He’s Out in Left, so Don’t Listen

When comparing our town’s two new sports nuts--and I know you are--say this much for Gary Sheffield.

At least he’s apologizing.

“Can you tell everyone I’m sorry about talking about retirement?” he said from Dodgertown earlier this week.

Come again?

“Really, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was down, I was sore, I said the first thing that came to my mind,” he said. “Of course I’m not retiring. I can’t be even saying that stuff. Kids are looking at me. I’m supposed to be a good example. That was not a good example.”

I nearly fell off my chair. I arrived at his locker expecting someone else, maybe the same someone you were expecting.

Maybe another Dennis Rodman?

Maybe he is.

Maybe Gary Sheffield will drive the Dodgers nuts this season with the sorts of things he recently discussed in a story by The Times’ Jason Reid.

Many of you are still mad about it. He talked about his dislike for left field, his dislike for the ban on facial hair beyond a simple mustache, his unwarranted feelings that everyone is against him.

Ordinarily, those are burying words.

But, until the Dodgers at least play a game, maybe we should give Gary Sheffield the benefit of the doubt.

He seems to be the sort of player with whom we must separate what he says from what he does.

He complains, but doesn’t play like a complainer.

He talks distractedly, but doesn’t play distractedly.

Just when you want to criticize his mouth, he silences you with his bat.

Quick, who led last year’s Dodgers in hitting? Sheffield, at .302.

Who led the Dodgers with runners in scoring position? Sheffield, at .313.

Who hit 75% of his Dodger homers to either tie the score or give the Dodgers the lead? Sheffield, with 12 of 16.

Gary Sheffield doesn’t have to apologize for any of that.

He is a pressure player. He is one of only three Dodgers in the opening-day lineup with a World Series championship ring.

So he says he wants to openly rebel, walk away, fight back at the world.

So who doesn’t sometimes?

The bottom line is, unlike with another certain someone in Los Angeles, it hasn’t happened yet.

He struck out twice and popped out against Houston on Thursday, dropping his spring average to .095.

His surgically repaired shoulder hurts so much that he already has had one cortisone shot, which is like a car needing a tuneup in the first 1,000 miles.

He still takes to left field like a duck to asphalt.

So what did he do after the Dodgers’ 8-5 victory?

He stayed and signed autographs, dozens of autographs, more than any other Dodger, and for longer.

Maybe for now, we should listen to Gary Sheffield with our eyes.

“I’ve known Gary since he was 16 years old,” said Manager Davey Johnson, who has been dealing with Dwight Gooden’s nephew since Johnson managed the New York Mets. “I know exactly how he is. That’s why I didn’t worry about all that talk.

“He is so hard on himself. He wants to be so perfect. That’s why he’s gotten where he is today.”

OK, so maybe that place isn’t the best one for him.

Once the Dodgers realized how uncomfortable Sheffield would be in left field, perhaps they should have traded him. Perhaps they tried.

“I thought I was going to be traded,” Sheffield said. “But I don’t think anyone wanted to take on my salary.”

That five-year, $61-million deal was certainly one reason he wasn’t dealt.

The concern that his departure would immortalize Chase Carey as the man who made the worst trade in the history of professional sports--they acquired Sheffield for Mike Piazza, of course--probably was another.

Whatever happened, the Dodgers ultimately decided they would start the year with both Sheffield and Raul Mondesi in the same outfield.

If it works, those two, with Devon White, could form one of the best trios in recent club history.

“If our outfield plays like I think it can play, I don’t think anybody can touch us there,” Johnson said. “Maybe not any team ever.”

He may be exaggerating a tad, but his heart is the right place.

Johnson knows the season--not to mention the presence of an effective No. 3 hitter--may depend on Sheffield’s happiness.

Whatever it takes to make him feel that he is not embarrassing himself in left field, the Dodgers will do.

“I tell Sheff, ‘Don’t worry about left field now, get your shoulder in shape, get it going at the plate, the rest will take care of itself,’ ” Johnson said. “He’ll do great out there.”

Sheffield is trying hard to believe it.

“With our pitching staff, maybe I won’t get a lot of work out there,” he said hopefully.

He is also running up the white flag on no facial hair.

“I still wish we had been given a chance to discuss it, instead of just getting a letter telling us about it,” he said. “But I’ve grown to understand Davey. I can deal with it.”

He may indeed be a time bomb. The recent paternity suit filed against him is only the latest in a constant swirl of off-field incidents that could eventually distract.

But it’s spring, a time for second chances, and Sheffield said he would like one.

“I’m an emotional guy, I say what I feel, but I will watch myself from now on,” he said. “I just want everybody around here to be happy. I really do want to do whatever it takes for us to win.”

He apparently now knows that does not include threatening to quit.

Mulligans have been given for worse.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.