In the minors Larry Sheets was a mystery - an outstanding lefthanded slugging prospect
who apparently had no great desire to play baseball professionally. He was drafted
by the Orioles in 1977 but did not attend spring training until 1983, both because
of college commitments and his personal indecision about his future. He still led
the Appalachian League in home runs with 14 in only 37 games for Bluefield in 1980,
but then chose not to play organized ball at all in 1981. He returned midway through
the 1982 season, and in 1983 he tied Glenn Davis for the Southern League HR title
with 25 for Charlotte. By 1985 the enigmatic Sheets had reached the ML, where he
made the Topps and Baseball Digest All-Rookie teams with a .262 average and 17 HR as
Baltimore's designated hitter. In 1987 Sheets
was outstanding, hitting .316 with 31 HR, including five two-home-run games and one
blast onto the roof of Chicago's Comiskey Park, but he fell apart in 1988, hitting
just .230 with 10 HR.
(SCL)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»August 12, 1985: Baltimore's Wayne Gross and Larry Sheets connect for back-to-back solo pinch homers in the 9th inning, off Cleveland's Jerry Reed, but it is not enough to overcome the Indians 5-run 1st inning. The Tribe wins, 8–5. It's the 2nd time that a pair of Orioles have pinch hit back to back homers, and just the 2nd time in American League history.
»August 6, 1986: In a wild game that features a ML-record three grand slams, Texas scores seven runs in the final two innings to beat Baltimore 13–11. Toby Harrah's grand slam in the 2nd gives the Rangers a 5–0 lead, but Baltimore rallies for nine runs in the 4th, thanks to grand slams by Larry Sheets and Jim Dwyer, the 5th time in ML history a team has hit two grand slams in one inning. Bobby Witt and Jeff Russell serve up the gopher balls.
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