Larry Sheet's Son Gavin Debuts with White Sox

[LA2]

I'm sure many of you remember Larry Sheets, who played 5+ home run-heavy seasons with the Os (1984-89). He peaked in 1987 with 31 homers and 95 RBIs in only 469 at-bats and a slash line of .316/.358/.563 (OPS .921, OPS+ 143).

His son is the White Sox's #9 prospect and mentions the important role of his dad and players he met growing up, who were probably Orioles since Sheets played only 1+ seasons with other teams (1990 with the Tigers and 17-at-bats in 1993 with Seattle). He mentions it in the first article below; his two-hit debut yesterday with lots of praise from LaRussa is covered in the second.

https://www.mlb.com/news/gavin-sheets-called-up-to-white-sox

https://www.mlb.com/news/gavin-sheets-mlb-debut-white-sox

[SteveA]

Cool, we'll get to see him play, Sox are in town next weekend.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

I saw Gavin Sheets was called up, but thought the last name was just a coincidence and   there was no relationship to Larry Sheets. The weird thing is baseball-reference.com is usually good at listing relatives to players who have played in MLB, but no such linking is made for Larry and Gavin Sheets yet.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sheetga01.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sheetla01.shtml

[LA2]

39 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I saw Gavin Sheets was called up, but thought the last name was just a coincidence and   there was no relationship to Larry Sheets. The weird thing is baseball-reference.com is usually good at listing relatives to players who have played in MLB, but no such linking is made for Larry and Gavin Sheets yet.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sheetga01.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sheetla01.shtml

In the first link I gave, his dad is referred to as Larry:

Quote

Sheets’ dad, Larry, spent parts of eight seasons in the Majors, and the now 25-year-old Sheets had plenty of opportunities to interact with his dad’s old teammates when he was a youngster. As he grew up, Sheets said, his dad also helped explain the intricacies of being a professional baseball player.

“My dad has been huge in terms of just talking me through things,” Sheets said. “Just on and off the field of how to handle yourself as a professional and how to play professional baseball. It's definitely been a bonus, especially to get here and kind of know how to handle yourself and know how to do the ins and outs.”

It's also mentions that the dad played eight seasons; the other major-league Sheets, Ben and Andy, played ten and seven, respectively. Larry did play eight: six with the O's and one with the Tigers and a 17-at-bat failed return three seasons later. (I missed the last one in my initial post and will go back and correct it.)

Baseball-reference also mentions that Gavin was born in Lutherville, which I'm pretty sure is where Larry still resides. Lots of O's have lived out there!

[Chuck A]

I did a renovation project on Wake Forest's baseball stadium while he was still in college (Gavin).  I have to say that he looks less like a linebacker than his dad did.

[LA2]

23 minutes ago, Chuck A said:

I did a renovation project on Wake Forest's baseball stadium while he was still in college (Gavin).  I have to say that he looks less like a linebacker than his dad did.

Haha--But I always thought it was unfair for Larry's former manager Frank Robinson to call him out as an example of the type of one-dimensional player that he felt typified the Orioles during their fall from the World Championship.

[spiritof66]

When D.J. Stewart came up, I thought a few times of Larry Sheets: both bat L/throw R/catch not too well sluggers who looked more like football players, whose hitting /slugging performance showed promise but seemed to be all over the place and whose OF defense was a consistent liability, making Larry a 50-50 corner OFer/DH over the course of his career. I do remember Larry as much slower than D.J., but that may just be based on his appearance and a few plays where he failed to get to a fly ball; I may have the same memory of Stewart a few years after he departs (if I still have a memory of anything at that point).

It's been a few years, I think, since I (and others) have commented on this. Larry Sheets, who lived in the Baltimore area for a long time (as he clearly did since his son went to Gilman) and may still, is probably another example of the Orioles' failing to find a way to appeal to fans by maintaining a relationship with a former player who made a contribution to the team but is way, way below Oriole H of F status. I've never understood why the Orioles haven't had guys like that come to a game once in a while, show a video or two of him between innings, maybe a quick interview for TV/radio to accompany the inevitable Palmer stories, take a bow, and sign some free autographed photos. (The signing is something that the RS used to do, and may still do; the lines would be a lot shorter at Camden Yards than at Fenway.) I say "probably" because there may be facts about Larry or his relationship with the Orioles that I'm not aware of that makes him not a good example. But there are dozens of ex-Orioles out there who likely would enjoy a moment of attention -- and, more importantly, fans who would like to see them enjoy it.  

[Camden_yardbird]

Larry Sheets still owes me a hitting a lesson at Sports warehouse in Cockeysville...

 

[Grady]

A high school friend of mine played softball against Larry Sheets . It was open fields, he hit it a mile.

[InsideCoroner]

11 hours ago, LA2 said:

Haha--But I always thought it was unfair for Larry's former manager Frank Robinson to call him out as an example of the type of one-dimensional player that he felt typified the Orioles during their fall from the World Championship.

Maybe. But let’s face it, Sheets was never what scouts would have called a ‘multifaceted’ player. 

[Roll Tide]

16 hours ago, Camden_yardbird said:

Larry Sheets still owes me a hitting a lesson at Sports warehouse in Cockeysville...

 

And he owns the Players Fun Zone in Westminster 

[LA2]

9 hours ago, InsideCoroner said:

Maybe. But let’s face it, Sheets was never what scouts would have called a ‘multifaceted’ player. 

Oh I don't disagree about that. I just thought it was so rude--though not entirely atypical of Frank--to point out Sheets as a prime example.  For a few seasons, Larry hit the ball hard like the O's expected him to. Go after the front office or farm system for not getting or developing players with a wider skill set--not the players for doing what they are capable of.

[LA2]

20 hours ago, spiritof66 said:

When D.J. Stewart came up, I thought a few times of Larry Sheets: both bat L/throw R/catch not too well sluggers who looked more like football players, whose hitting /slugging performance showed promise but seemed to be all over the place and whose OF defense was a consistent liability, making Larry a 50-50 corner OFer/DH over the course of his career. I do remember Larry as much slower than D.J., but that may just be based on his appearance and a few plays where he failed to get to a fly ball; I may have the same memory of Stewart a few years after he departs (if I still have a memory of anything at that point).

It's been a few years, I think, since I (and others) have commented on this. Larry Sheets, who lived in the Baltimore area for a long time (as he clearly did since his son went to Gilman) and may still, is probably another example of the Orioles' failing to find a way to appeal to fans by maintaining a relationship with a former player who made a contribution to the team but is way, way below Oriole H of F status. I've never understood why the Orioles haven't had guys like that come to a game once in a while, show a video or two of him between innings, maybe a quick interview for TV/radio to accompany the inevitable Palmer stories, take a bow, and sign some free autographed photos. (The signing is something that the RS used to do, and may still do; the lines would be a lot shorter at Camden Yards than at Fenway.) I say "probably" because there may be facts about Larry or his relationship with the Orioles that I'm not aware of that makes him not a good example. But there are dozens of ex-Orioles out there who likely would enjoy a moment of attention -- and, more importantly, fans who would like to see them enjoy it.  

Great suggestion!