Broken Finger Ends Sheffield’s Bid to Win the Triple Crown

San Diego Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield sat numb in front of his locker Wednesday night. He stared at the splint on his right hand and tried not to cry.

Sheffield’s bid for the triple crown, and perhaps his chances for the Most Valuable Player award as well, ended prematurely Wednesday night when he was told he had a fractured right index finger.

Sheffield’s season is over. He was scheduled to leave Thursday for his hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla.

In a year in which the greatest pitchers have tried to stop him, and managers have strategically attempted to pitch around him, Sheffield’s season ended because of a luggage trunk.

Although the Padres and Sheffield announced that he broke his finger swinging a bat during Tuesday’s game, Sheffield disclosed that he actually broke his finger Sunday night while placing a trunk full of clothes in his car.

The injury bloodied his right thumb, but he still thought he’d be all right. It wasn’t until he went to Methodist Hospital during the Padres’ 5-4 defeat Wednesday night to the Houston Astros that X-rays revealed the fracture.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” Sheffield said, “it was almost like I couldn’t. It was the last thing I expected. But when the doctor came out, and didn’t have a smile on his face, I knew it was bad news.

“When he told me it was broken, I asked him if I could still come back in two days. He said, ‘No, you’ve got to keep the splint on for two to three weeks. Your season is over.’

“What a way to end the season, huh?”

The incident happened Sunday night, Sheffield said, when he was packing up his belongings in his San Diego rental home. He stuffed the trunk full and carried it to his car. He tried to set the trunk into his car, and it slipped, smashing the area between his right thumb and forefinger.

“I didn’t have anybody helping me with the trunk, and it was heavy,” Sheffield said. “It just slipped from my hand, and I dropped it. It cut my thumb pretty good, and it started bleeding everywhere.

“I thought I broke it at first, but I felt around, and it felt OK. I just went back in the house, took aspirin all night and thought it’d be OK with the off-day.”

Instead, during his first at-bat Tuesday in which he obtained his 100th RBI, Sheffield’s finger started to swell. It worsened as the game continued, forcing him out of the lineup in the eighth inning.

He arrived at the Astrodome on Wednesday and pronounced himself unavailable to play. It wasn’t until the game commenced that the Padres thought Sheffield’s finger should be X-rayed.

“I’ve been having a lot of aches and pains all season that I’ve played with,” Sheffield said, “and then to have something like this happen ... man, it’s hard to deal with.

“After everything I’ve gone though this year, and now this. You don’t even want to question why.”

Said Fred McGriff, Sheffield’s closest friend on the team, who has 34 homers and 101 RBIs: “He’s got nothing to be ashamed of. He’s had a great, great season.

“I guess the only embarrassing thing is how he broke his finger. He didn’t even tell me what happened, but I knew he didn’t break it by just swinging a bat. No one really believed that, did they?”

Well ...

No matter, Sheffield still set every offensive record by a Padre third baseman. He finished the year with a .330 batting average, 33 homers and 100 RBIs.

“I think we’re all kind of decimated by the news,” Padre reliever Larry Andersen said. “You hate to see it end like this. I’ve been telling him all week that the only reason I’m hanging around is to see him win the triple crown.

“Oh well, maybe this will be just a warm-up for next season.”

Instead of a triple crown, Sheffield now won’t even win the home run and RBI titles on his own team. His greatest hopes now are for a batting title. He still leads the league ahead of Andy Van Slyke of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who’s batting .327.

“I’ve never pictured myself as a batting champion,” Sheffield said. “I thought it would be hard for me to do, especially as a free swinger. It would still be a big thrill.

“The only thing is that if you’re going to win a batting title, you want to be out there playing. You don’t want ever want to win it by sitting.

“I’d still like to win the MVP, and you can’t tell me anybody deserves it more than me, but I just don’t know if that can happen now.”