Fox Sports Net’s documentary series BEYOND THE GLORY on Sunday, April 7 at 8:00 p.m. local time continues with a profile of well-traveled Major League Baseball all-star Gary Sheffield.
Sheffield grew up in the Belmont Heights projects in Tampa, Fla. It was a tough, neglected neighborhood where violence was common and opportunities were scarce. Though it was apparent that Sheffield was capable of being a special kind of ballplayer, his infamous temper was becoming a threat to others as well as himself.
It was his grandfather Dan Gooden who instilled in Gary a love for the game of baseball and it was his uncle Dwight Gooden who taught Sheffield how to play the game.
But each stop along the way for Sheffield produced mixed results for both him and his teams. BEYOND THE GLORY chronicles his life during this one-hour documentary, including his temper, his penchant for women, the time he was shot, the death threat on his mother’s life and his frustrations with the teams he played for in his 14-year career.
Currently a member of the Atlanta Braves after a trade in the off-season, Sheffield has donned jerseys of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins (where he won a World Series ring), San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers.
Often labeled as surly and standoffish, BEYOND THE GLORY hears from Sheffield and those around him to decipher the differences between the way he’s perceived and the reality from where he sits.
People interviewed for this episode of BEYOND THE GLORY in addition to Sheffield include: Dwight Gooden (also Sheffield’s uncle), Deion Sanders, Gary’s mother Betty, stepfather Harold Jones, Childhood friend, Little League and San Diego Padres teammate Derek Bell, high school baseball coach Billy Reed and childhood friend Phillip Walker. Here are some of the quotes from the one-hour show:
Sheffield:
“The day I got drafted was the day I found out I had a daughter.”
(on being drafted 6th overall in 1986 out of high school): “To me the draft was a disappointment, because I didn’t get drafted number one.”
“Instead of drawing fans, I drew women. That’s where my trouble started.”
“Why not have as many women as you can? You can do it if you’re single, you’re rich. So it was done, one woman at a time, now it’s two, now it’s three, now it’s four. Now, I’m by myself and now I got six women by myself.”
“I had a stalker and she was stalking me for a while. She had a seat right beside third base and she used to lift her top up a lot…then they moved me to right field and all of a sudden she’s out in right field. She used to follow me home, she used to try to follow me places and it was just crazy.”
“When I stepped away from dating and stepped away from girlfriends and all of that and I just focused on my game, my game picked up. We went on to win the World Series.”
“When I had the year I had in San Diego, I thought I found a home. The fans embraced me and they loved me.”
“Now I know I’m sick. Now that’s when I said, all right, that’s it. I need a wife, because it ain’t going to never end.”
Gooden:
“Gary’s the type of guy, if you tell him something, if it doesn’t happen, you better have a real good reason why it didn’t happen. Because if you do that to him, you can write that off and it would be a hard time to build that trust back in him.”
“Gary stayed next door to me for a while and I was happy when he moved, because him and a couple of his friends and ten women over there in a pool and half naked.”
Accomplished actor and voice-over artist D.B. Sweeney narrates Fox Sports Net’s BEYOND THE GLORY series. Sweeney, who brought to life the voice of Aladar in the film Dinosaur, starred in such films as Eight Men Out, Memphis Belle and The Cutting Edge.
The second season for BEYOND THE GLORY, FSN’s highest-rated weekly show, features 20 original programs and is now a Fox Sports Net in-house production under the direction of executive producers Frank Sinton and Steven Michaels.
Future original episodes of BEYOND THE GLORY include: Lawrence Taylor (April 14), Dale Jarrett (April 21) and Kobe Bryant (April 28).