10 Career-Defining Gar Sheffield Baseball Cards – Instant PC

With a memorable batting stance that countless kids imitated in their backyards, lightning fast bat speed and some of the best raw power in baseball history, Gary Sheffield launched 509 home runs over the course of a 22-year career.

All told, there are more than 8,500 Gary Sheffield cards, according to the Beckett database. So where does one begin putting together a Gary Sheffield PC?

These 10 cards serve as an excellent representation of his playing career and footprint on the hobby, making them a great place to start.

1987 Stockton Ports ProCards #239 Gary Sheffield

The Brewers selected Sheffield with the No. 6 overall pick in the 1986 MLB draft out of Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida. He made his full-season debut the following year at Single-A Stockton, hitting .277/.388/.448 with 23 doubles, 17 home runs and 103 RBI in 129 games.

His first official card is part of the 1987 Stockton Ports team set from ProCards, and it is readily available in the $5-10 range.

1989 Upper Deck #13 Gary Sheffield RC

Just two years after he was drafted, Sheffield made his MLB debut on September 3, 1988, hitting four home runs in 24 games as a teenager. The following season he played 95 games as the team’s starting shortstop for much of the year, hitting .247/.303/.337 with 18 doubles, five home runs and 32 RBI in 405 plate appearances.

He has six different Rookie Cards, all of which were part of the mass production era. His 1989 Upper Deck rookie is the most valuable of the bunch with a $5 book value.

1992 Topps Traded Gold #105T Gary Sheffield

Sheffield hit just .259/.319/.376 with 21 home runs and 1.5 WAR in 294 games during his first four seasons in the majors, and the Brewers traded him to San Diego prior to the 1992 season in a five-player deal. He immediately took off with the Padres, hitting .330/.385/.580 with 34 doubles, 33 home runs and 100 RBI to win the NL batting title and finish third in NL MVP balloting.

I’ve opted for his first Topps card in a Padres uniform, which was part of the 1992 Topps Traded set. The Topps Gold parallel version of the card had a modest print run of 6,000.

1994 Triple Play Nicknames #3 Gary Sheffield

Midway through the 1993 season, Sheffield was traded to the expansion Marlins in exchange for a package of three players that included future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman. Sheffield hit .292/.378/.479 with 10 home runs and 12 steals in 72 games after the trade and quickly became the team’s biggest star.

There are a number of great 1990s inserts of Sheffield in a Marlins uniform, and I’ve opted for the Nicknames insert set from the low-cost Triple Play product line from Donruss which were a tough pull at 1:36 wax packs.

1997 Fleer Zone #16 Gary Sheffield

The Marlins won the 1997 World Series over a juggernaut Cleveland squad thanks to a number of free agency additions, some upstart young talent and a superstar slugger in Sheffield at the middle of the lineup. He went 7-for-24 with one home run and five RBI in the Fall Classic.

The toughest pull in the 1997 Fleer product line was the Zone inserts, which were found in 1:80 packs. With a holographic foil background, it’s an underrated 1990s set.

1999 Topps Chrome Refractors #55 Gary Sheffield

The Marlins blew up their roster following their 1997 World Series title. Sheffield was part of the fire sale, going to the Dodgers along with Bobby Bonilla and Charles Johnson in a seven-player deal that sent Mike Piazza the other way.

There was no Topps Traded set in 1998 so Sheffield’s first Topps card in a Dodgers uniform was part of the 1999 flagship set. I’ve opted for the Chrome Refractor version of that card to commemorate his time in Los Angeles.

2002 Topps Traded Tools of the Trade Relics #GS Gary Sheffield Bat

After three-and-a-half years with the Dodgers, Sheffield was on the move again, going to the Braves in exchange for Brian Jordan, Odalis Perez and Andrew Brown. He spent just two seasons in Atlanta but made his mark, hitting .319/.412/.562 with 64 home runs, 216 RBI and 11.2 WAR.

The Tools of the Trade inserts in 2002 Topps Traded packs came with a 35-card checklist of relic cards featuring players who changed teams in 2002.

2005 Studio Heritage #8 Gary Sheffield

Sheffield signed a three-year, $39 million deal with the Yankees prior to the 2004 season, and he had huge seasons in 2004 (141 OPS+, 36 HR, 121 RBI) and 2005 (137 OPS+, 34 HR, 123 RBI) before injuries limited him to just 39 games in the final season of his deal.

The Heritage inserts in 2005 Studio have 1,000 copies each, with Die-Cut parallels numbered to 250 and Die-Cut Gold parallels that were numbered to 75.

2007 Topps Trading Places Autographs #GS Gary Sheffield

The Yankees picked up Sheffield’s fourth-year option prior to the 2007 season, then traded him to the Tigers who quickly signed him to a two-year, $28 million extension. The 38-year-old slugger posted a 119 OPS+ with 25 home runs, 75 RBI and 22 steals in 133 games during his first season in Detroit, but his production dropped the following year and he was released ahead of the final year of his contract.

The Topps Trading Places autographs were an extremely difficult pull in 2007 Topps Series 2 packs, appearing in just 1:3,055 hobby packs and 1:3,827 retail packs.

2010 Topps Gold #299 Gary Sheffield

A few days after he was released by the Tigers, Sheffield landed on his feet with the Mets sitting on 499 career home runs. The 40-year-old still had something left in the tank, hitting .276/.372/.451 with 10 home runs and 43 RBI in 100 games in what would be his final MLB season.

Despite not playing in 2010, he has a card in the 2010 Topps flagship set which means a full stat back. I’ve gone with the Gold parallel, which is numbered to 2010.