Steve Garvey-The National League’s Iron Man
Playing in parts of four seasons since 1969 with the Dodgers, Steve Garvey didn’t gain a full-time spot in the line-up until 1973, when he appeared in 114 contests and batted .304 as their first baseman. In 1974, Steve Garvey, now part of a strong Dodger infield that would include Ron Cey at third, Bill Russell at shortstop, Davey Lopes at second, and Garvey manning first base, got off to a torrid start. He earned an All-Star spot and won the MVP of the game. Steve Garvey was incredible in the ten All-Star games he participated in, batting almost .400 with a slugging percentage of .955 and two game MVP awards.
The Dodgers would win the pennant in 1974 with Steve Garvey being selected the MVP of the National League. Steve Garvey hit .312 with 21 homers and 111 runs batted in, playing an almost flawless first base. The Dodgers had originally tried Steve Garvey at third base, but his erratic throwing arm helped to account for 47 errors in the parts of three seasons he played there until his conversion to first for good in 1973. Los Angeles lost the World Series to the Oakland A’s in five games in October of 1974, despite a .381 average by Steve Garvey. One of the finest clutch hitters of his day, Steve Garvey would play in eleven post-season series and bat a robust .338 with 11 home runs and 31 runs batted in for the 55 games.
On September 3rd, 1975, Steve Garvey came back to the lineup after missing a couple of games with the flu. It was the first game of a streak of consecutive games that extended into 1983, and only Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken have exceeded it in major league annals. Steve Garvey finished 1975 with a .319 average and 95 ribbies, as well as 210 hits. Steve Garvey would achieve the 200 hit plateau six times in his career, garnering exactly that number on three occasions. A good 1976 was followed up by a great 1977, when Steve Garvey hit career highs in homers with 33 and runs batted in with 115. The Dodgers lost to the Yankees in a six game Fall Classic, but Steve Garvey hit .375 with a home run in the losing effort.
Los Angeles was right back in the playoffs the very next year, and Steve Garvey’s 113 runs batted in were a big reason why. He once again took home MVP honors from the All-Star game, when he singled and tripled in a 7-3 National League victory. With his too-good-to-be-true clean cut looks and an All-American image, Steve Garvey sometimes could rub his teammates the wrong way, as when he got into a clubhouse fight with pitcher Don Sutton late in the 1978 season. But his play on the field was outstanding, never more so than when he destroyed the Phillies in the 1978 NLCS with four home runs, seven RBI, and a .389 batting average in a four game defeat of Philadelphia. After winning the first two games of the World Series against the Yankees, the Dodgers lost the next four, with Steve Garvey managing just 5 hits in 24 at bats.
Two more one hundred RBI seasons by Steve Garvey were delivered in 1979 and 1980. The Dodgers lost a one game playoff with the Astros in 1980 to miss the post-season, but they won the World Series in 1981, their first title since 1965. Steve Garvey had an outstanding run in the playoffs, culminated by a .417 standard in the Series as the Dodgers came back from two games down to defeat the Yankees. The Los Angeles infield was finally broken up in February of 1982 when the Dodgers dealt Lopes to the A’s; the infield of Cey, Lopes, Russell, and Steve Garvey had been together for eight full seasons, the longest in baseball history. The next year, Steve Garvey left via free agency to become a San Diego Padre, where he went to his fifth World Series in 1984. His Game Four bottom of the ninth inning two-run homer allowed the Padres to force a fifth game in the League Championship Series with the Cubs, who had taken a two games to none lead. San Diego won the pennant in the fifth game, but then they were beaten in five games by the Detroit Tigers for the championship. It was the last time Steve Garvey played in the post-season, despite two more strong seasons at the plate and in the field.
Steve Garvey retired after the 1988 season with an impressive resume. He had collected 2,599 base hits, 272 home runs, 1,308 runs batted in, a .294 lifetime batting average, an NL MVP Award, four Gold Gloves at first base, and a career fielding percentage of .996, tied with Don Mattingly for the best ever at the position. Steve Garvey once played in 193 games in a row without committing an error, and he knocked on over 100 runs five times. He hit .300 or better in eight of the post-season series he played in, and earned a reputation as one of the toughest outs in a big spot that there ever was. Steve Garvey is now a successful businessman in the Los Angeles area, the owner of Garvey Communications. If he is to be elected to the Hall of Fame, it will be by the Veteran’s Committee, as his chance to be voted in by the baseball writers has passed. As more time elapses, it becomes clearer and clearer that Steve Garvey warrants an enshrinement in Cooperstown.
