Sheffield Seals Year of Homer

The 1996 season will be remembered as the Year of the Home Run--officially.

Gary Sheffield of the Florida Marlins hit the 4,459th home run of the major league season Sunday, breaking the record set in 1987.

And, as pitchers are well aware, there are still three full weeks left in the season.

Mike Piazza connected in the seventh inning against Pittsburgh’s Esteban Loaiza to tie the record. About 10 minutes before that, Mike Macfarlane of Kansas City connected in Oakland for the 4,457th home run of the season.

There had been 4,436 home runs hit through Saturday.

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Milwaukee Brewer outfielder David Hulse is out for the season after dislocating his left shoulder sliding head-first into home plate Saturday night against the Texas Rangers. . . . Willy Miranda, the flamboyant shortstop who played for the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees in the 1950s, died of lung cancer. He was 70. Born in Cuba, Miranda defected to the United States with the help of an American flight crew that hid him in the cockpit of a Miami-bound airplane. In addition to the Orioles and Yankees, Miranda played with the Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Browns.