In my need to always find content after the 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is released I plan on doing individual entries on each player on the ballot, even the ones that have no business being on it. The profiles will mainly just be useless information on each player and then a short opinion by me on whether or not I'd vote for them into the Hall of Fame. So as a test run I decided to do one on an active player and Gary Sheffield seemed like a good choice since he has recently been in the news.

Gary Sheffield - Outfielder/Third Baseman

Milwaukee Brewers 1989-1991

San Diego Padres 1992-1993

Florida Marlins 1993-1998

Los Angeles Dodgers 1998-2001

Atlanta Braves 2002-2003

New York Yankees 2004-2006

Detroit Tigers 2007-

Awards

1992 Sporting News ML Player of the Year

1992 NL Silver Slugger - 3B

1996 NL Silver Slugger - OF

2003 NL Silver Slugger - OF

2004 AL Silver Slugger - OF

2005 AL Silver Slugger - OF

All-Star Selections: 9 (1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005)

League Leader

1992: Batting Average, Total Bases

1996: On Base Pct., OPS, OPS+

Career Ranks

OBP: 64th

SLG: 52nd

OPS: 47th

Runs: 70th

TB: 54th

HR: 31st

RBI: 46th

BB: 37th

OPS+: 48th

RC: 39th

Hall of Fame Stats

Black Ink: Batting - 4 (401) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)

Gray Ink: Batting - 118 (164) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)

HOF Standards: Batting - 57.7 (37) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)

HOF Monitor: Batting - 132.0 (98) (Likely HOFer > 100)

Similar Batters in HOF: 5 (Willie Stargell, Billy Williams, Duke Snider, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews)

Other Similar Batters: Jeff Bagwell, Ken Griffey Jr., Fred McGriff, Frank Thomas, Jim Rice

Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacment Level (WARP3)

1988: 2/0.3

1989: 6/1.8

1990: 20/5.2

1991: 1/0.2

1992: 32/11.9

1993: 16/4.9

1994: 15/5.0

1995: 13/4.3

1996: 34/10.6

1997: 22/7.1

1998: 30/7.7

1999: 24/7.7

2000: 31/8.8

2001: 30/8.8

2002: 26/6.8

2003: 35/11.0

2004: 30/8.5

2005: 31/8.4

2006: 3/1.2

Total Wins Shares: 401

Total WARP3: 120.3

Would he get my vote?

Yes. Whether your a career voter or a peak voter Sheffield measures up. Although he never won an MVP and his black ink number is very low, the overall consistentcy of performing at a high level is deserving of a spot in the Hall of Fame. On the other hand because of his personality and some steroid questions due to his brief association with BALCO he might not be a slam dunk in the view of the baseball writers. But with now over 400 career Win Shares he should be.