Sheffield Honored by TSN

Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield, calling it the greatest honor of his career, has been named the 1992 Player of the Year by The Sporting News.

The award, voted on by players and managers in the National and American leagues, honors Sheffield as the top player in baseball this past season.

The award is expected to be announced early next week.

“To win something of that caliber is just unbelievable,” said Sheffield, in town Friday at first of 10 card shows he’s scheduled to attend. “I told my dad as soon as I heard the news, and he was even more excited than I was.”

It will be about another month before Sheffield will learn whether he is the National League’s Most Valuable Player--which 24 writers decide by a vote--but Sheffield is expected to finish third behind the Pirates’ Barry Bonds and the Braves’ Terry Pendleton.

“It’d be nice if I won that award, too,” Sheffield said, “but this is the best here. To have your peers select you for this makes it more of an honor.

“It’s like I’ve been saying, this has been a dream season, and it keeps getting better and better.”

Sheffield, who had a soiled reputation when he was traded March 27 to the Padres from the Milwaukee Brewers, figures he showed the baseball world the real Gary Antonian Sheffield.

Sheffield, 23, batted .330 and became the youngest NL batting champion since the Dodgers’ Tommy Davis in 1962. He also finished third with 33 homers and fifth with 100 RBIs.

He was in the top 10 in 11 hitting categories, but perhaps none was more impressive than his league-leading .382 batting average with two outs and runners in scoring position. Sheffield shattered every offensive record by a Padre third baseman and also finished third in the league with a .961 fielding percentage.

“I think this is one of the nicest things that can happen to a player,” said Jim Neader, Sheffield’s agent, “and it’s certainly reflective of the year he had. He had about as good as year as you can possibly have.

“But I think what’s even more reflective of Gary’s desire is that he wants to go and do this again next year, and every year.”

The Padres figure to pay the price. Sheffield received $700,000 in base salary and incentives in 1992, and baseball officials believe he could earn about $3 million in arbitration this winter. The Padres already said they can not afford to offer him a multi-year contract this winter.

No matter, Sheffield figures he’ll be worth more in the future, particularly in two years when he’s eligible for free agency. This was just his first year in the National League. No telling what’s in store, he said, once he becomes familiar with the league’s pitchers.

“I’m just getting started,” Sheffield said, laughing mischievously.