Larry Sheets was a reluctant Tiger. He was actually a reluctant ball player. He was a left handed power hitter who signed
with the Baltimore Orioles out of high school in nearby Staunton, Virginia in
1978. He played for a couple years in
the minors before deciding to sit out the 1981 season. He came back to the Orioles farm system in
1982 and hit .296 in class A Hagerstown ad hit 18 homers. He continued to move up and was a late season
addition in 1984 where he got a hit in his first major league at bat. In 8 games that fall he was 7 for 16 for a
.438 average and with a double and homer he had a .688 slugging. In 1985 he was with the O’s for real and was
a starting outfielder, a position he would hold for the next 5 years. He continued to improve at the plate until he
had his best year in 1987 when he hit.316 with 31 homers and 94 RBI’s. This was followed by his worst year where he
hit only .230 with 10 homers and 47 RBI’s.
In 1989 the O’s gave up on Larry who was hitting only .243 with only 7
homers and traded him after the season to the Tigers for Mike Brumley. Larry got into 131 games for the Tiges and
was the top utility player playing 47 games in left, 19 in right and 38 as
DH. But he only hit .261 with 10 homers
and was granted free agency at the end of the season. He signed with the California Angels as a
free agent on October 14 1991 and about two weeks later the Angels released him
with Larry ever playing a game for them!
Larry went over to Japan and played there before returning to the US and
playing one more year in the majors in 1993.
He got in 11 games and was 2 for 17.
Today Larry owns and runs a sports complex in Maryland which you can
find on line at www.larrysheetsplayers.com.
Gary Ward ended his career as a Tiger. He was somewhat atypical as a power hitter in
that he did have a low average but was able to steal a base when needed. He started in the majors with the Minnesota
Twins in 1979 but was not a starter until 1982.
He hit .289 that season while hitting 28 homers, 91 RBI’s and stealing
13 bases. After that he hit .278 and the
Twins traded him to the Rangers. He played
with the Rangers for 3 years hitting .293 and hitting 41 homers while stealing
45 bases. All the time Gary was slightly
above average as an outfielder. After
1986 he signed as free agent with the Yankees but in 1988 he was a part timer
and early in 1989 he was released by the Yankees. The Tigers signed him and he was a back up in
1989 playing 35 games at left, 14 in right, 26 at first and 25 at DH. In 1990 he was the Tigers starting left
fielder where he hit .256 with 9 homers and 2 stolen bases. After 1990 he was released by the Tigers and
was done as a pro player. As late as
2010 Gary was coaching in the minors.
His son Daryle Ward played in the majors from 1998 to 2008 with various
teams in the NL.
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