Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 10: Gary Sheffield

The Miami Marlins may never have a player chose to represent them in the MLB Hall of Fame.

But if they do, it will probably be Gary Sheffield.

Sheffield's inclusiuon here should come as no surprise to anyone remotely familiar with Miami Marlins franchise history. Not only is he on the short list of most preordained from the start entries on Marlin Maniac's Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Number Series, he's on the short list of best to ever play for the Marlins, period. Miguel Cabrera, Ichiro Suzuki...and then you have to start considering Sheffield. Throw out defense, and just focus on the experience of having to pitch against him? Easily a top three Marlins hitter ever, and one of the most feared hitters of his generation.

So while Sheffield continues to be denied his place in the MLB Hall of Fame, borrowing a tube of lotion once from gym buddy Barry Bonds won't be held against him here in this series. He's far and away the leader for best to wear No. 10 for the Miami Marlins.

His Marlins career WAR tally? That'd be 13.2- good enough for a double-digit lead over his next closest competition in the No. 10 jersey, and 12th best overall in Marlins franchise history.

Admittedly, 12th best probably doesn't sound that great given the high praise at the top. It's an unfortunate ode to his defense, which was flat out abysmal. If he had spent more of his career just DHing, that probably would have flipped some of those Hall of Fame no votes. That being the case, let's throw WAR out for a moment and focus on some other Marlins superlatives.

Offensive WAR? Top 5 (20.3). Career batting average? Top 10 (.288). Career OBP? No. 1 (.426). Career OPS? No. 1 again (.970). Top 10 in home runs (122), along with the second best single season home run total in Marlins history (42)- a record that lasted twenty-one years.

By the way, in that 42 HR, 1996 season? Sheffield led the entire NL in OBP and OPS, and somehow finished sixth in the NL MVP vote to Ken Caminiti, who also hit two fewer homers than Sheffield. I'd spend more time on that lunacy, but it wasn't even the biggest Marlins award vote robbery of the season (see Kevin Brown and the 1996 Cy Young Vote). Point being, he was on another level, and unimpeachably awesome. Provided he was batting. If you're over thirty and reading this, and claim that you've never once imitated his famous wrist waggle before swinging a bat...you're just lying.

Honorable mentions at No. 10? Well, as always, champions need to be recognized. While Sheffield wore it for the 1997 champs, pinch hit king Lenny Harris (still!) wore it for the 2003 team.

Beyond that? Prospect hounds will be able to tell you that Victor Mesa wore it for the 2025 team. Somewhat long suffering fans might be able to point to the careers of Jeff Baker and J.T. Riddle- popular "that guys" for some less accomplished Marlins teams.

The top honorable mention needs to be Dave Berg though, coming in at 2.9 Marlins WAR, albeit only 1.8 of it coming in the No. 10 jersey. Three seasons as a reliable super-utility endeared him to many fans, as did the undeniable fact that for the 1998 and 1999 seasons, he was just one of the best players on the team. Top 10 in WAR in both cases, with a Top 5 War finish for the woeful 1999 squad. Partly, those were far and away the best seasons of a short MLB career. Partly, as mentioned, terrible teams. Still, he was a good one.

Ultimately, when it comes to the No. 10 Marlins jersey, it's Gary Sheffield's world and just a bunch of other people living in it.

Tune in next time for No. 9. The result might surprise you.