Gary Sheffield

High school

Hillsborough High School

Pro team(s)

Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, New York Mets

Hall of Fame

⭐ National Baseball Hall of Fame

Gary Antonian Sheffield was born on November 18, 1968, in Tampa, Florida, and attended Hillsborough High School, where he was regarded as one of the most gifted athletic prospects in the country — the nephew of future Hall of Fame pitcher Dwight Gooden, whose own high school career in Tampa had drawn national attention years earlier. The Milwaukee Brewers selected Sheffield sixth overall in the 1986 MLB Draft while he was still in high school, and he spent 22 seasons in the major leagues as one of the most feared right-handed hitters of his era. His batting stance — with his bat waggling behind his right ear in a coiled, predatory rhythm — was one of the most recognizable in baseball, and his swing produced 509 career home runs and a .292 lifetime batting average across nine different franchises. He was a nine-time All-Star who won the NL batting title in 1992 (.330) with the San Diego Padres and was a key member of the 1997 Florida Marlins team that won the World Series in just its fifth year of existence. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024 after years of borderline candidacy that many regarded as unjustly prolonged. Born and raised in Tampa, Florida.