From Teen Shortstop to 509 Home Runs: Gary Sheffield's Signed, Game-Used Glove From His Brewers Rookie Era

Gary Sheffield arrived in the majors as a shortstop with an enormous reputation. The nephew of Dwight Gooden, he was Gatorade's National Player of the Year at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, and the Brewers made him the sixth overall pick in the 1986 draft. He debuted on September 3, 1988, still a teenager, and his first career hit was a home run off Mark Langston. He was drafted as a shortstop, played the position that September, and was the Brewers' starter there on Opening Day 1989. This all-black Mizuno glove is from that era. It's marked on the mesh back with a large handwritten silver "1," the number he wore in 1988 and 1989, and signed on the pinky in silver ink. The wear shows it was a working glove, with a worn pocket and scuffed fingertips.

Sheffield's time in Milwaukee wasn't smooth, but what came next made these early years part of a bigger story. The Brewers traded him to San Diego in March 1992 for Ricky Bones, Jose Valentin, and Matt Mieske, and he promptly won the National League batting title with a .330 average, 33 home runs, and 100 RBI, finishing third in MVP voting. He went on to win the 1997 World Series with the Marlins and finish with 509 home runs, 9 All-Star selections, and 5 Silver Slugger Awards. For collectors, a game-used, signed glove from his shortstop days is a rare look at the start of that career, from a player who was a teenager in a Brewers uniform before he became one of the great sluggers of his generation.