He played in MLB for the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, and New York Mets, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Orix Buffaloes.

[1] In 2015, he broke Buzz Arlett's record for the most career minor league home runs, hitting his 433rd on August 3, 2015.

His first major league hit was a pinch-hit home run on August 26, 2003, off New York Mets pitcher Mike Stanton.

He played for the Tigers' Triple-A affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens, for the whole season, and helped them win the International League championship for the first time in 38 years.

[6] On June 1, he hit his 68th career home run with the Mud Hens, breaking Erve Beck's 107-year old franchise record.

[3] On August 28, 2007, Hessman was named the International League Most Valuable Player, and joined Phil Hiatt (1996), Tim Teufel (1983), and Joe Lis (1976) as the only Mud Hens to win the award.

[10] Despite missing an entire month of the minor league season, Hessman hit 34 home runs for the Mud Hens in 2008.

[6] In 2012, Hessman played with the Oklahoma City RedHawks, Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, and hit .231 with 35 home runs and 78 RBI in 123 games.

[6] On August 3, 2015, while playing for the Mud Hens, Hessman hit his 433rd career home run – a grand slam[14] – off Dustin McGowan of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, setting a new minor league baseball record for the most home runs in a career, surpassing the 78-year-old record set by Buzz Arlett of the Oakland Oaks in 1937.