The only man to hit his 500th career homerun in a New York Mets uniform is the 94th inductee into the Baseball Hall of Immortals.
When Gary Sheffield was called up to the Milwaukee Brewers as a 19-year old rookie, he was probably more known as being Dwight Gooden’s nephew than anything else. When he retired 22 years later (ironically playing for his uncle’s former team), Sheffield left a legacy as a fearsome slugger.
While his career started off slow in Milwaukee, Sheffield began to blossom in San Diego where in 1992 he became the only Padre other than Tony Gwynn to win a batting title (.330). That year would mark the first of 9 All-Star appearances (with 5 different teams).
Sheffield played for 8 different teams in the course of his career, becoming the first player to hit 25 or more homeruns for 6 different teams, and is one of only two players (the other is Fred McGriff) to hit 30 or more homeruns in a season for five different teams.
When Sheffield retired after the 2009 season, he had 509 homeruns, good for 25th all-time (now 26th). 18 of the 25 players currently ahead of him are Hall of Famers (of the 7 who aren’t, 1 is still active and 2 are not yet eligible). The rest of his career stats are impressive – .292 batting average, 1,636 runs, 1,676 RBIs, and 253 SBs.
Incidently he also holds the MLB record for most ballparks played in at 51.
A feared and sought after hitter for more than 2 decades, Gary Sheffield is an Immortal.
For some background on what this is, check out the introduction post here.