Last Season’s Demotion to Minors Fuels Sheffield’s Comeback : Brewers: After getting advice from Don Baylor, Milwaukee infielder makes this year one for his scrapbook.

Barely halfway through his rookie season, Milwaukee third baseman Gary Sheffield thought the Brewers were ready to give up on him.

After all, he was ready to give up on them.

“A year ago I didn’t think I would even be in this (Brewer) locker room right now,” he said. “I wanted to be traded. That was something I wanted more than anything else.”

Frustrated with his declining batting average, nagging injuries and a demotion to the minor leagues, Sheffield decided there were better places to play than Milwaukee.

“I knew I was going to be traded,” Sheffield said. “Everyone was talking about how bad I was. That has always stuck in my mind.”

But a talk with Brewer hitting coach and former Angel Don Baylor during the offseason gave Sheffield a new outlook. Maybe Milwaukee’s not such a bad place after all, Sheffield decided.

Sheffield’s finding out why this season. He entered Tuesday night’s game against the Angels batting .315, fourth in the American League. He was two for four, and reached twice on errors, in the Brewers’ 8-1 loss Tuesday.

Sheffield says Baylor helped him put the game in perspective.

“That was the first time I opened up to a person outside of my family,” Sheffield said of his talk with Baylor. “He just wanted to know the facts, why I was unhappy.”

Sheffield was quick to tell him. He had opened the season as the Brewers’ starting shortstop, batting .298 in his first 20 games and hitting three homers in April.

Then his performance began to slide. Playing with leg injuries, his batting average dropped below .250. The Brewers sent him to their triple-A affiliate in Denver.

“They didn’t care about me last year,” Sheffield said. “I was written off in the second month of the season.”

Sheffield said he felt pressured to succeed by teammates and the management because he was black.

“The black players are expected to produce right then and there,” Sheffield said. “But the white guys just show up. They’re the All-American boys. That situation has been in my face for a long time.”

But Baylor met with the 21-year-old Sheffield and his mother at their home in Tampa, Fla., and convinced him the Brewers still wanted him.

“He explained to me how hard it is for a young black player to come into the league,” Sheffield said. “You have to make adjustments. There’s racism on other teams and this team, and I can accept that.”

Sheffield had a hard time accepting anything his rookie season. He was livid when the Brewers demoted him to the minors last July.

He hit only .138 in seven games at Denver before he was diagnosed with a broken right foot. He spent the rest of the season on and off the disabled list.

“That’s the lowest point you can go,” Sheffield said. “Then I looked at the guy (Bill Spiers) they left here to replace me and I said, ‘This can’t be happening.’

“(Spiers) is a good player, but he’s not a Gary Sheffield-type player. You couldn’t compare what he did in the minors to what I did. I had more range than him when I was healthy. I just had a few more things to learn.”

Catcher B.J. Surhoff said the Brewers expected too much from Sheffield during his rookie season.

“It’s hard to tell what goes through a guy’s mind when he’s injured and gets sent down,” Surhoff said. “Part of the problem last year is that he had to bat No. 3 right from the beginning. They (the management) were putting more pressure on him instead of taking it off.

“It’s hard to play shortstop and bat third, especially as a rookie. I remember I had a lot of things to learn my rookie year.”

But Sheffield’s back this season. His foot has healed, and so have his feelings toward the Brewers.

Sheffield started the season batting second, but has since moved to the No. 3 position, behind Robin Yount and ahead of Dave Parker.

But Sheffield still has one bone to pick with the Brewers. He wants to move from third base back to shortstop.

“That’s where my future is,” Sheffield said. “But I’ll keep my mouth shut and do a great job (at third). I’ll get a chance at shortstop either here or somewhere else.”