Gary Sheffield

===New York Yankees===
On December 19, 2003, after negotiations between Sheffield and [[George Steinbrenner]], a contract was agreed upon with the [[New York Yankees]] worth $39 million over three years. This deal included $13.5 million in deferred money and a $13 million team option for 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1688518 |title=Sheff prepared for Boss to lean on him |access-date=August 6, 2009|agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=December 17, 2003 |work=[[ESPN.com]]}}</ref> He joined a lineup that included [[Derek Jeter]], [[Jason Giambi]] and the newly acquired [[Alex Rodriguez]]. In his first season with the Yankees, Sheffield started slowly, but finished the season with 36 home runs, 121 RBIs, and a .290 batting average, helping him finish second in the [[Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player|MVP]] voting behind [[Vladimir Guerrero]]. On July 27 Sheffield hit his 400th career home run off of [[Micheal Nakamura]] of the [[Toronto Blue Jays]] in the top of the 9th inning. 

In his second season with the Yankees, he continued to play well, hitting another 34 home runs and driving in 123 runs.

On April 14, 2005, a [[Boston Red Sox|Red Sox]] fan leaned over the railing at [[Fenway Park]] and distracted Sheffield as he was going to field a ball hit by [[Jason Varitek]]. After Sheffield took a swing at him with his glove, he threw the ball back into the infield, and then got into a verbal altercation with him. Fan Interference was not called, resulting in a game tying RBI triple for Varitek. The fan, a long-time season ticket holder, was not ejected from Fenway Park, but he donated his remaining 2005 [[season ticket]]s to charity in an effort to avoid any controversy for the remainder of the season. Sheffield was fined for the incident. Charges were dismissed against both the fan and Sheffield.<ref name="reading_sox">{{cite news |date=April 19, 2005 |title=Interfering Sox Fan Has Tickets Revoked |work=[[Reading Eagle]] |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=20050419&id=jH4xAAAAIBAJ&pg=4325,2877341 |access-date=2 October 2014}}</ref>

Sheffield started the 2006 season on pace for a .300 batting average and 30 homers, before he collided with [[Shea Hillenbrand]] of the [[Toronto Blue Jays]] on April 29, 2006. He tried to play despite the injury, but ultimately needed wrist surgery. Sheffield did not return until late September. He had lost his right field job to [[Bobby Abreu]], whom the Yankees had acquired in a trade deadline transaction. This forced Sheffield to play first base for the first time in his MLB career.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sheffga01.shtml|title=Gary Sheffield Stats|website=Baseball-Reference.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref> At the end of the 2006 season, the Yankees picked up Sheffield's 2007 option and traded him to the [[Detroit Tigers]].

During a July 2007 interview with [[HBO]]'s ''[[Real Sports]]'', Sheffield said that Yankees manager [[Joe Torre]] treated black players differently from white players during his time there, citing himself, [[Kenny Lofton]] and [[Tony Womack]] as examples. Lofton later agreed with Sheffield's comments about being treated differently, but disagreed that race was the motivating factor. After it was pointed out that Derek Jeter is [[biracial]], Sheffield responded that he wasn't "all the way black."<ref>[http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2935737 ESPN – Sheffield calls out Torre, Jeter, Bonds in HBO interview – MLB<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>