Feb 11, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Recording artist Justin Bieber watches play during the third quarter of Super Bowl LVIII between Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Justin Bieber Got Life Advice from Yankees Legend

Originally posted on New York Yankees on SI
By Joseph Randazzo | Last updated Dec 6, 2025 11:30 AM ET

The New York Yankees keep running into Biebers. Last season, the Toronto Blue Jays acquired Shane Bieber, who then exercised his player option for the 2026 season. The other that shares his last name, and is also Canadian, but doesn't play for any professional sports teams, happens to be pop star Justin Bieber.

Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

Apparently, the Grammy-winning Bieber received some life advice from Gary Sheffield, who played for the Yankees from 2004 to 2006. On the Foul Territory podcast, Sheffield relayed some dad-related knowledge to the young man. Sheffield told him that fatherhood was like getting a second chance at life.

"He had a newborn. He was talking about that and how he wants to get his life on the right track and get it the way it needs to be," Sheffield said, according to Manny Gomez of NJ Advanced Media. "And I told him, You know, it's not about your failures in life, it's about your redemption. And I think God has given you another chance through your kids, and so don't ruin it for them.

"It was all about the family, you know, Haley and his wife and his kid. It was all about them, doing it for them, and he wants to do better," Sheffield continued.

Sheffield, a family man himself, has five sons, Noah, Gary Jr., Garrett, Jaden, and Christian, and three daughters, Ebony, Carissa, and Ashley. Noah, a graduate of Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida, shares his dad's baseball dreams.

He plays college ball for the Florida State Seminoles. Just like Papa Sheffield, he, too, has the patented bat wiggle and violent swing his dad became famous for during his years playing for the Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and, of course, the Yankees.

With the Yankees, Gary Sheffield hit 76 home runs. He hit .291/.383/.515 and had two top ten AL MVP finishes. Sheffield finished second in the MVP vote in 2004 to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had also been a target of the Yankees. Unfortunately, having a stellar year will inevitably be forgotten as the Yankees had one of the worst collapses in modern sports to the Boston Red Sox that October.

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