An anniversary came and went a few weeks ago and no one seemed to notice – March 26, 1992. It was the day the Milwaukee Brewers shipped a 23-year-old Gary Sheffield to the San Diego Padres for a bag of Bones.
Twenty years ago.
Wow.
I was 11 when that trade went down, an avid baseball fan. Since the Brewers played in the same division as the Chicago White Sox, I knew a lot about The Crew. As baseball card collector, I knew a lot about the great prospects of that time, of which Sheffield was clearly one.
From afar, I remember being shocked by the deal. Gary Sheffield? For who?
As I got older and read stories as to why he was dealt, I was naturally less surprised. But this recent revitalization of Brewers baseball got me thinking – did that trade set the franchise back during the '90s?
Superficially, it's easy to say yes.
The Brewers went 92-70 in 1992 while Sheffield nearly won the National League Triple Crown, but after that the Brewers went 12 years before finally reaching the .500 mark in 2005. Sheffield went on to have (arguably) a Hall of Fame career.
While its clear by looking at Sheffield's career – and at former Brewers ownership – that he probably wouldn't have signed a long-term deal in Milwaukee even if he liked it here, it is fun to play the "what if" game.
What if a nine-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger with a career .292 average and 509 home runs had stayed?
What if Sheffield and Greg Vaughn and Dante Bichette and John Jaha all worked hard to build up their muscles together in the '90s like so many others?
It would've been a sight to see, all those baseballs flying out of County Stadium.
Maybe then the commissioner would've sunk some money into the pitching staff to compliment this ferocious lineup?
In the pre-wildcard era, it's impossible to predict if Sheffield's presence would've resulted in a bunch of winning seasons, but it definitely didn't help that one of that of the best right-handed hitters of the last 20 years was traded away for Ricky Bones, Jose Valentin, Matt Mieske and a killer mustache.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
