI eight times. Gary Sheffield hit each of these milestones in the same season four times, in 1996, 1999, 2000, and 2003.

Sheffield hit his first major-league home run on September 9, 1988, at the age of 19. Sheffield hit his final major-league home run on June 29, 2009, at the age of 40. This made Gary Sheffield the third player to hit a home run as a teenager and in his 40s, following Ty Cobb and Rusty Staub. Alex Rodriguez became the fourth such player when he homered on his fortieth birthday on July 27, 2015.

Sheffield is the nephew of 1985 Cy Young winner Dwight Gooden.

The first two tables below present Gary Sheffield's career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1988	MIL	19	24	2.7	3.0	0.1	-0.2
1989	MIL	20	95	10.8	12.6	-0.1	-1.2
1990	MIL	21	125	16.2	14.5	3.2	1.8
1991	MIL	22	50	4.5	6.4	-1.3	-1.9
1992	SDN	23	146	25.6	18.0	9.3	7.2
+– 1993		24	139	16.4	16.9	0.7	-1.0
	FLO		72	8.5	8.7	0.4	-0.5
	SDN		67	7.9	8.2	0.3	-0.5
1994	FLO	25	87	12.6	11.1	2.0	0.8
1995	FLO	26	63	8.8	8.6	0.6	-0.3
1996	FLO	27	161	24.7	19.7	5.7	3.5
1997	FLO	28	135	18.8	15.5	3.8	2.1
+– 1998		29	130	16.2	14.9	1.6	0.1
	FLO		40	4.9	5.4	-0.4	-0.9
	LAN		90	11.3	9.5	2.0	1.0
1999	LAN	30	152	18.7	16.5	2.8	1.1
2000	LAN	31	141	21.5	15.9	6.3	4.5
2001	LAN	32	143	23.0	18.5	5.4	3.3
2002	ATL	33	135	20.7	14.4	7.0	5.3
2003	ATL	34	155	24.2	16.6	8.3	6.3
2004	NYA	35	154	23.0	16.6	7.7	5.7
2005	NYA	36	154	20.4	15.2	6.3	4.5
2006	NYA	37	39	4.0	4.7	-0.5	-0.9
2007	DET	38	133	13.8	10.3	4.4	2.8
2008	DET	39	114	8.1	9.6	-0.9	-2.0
2009	NYN	40	100	8.5	8.7	0.2	-0.6
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,575	343.2	288.0	72.7	41.0
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			44	5.5	5.5	0.3	-0.3
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			2,619	348.7	293.5	73.0	40.7

Season	Team	Age	Games	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

Expected Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1988	MIL	19	24	2.7	3.0	0.1	-0.2
1989	MIL	20	95	11.1	12.3	0.5	-0.6
1990	MIL	21	125	16.1	14.6	3.0	1.5
1991	MIL	22	50	4.7	6.1	-0.9	-1.5
1992	SDN	23	146	24.3	19.3	6.5	4.4
+– 1993		24	139	16.9	16.4	1.7	0.0
	FLO		72	8.7	8.5	0.8	-0.0
	SDN		67	8.1	7.9	0.8	0.0
1994	FLO	25	87	13.0	10.7	2.8	1.7
1995	FLO	26	63	10.0	7.3	2.9	2.0
1996	FLO	27	161	25.5	18.8	7.8	5.6
1997	FLO	28	135	18.9	15.4	3.9	2.2
+– 1998		29	130	16.9	14.1	3.2	1.7
	FLO		40	5.2	5.0	0.4	-0.1
	LAN		90	11.7	9.1	2.8	1.7
1999	LAN	30	152	19.3	15.8	4.1	2.4
2000	LAN	31	141	21.3	16.1	5.8	4.0
2001	LAN	32	143	22.8	18.6	5.1	3.0
2002	ATL	33	135	18.8	16.2	3.2	1.4
2003	ATL	34	155	24.0	16.8	7.7	5.7
2004	NYA	35	154	21.4	18.2	4.7	2.6
2005	NYA	36	154	19.7	15.9	4.8	3.0
2006	NYA	37	39	4.6	4.2	0.6	0.2
2007	DET	38	133	13.4	10.7	3.6	2.1
2008	DET	39	114	8.6	9.1	0.3	-0.9
2009	NYN	40	100	8.8	8.5	0.8	-0.0
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,575	342.8	288.4	72.2	40.5
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			44	5.6	5.4	0.5	-0.1
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			2,619	348.5	293.7	72.7	40.4

This is Gary Sheffield's seventh year on the Hall-of-Fame ballot. I have written articles about the Hall-of-Fame candidates every year in which Gary Sheffield has been on the BBWAA ballot. Here is what I wrote about him last year.

Vote Prediction

Sheffield's vote totals in his first five years on the Hall-of-Fame ballot ranged from 11.1% to 13.6%. Last year, however, in his sixth season on the ballot, Sheffield's vote total shot up to 30.5%. His total votes more than doubled - from 58 to 121 - while the number of voters actually declined by 28. Three more spurts like that and Sheffield could actually get elected.

Sheffield's gains last year surprised me. He has a weak connection to PEDs (he worked out briefly with Barry Bonds) and had some other character issues that were obviously factoring into voters' evaluation of Sheffield, whose 9 All-Star games, 509 home runs, and career .292/.393/.514 batting line would seem Hall-worthy.

I doubt that Sheffield can replicate last year's gains even one more time, much less three more times. But last year's performance seems to separate him from the "character clause" candidates who have seemed largely stuck. If so, perhaps Sheffield could make a bit of a run toward election. I don't really have a good feel for how likely that is, so I'll go with something of a middle-of-the-road prediction: more gain than, say, Barry Bonds, but less gain than, say, Scott Rolen. I'll guess Sheffield gets 38.0% of the vote this year.

Player Won-Lost Records and Gary Sheffield

One player from the not-so-distant past who strikes me as broadly similar to Sheffield is Dick Allen, who made seven All-Star teams, won Rookie-of-the-Year and MVP awards, and had a career batting line of .292/.378/.534, extremely similar to Sheffield (although slightly more valuable as Allen played in a lower run-scoring environment). Allen's career was somewhat shorter than Sheffield's. This probably played some role in Allen's Hall-of-Fame vote record: he maxed out at 18.9% in his 14th season on the ballot. But Allen almost certainly also lost some votes due to character issues (whether perceived or actual).

The next table, then, compares the career records of Gary Sheffield and Dick Allen, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Age	Games	Wins	Losses	WOPA	WORL	Games	Wins	Losses	WOPA	WORL
	Gary Sheffield					Dick Allen
19	24	2.7	3.0	-0.2	0.1
20	95	10.8	12.6	-1.2	-0.1
21	125	16.2	14.5	1.8	3.2	10	0.8	0.4	0.4	0.4
22	50	4.5	6.4	-1.9	-1.3	162	25.2	17.7	6.8	9.0
23	146	25.6	18.0	7.2	9.3	161	21.6	18.6	2.3	4.3
24	139	16.4	16.9	-1.0	0.7	141	23.1	16.0	6.3	8.2
25	87	12.6	11.1	0.8	2.0	122	19.3	14.5	4.3	6.0
26	63	8.8	8.6	-0.3	0.6	152	25.4	17.8	6.3	8.5
27	161	24.7	19.7	3.5	5.7	118	14.2	11.9	0.8	2.1
28	135	18.8	15.5	2.1	3.8	122	15.0	12.2	1.7	3.1
29	130	16.2	14.9	0.1	1.6	155	21.3	17.7	2.5	4.4
30	152	18.7	16.5	1.1	2.8	148	23.3	12.1	9.7	11.5
31	141	21.5	15.9	4.5	6.3	72	7.8	6.3	1.1	1.8
32	143	23.0	18.5	3.3	5.4	128	14.6	11.5	2.2	3.4
33	135	20.7	14.4	5.3	7.0	119	12.1	11.7	-1.0	0.2
34	155	24.2	16.6	6.3	8.3	85	8.7	8.0	-0.2	0.6
35	154	23.0	16.6	5.7	7.7	53	5.3	5.1	-0.1	0.4
36	154	20.4	15.2	4.5	6.3
37	39	4.0	4.7	-0.9	-0.5
38	133	13.8	10.3	2.8	4.4
39	114	8.1	9.6	-2.0	-0.9
40	100	8.5	8.7	-0.6	0.2
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,575	343.2	288.0	41.0	72.7	1,748	237.7	181.4	43.1	63.8
CAREER RECORDS (common rows)	1,916	274.9	223.8	38.6	63.1	1,748	237.7	181.4	43.1	63.8

Personally, I think that both of them had a Hall-of-Fame worthy career, at least based purely on their statistical records.

Article last updated: December 4, 2020

2021 Hall of Fame Ballot Series

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