Gary Sheffield Career Tracker

Just don't ask for bread....

How vabout coffee?

That's pretty much what I LOOK like before my morning coffee!!

Keep those COOL snilies coming....I LOVE 'em!!

tigersaint wrote:

Keep those COOL snilies coming....I LOVE 'em!!

Here are some for you...

gogetemtigers wrote:

tigersaint wrote:

Keep those COOL snilies coming....I LOVE 'em!!

Here are some for you...

NO SCHOOL TODAY!! LOVE THAT ONE!!

Gary Sheffield

original airdate April 23, 2007 on the Travis Smiley show.

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200704/20070423_sheffield.html#

Gary Sheffield made history as the first player from a first-year baseball expansion team to start an All Star Game—proving that playing in the Little League World Series as a child wasn't a fluke. The Florida native has played for several teams, including the NY Yankees and Detroit Tigers. Off the field, Sheffield supports various charities and, in '96, established a foundation to promote education and self-esteem among inner-city youth. He shares his story in his memoir, Inside Power.

Tavis: Gary Sheffield is a nine-time baseball All Star who remains one of the most feared right-handed hitters in the game. During his stellar major league career, he's played with several teams including the Dodgers, the Yankees, and now with the Detroit Tigers. His new book is called "Inside Power," which is in stores as we speak. And full disclosure, I was honored to put a blurb on the back of this book, 'cause Gary Sheffield is my friend. Nice to see you.

Gary Sheffield: Nice to see you, too.

Tavis: How you been, man?

Sheffield: I've been good.

Tavis: Tell me why the title, "Inside Power." 'Cause the minute I got the manuscript I was curious. What does that mean, "Inside Power?"

Sheffield: Well, it was something my granddad used to always say when I was a kid. He would say, "You got the inside power. There's something about you that's different than most kids and most people." And he was referring to my uncle, Dwight Gooden, at the time, that Dwight was a different kind of person than I was, and I had something deep within me that I could overcome a lot of things.

Tavis: This is the perfect place to start our conversation. There's a picture of the screen there of you and Dwight. Let me go back to your grandfather first, 'cause you can't get into this book without understanding how important family is to you. And we think of baseball as a family sport; you take the family out to the park. Baseball really is an outgrowth of your familial relationships. Tell me about your grandfather first.

Sheffield: Well first of all, he was a strict man. He was, like, a teacher or a student of the game of baseball. He taught me about Jackie Robinson, he taught me about Hank Aaron, the fundamentals of the game. We used to go outside a lot of times and then we had to just bunt the baseball and not get to swing the bat for numerous days and you were, like, "Granddad, when are we going to be able to swing?" (Laughter) So, just the fundamental side that you didn't want to go through, but as you got older you understood what he was trying to do. But far as the overall package, he was strict, for the most part.

Tavis: Tell me about your - fans of baseball know, certainly your fans know that Dwight Gooden - great baseball player in his own right - is your cousin. Tell me about your relationship with Dwight.

Sheffield: Well, he's my mom's little brother, and so it was, like, he was my big brother. He's four years older than I am, and it was one of those things where I - we used to live together. Everything we did, it was like brothers doing things that typical brothers do. And he was one of those guys that he loved baseball so much, he played it every day, all day, and I was the opposite. I loved football, and I didn't want to play baseball. So, he was one of those guys that always forced me out there to play with him, because he didn't have anybody to play with or compete with him, and he knew I was good at both sports. But it just - I didn't wanna do it, but he made me do it.

Tavis: I said cousin; of course, I meant uncle.

Sheffield: It's my uncle, yeah.

Tavis: I know that well, (unintelligible) slipped up and said that. Tell me what you learned, though, from watching Dwight's career. His career really did this: it went up and down, up and down a couple of times. What do you learn from watching your uncle go through what he had to endure?

Sheffield: Well, I learned that if you do things off the field that don't relate to things on the field the right way, it'll affect your game and it'll affect your life. And for the most part, that was the negative side. But the positive side is that I learned that things ain't gonna be easy, you have to work at it. You can't cheat yourself, you can't cheat the game, and if you do those things you'll have benefits in it. And I've had a wonderful career and I'm still playing today, and I can say that because I used to watch my uncle work so hard. And that's why I work real hard.

Tavis: You speak of your wonderful career, I think that for those who know anything about your career - certainly for hardcore baseball fans - if you were to ask them to give me three words that describe Gary Sheffield, I suspect there might be on that list - you talk about this in the book, in a different way - I suspect some would say - aside from you; I'm not talking about your skill set - you're a great player - he got an attitude, got a mouth on him, has a bit of rage that seems to come out from time to time. How are you with - and again, I haven't done a scientific study on this - but how are you with those kinds of words being associated with Gary Sheffield, the person?

Sheffield: Well, if certain words that equate to me that's accurate, I'll admit it. And I admit -

Tavis: Are any of those words accurate?

Sheffield: Well, I admitted in the book I played with rage, and there's a lot of reasons why I played with rage. Like I said, a lot of things that you have to face and overcome and deal with, it brings out the rage. I had to deal with that early on in my career, but once my faith got stronger and I was starting to understand about me, what I was all about, what was important to me. That's when the calmness came and the rage went away. It's hard to get me upset; it's hard to get me enraged about something. What do now is I speak truth about it, and that's how I process it - not get angry about it.

Tavis: Tell me the journey that you have had to navigate, learning how to speak truth to power and in a way that allowed you to express yourself but didn't get you in trouble. 'Cause you have never been one to hold back on what you feel.

Sheffield: No, I haven't, and the thing is is that I haven't been one that gets in a whole lot of trouble, where you say he's been penalized. Everything that I've - the trouble that people say that I get in is based on what I say and people react to it. And I think that if I can get a reaction and if I'm 100 percent right, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. And it's a lot of times the things I say - they all come back to be true, whether people want to admit it or not. And it's just one of those things where it's like when you're called to do something, I'm willing to do it and I pay the ultimate sacrifice but at the same time, a lot of people benefit from it.

Tavis: Another great Yankee ballplayer was in this chair just a few weeks ago. Dave Winfield was here.

Sheffield: Oh, yeah, that's my guy.

Tavis: Yeah, Dave was here a few weeks ago. And I wanted to ask you, and I mentioned this to Dave, as a matter of fact - Dave and I talked about how he navigated the media. How do you deal with the media when you're in New York City? And he had his issues, of course, with Mr. Steinbrenner back in the day, as you well know.

Sheffield: Oh, yeah, I remember.

Tavis: And you had your issues with saying, again, what you feel. How did you get out of New York? And I won't say unscathed, 'cause you had your moments, but the fans in New York still love you, a lot of them - the fans hated to see you leave the Yankees when you got traded to the Tigers. Tell me how you navigated the relationship with the media in New York City with that mouth of yours.

Sheffield: (Laughs) Well, they say a mouth; my thing is that I speak when I'm spoken to. I don't go around just talking about nonsense. I talk about things that matter, and I think the media respected that and they knew that I came to play every day, I played hurt, I didn't make excuses. Even when I struggled, I didn't make excuses. It was just it is what it is, and I tell it like that. And I think the media enjoyed my honesty. So did the fans, and they enjoyed the way I played. But at the same time, the media used me a lot, and a lot of times I used them because I knew what my point was trying to be and what I was trying to - what points I was trying to cross. And I had to use them for certain things to get my point across, and I did that, for the most part. And so I allowed them to use me in certain areas, too, which I knew they would, and that's why I opened up in a lot of areas that normally, I wouldn't.

Tavis: One of the things - back to navigating the whirlwind of media in New York City - one of the things that I've been most impressed about with your career - let me just say it starts with I think you haven't been honest about the situation, and you had nothing to hide about it to begin with. But everybody and their mama was running from being connected to that Barry Bonds thing. And the media put your name out there connected to the story, and I did not even know how the story began with your connection it until I read the manuscript. So one, share with how your name even got connected to this, but then how you've just squashed - you squashed that rumor about you being on steroids.

Sheffield: Well, absolutely. The thing is is that I didn't ask to go work out with Barry Bonds; I had no interest to. I just hired a new agent, which was Scott Boris. He suggested I work out with Barry Bonds, I did that. I offered to get my own place, to get my own car. He suggested I live with him. But like I said in the book, Barry became like a control type of person towards me and I felt like it's not - I'm a grown man, nobody's going to be able to control me. And it got so bad, where I just said, "It's time for me to go back to Florida and end this relationship here." And when I went back to Florida, I got phone calls saying you owe a bill back here that you didn't pay. So I didn't even think about the bill; I didn't know what the bill was. I just told my wife to write a check, and that way our relationship is over with down there. And I guess some people who was after Barry Bonds was looking and trying to find things, and they seen a receipt where my wife had wrote a check paying the final bill. And that's how I got linked to it.

Tavis: And the check went to pay for what?

Sheffield: Vitamins that I took. I took vitamins, and that's what Barry said I owed bills for, so I just wrote the - I had my wife write the check. She wrote the check that linked me to Balco and Barry Bonds.

Tavis: How, then - to the second part of the question - how did you push that story back, though? Because you jumped on that with vigor, and just challenged people to come look in your past to find any (unintelligible) use of steroids.

Sheffield: Well, the thing is that people got all these different scenarios about who's on steroids and why is it happening in the game. Steroids been in baseball probably forever, who knows? But the point is is that nobody can say it was here today and wasn't there yesterday. But when it came to me, people start putting people's pictures up, seeing the size of their head, the feet, what their numbers were. All these things didn't have nothing to do with me. My size is the same, my stats is the same. I've been consistent my whole career. It's nothing changed about me, and I wanted people to know that. And any test you wanna bring up, bring it up. Anything you want me to do, let's do it. And I was willing to do that, but you know, like I said before, when I came out as aggressive as I did, the media was kind of taken back from it because they didn't think somebody was going to be that aggressive about it.

Tavis: And so to your point, to what do you contribute your being able to be consistent in this game for all these years?

Sheffield: Well, I think it's my dedication. It's just a desire to continue to be the best player, wanting to play the game. We all get to a point where you kind of get burned out with the game and you're saying to yourself, do I want to continue to play? But at the same time, far as I'm concerned, I still have things I want to achieve so that's what keeps me going.

Tavis: "Inside Power," the new book. (Laughs) He possesses a lot of it. "Inside Power," the new book by Gary Sheffield, with David Rich. I should mention what's cool about this book, too - Carol, our producer, and I were talking about this. On the cover of the book - and I assume this was deliberate - you got this real almost menacing pose on the cover, and on the back, there's a gorgeous smile. So that was by design?

Sheffield: That's by design.

Tavis: Show the two sides of Gary Sheffield.

Sheffield: Yes, because everybody always - like you say, that rage, that he's mean, this and that. But I'm showing you that that ain't the person
that you read about, and once you read this book you'll understand me totally.

Tavis: "Inside Power" by the Detroit Tigers' star player, Gary Sheffield. Without question, future Hall of Famer. Gary, nice to have you here.

Sheffield: Thank you. Thanks for having me, man.

Tavis: Good to see you, my pleasure.

SHEFF!! :sheff:

When my DH was recovering from surgery this summer, I bought him Sheff's book. He loved it! made the recovery time go by a lot quicker!

laprimamirala wrote:

When my DH was recovering from surgery this summer, I bought him Sheff's book. He loved it! made the recovery time go by a lot quicker!

Ok I have a one track mind I swear. Everytime you say DH I think designated hitter. I know what DH means, but I only think about baseball! It just makes me laugh.

Deerhunter??

Dear Husband. Its message board lingo, DH DD DS stuff like that.

I never heard that. My ex used to just call me Idiot!!

:hwitch:

tigersaint wrote:

I never heard that. My ex used to just call me Idiot!!

Now we know why we use the for you! I don't think you are an idiot, just a little crazy, but teaching will do that to you!

mrsrabelo wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

When my DH was recovering from surgery this summer, I bought him Sheff's book. He loved it! made the recovery time go by a lot quicker!

Ok I have a one track mind I swear. Everytime you say DH I think designated hitter. I know what DH means, but I only think about baseball! It just makes me laugh.

I thought she meant designated hitter!

Dead Husband??

Dear!!

Yes, dear??

....or sweetums?

Don't get hurt this year Sheff!

Prior to that injury you were kicking ass!

Heal well and kick ass in 2008!

....and take names!!

Sheff owes Detroit a good, FULL season of mayhem at the plate!!

:sheff:

We'll be servin' what he's cookin' in the KITCHEN!!
GO SHEFF!

Looks powerful to me!

We need a good FULL year!

We had a hell of a half a year, but we need a whole year!