Sheffield falls just short of HOF on final year on ballot

Gary Sheffield fell short of being elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night in his 10th and final year on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot. His name appeared on 63.9% of the ballots, below of the 75% threshold.

Already a feared slugger six seasons into his big league career, Sheffield, along with left-hander Rich Rodriguez, joined the Marlins during their inaugural campaign in a trade that sent future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman and two other prospects to the Padres on June 24, 1993.

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Sheffield would spend a career-high six of his 22 MLB seasons with the Marlins, making the All-Star team three times, winning a Silver Slugger Award and finishing sixth in National League MVP Award voting. He knocked 122 of his 509 home runs (27th most all time) in teal pinstripes. But Sheffield wasn't just a power threat. Since 1900, there have been 9,493 guys to receive 100 plate appearances. To be good enough to stick around for 7,500 PA and walk more than strike out, as Sheffield did, accounts for barely more than 1% of all ballplayers during that span.

In 1997, Sheffield went deep in all three postseason rounds, including his World Series Game 3 five-RBI performance against Cleveland, as the Marlins would go on to capture the franchise's first championship.

With one of the game's most iconic batting stances, Sheffield finished with a 140 career OPS+ and 60.5 bWAR. There are only seven other non-active players with that high of an OPS+ and bWAR who aren't in the Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols (not yet eligible), Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera (not yet eligible) and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Several of those players were connected to performance-enhancing drugs, as was Sheffield, who was named in the Mitchell Report, which was the culmination of an investigation into PED use in baseball.

"It's one of those things where I thought eight different teams should have campaigned for me, and so now that I look at this after 10 years being on the ballot, I really know and understand what it means to my family and my friends now," Sheffield said in an interview posted last Thursday. "I did this on purpose. 'Go fishing, go play golf, enjoy your life, don't let situations define you. You know what you did, and you know what you didn't do.' And so live with that, and that's what I've always done. And so I'm here talking now, because, like I said, it's about my family, and my legacy, and I think that I'm just honored and I'm grateful to be in the situation. And I want my legacy to be told the right way, and I'm going to tell it."

Sheffield missing out on the Hall of Fame means he won't reunite with manager Jim Leyland, who recently earned election into the Hall via the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee process, on July 21 for the induction ceremony. Outside of Leyland, no members of the 1997 Marlins have been enshrined at Cooperstown.

Others on the 2024 ballot whose careers included stints with the Marlins were left-hander Mark Buehrle (8.3%) and shortstop José Reyes (0%). Reyes will not be on the ballot next year. Both Buehrle and Reyes spent 2012 with the Marlins, with the former winning a Gold Glove and throwing at least 200 innings for a 12th straight season. Reyes led the NL with 716 plate appearances in 160 games.

First baseman Adrián González, who was selected first overall by the Marlins in the 2000 MLB Draft -- the only time the organization has held the top pick -- was named on 0.8% of the ballots, meaning that he will also not be on the ballot next year. González never played in the big leagues for the Marlins, as he was dealt to the Rangers in '03 as part of a package for closer Ugueth Urbina.