Uncle Doc Watching Sheff Do It His Way

DETROIT - Gary Sheffield's uncle stood outside a suite at Comerica Park late Saturday night. Sheffield had flown him to Detroit by private jet for the Tigers game with the Rays. But now the game was over. There would be no milestone this night.

"I still got goose bumps each time he came up," Dwight Gooden said.

The Rays are making history, but so is Gary Sheffield, Tampa's very own. He has hit 499 home runs. His next makes Sheffield the 25th man in major-league history to rap 500. That's a ticket puncher to the Hall of Fame, give or take a McGwire, Sosa or Bonds.

"Gary should be in there," Doc Gooden said. "Maybe it'll hold him back because he always said and did what was on his mind. I respect him for that. A lot of his teammates do."

Gary Sheffield smiles at the idea.

"I went a man's way," he said.

'You Can't Deny My Numbers'

Sheffield's No. 1 goal as 500 approached was to get his uncle to the moment. As soon as he hit Nos. 498 and 499 against the Rays on Friday, he text messaged Doc.

"I told him he had to be here," Sheffield said. "It all started with my uncle pushing me and making me play. I wouldn't even have the drive to play baseball if it wasn't for him."

"We used to share the same bed when we were kids," Gooden said.

Dwight and Gary.

Dwight Gooden, only 43, has fallen more than once. His nephew has kept on keeping on. They're always there for each other. Prison is two years in Gooden's rear view. He remains in an addiction recovery program. Sometimes his nephew is sad when he thinks about what could have been.

"It breaks your heart a little, because I should probably have been sitting there watching his 300th win," Sheffield said. "He would have won 300 easy. I would have been there, no matter what it took."

Sheffield, who turns 40 in November, has hit for average and power for 21 seasons. He's one of seven players in baseball history with 2,500 hits, 450 homers, 1,500 RBIs and 200 stolen bases. The other six, save for Bonds, are enshrined in Cooperstown.

"You can't deny my numbers," Sheffield said. "If I don't get in there, it's because of how people see me. I always wanted my numbers to speak for themselves, because I'm going to be myself, I'm not going to be someone different just to get in the Hall of Fame. The last thing I've going to do is change the way I am."

Sheffield's two homers Friday came after a suspension for fighting Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona after Carmona hit him with a pitch. Sheffield says it's not over. No one tells him how to roll.

"That's what I'm most proud of," he said. "Doing it my way."

He always rolls back to Tampa. Being remembered as the best of our baseball hotbed has always mattered to him. Sheffield insists that his biggest goal was always 494 homers - because Fred McGriff held the city title at 493.

"I told McGriff all the time, and he just laughed," Sheffield said with another smile.

It's a Tampa thing.

Trying To Get Uncle's Approval

Dwight Gooden, wearing a gray sweat suit, walked down a gray stadium hall after Saturday's game. He splits time between Tampa and Baltimore. He has put on weight, and Saturday he walked with a limp. "Bad knees, big belly," he said with that great Doc grin. Gooden chatted with Tigers and Rays players as he waited outside the Detroit clubhouse. There were hugs. A lot of guys hadn't seen Doc in a long time. He's like a ghost sometimes.

Hours earlier, his nephew talked Cooperstown.

"That's for other people to decide, but I know for a fact that I belong there."

Then again, a nod from Uncle Dwight is usually enough.

"That's been my whole life, trying to get his approval," Sheffield said.

Here he is, the one who made it all the way, while his hero Doc wasted so much.

None of that matters when you love somebody.

Gary Sheffield didn't hit his 500th home run Sunday. It was just as well, because Doc was in New York for the Mets' farewell to Shea Stadium. But with the AL Central race between the Twins and White Sox unresolved, the Tigers make up a game with the White Sox today in Chicago.

"I'll be there," Doc said.

He's sure he'll cry if Gary hits one.

"Because he made it."