Greatest Moments in Marlins History: #36 Gary Sheffield 4th Inning

Miami Gardens— fl-marlins-last-game-sun-life-0929t— The Florida Marlins host the Washington Nationals for the final Marlins game ever at Sun Life Stadium. Ex-Marlin Gary Sheffield smiles as he stands next to one of two World Series trophies that the Marlins have won. Robert Duyos, Sun Sentinel

Welcome back to the Greatest Moments in Marlins History. It seems every time Gary Sheffield is on this list it has to do with a home run. Well moment 36 is no different. How rare is it for a player to hit two home runs in one game? What if those two home runs were hit in the same inning? Gary accomplished such a feat on July 13, 1997 against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Marlins entered the bottom of the 4^th inning down 1-0 to the Phillies and Gary started the inning off.  He was facing Mark Leiter and the first pitch Gary sees is a ball. I don’t think he liked that one. The next one apparently he liked as he sent it down the left field line for a game tying solo shot. The Marlins would send 8 more batters up before the Phillies would pull Mark Leiter for Reggie Harris. The first batter Reggie would face? Gary Sheffield.

Still in the 4^th inning with runners on 1^st and 2^nd and 2 outs, Gary came up to bat.  The first pitch he saw he laid off, ball 1. For the next pitch Gary laid off it again for ball 2. The third was very tempting as Gary swung and missed. The count was now 2-1 as he waited for pitch number four. The ball made a nice gift to a fan as it sailed over the left field fence for Gary’s second home run that inning. A feat no Marlin had ever done, and he is still the only Marlins player to have ever done it.

Sorry all you Gary Sheffield fans, but this will be Gary’s last single moment on this list. He will go down as a fan favorite and one of the Marlins greats. Let’s keep with the long ball for tomorrow’s moment as we see one from maybe the future Marlins home run king.