Steven Patrick Garvey (born December 22, 1948) is an American former professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...
player.
He played in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
as a
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the major ...
for the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...
and
San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1987.
Garvey was the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
(NL) Most Valuable Player in 1974 and National League Championship Series MVP in 1978 and 1984. He was an NL All-Star for 10 seasons and holds the NL record for consecutive
games played
Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.
Baseball ...
(1,207).
The Padres
retired Garvey's No. 6 in 1988.
Early life
Garvey was born in
Tampa, Florida
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...
, to parents who had recently relocated from
Long Island, New York
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18t ...
. From 1956 to 1961, Garvey was a bat boy for the
Brooklyn Dodgers,
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
and
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
during
spring training.
Michigan State University
After graduating from
Chamberlain High School, Garvey played football and baseball at
Michigan State University. He was committed to play football and baseball in college despite being drafted in the 3rd round by the Minnesota Twins in the June 1966 amateur draft at the age of 17. Garvey credited Spartan head football coach
Duffy Daugherty encouraging him to be a multi-sport athlete in his choosing MSU. He recorded 30 tackles and earned a letter as a defensive back in 1967.
His first at-bat in a Spartan uniform resulted in a grand-slam home run, with the ball landing in the
Red Cedar River. He was named Michigan State Baseball Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 2009, he was inducted into the Michigan State University Hall of Fame in 2010,
and his baseball jersey number 10 was retired from Michigan State University in 2014.
Major League Baseball career
Los Angeles Dodgers
Garvey was drafted by the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...
in the 1st round of the
1968 MLB draft
The 1968 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft took place prior to the 1968 MLB season. The draft saw the New York Mets take shortstop Tim Foli first overall.
First round selections
The following are the first round picks in the 1968 Major Leagu ...
(June secondary phase).
He made his Major League debut on September 1, 1969 at the age of 20.
He appeared in the 7th inning to pinch hit for
Ray Lamb
Raymond Richard Lamb (born December 28, 1944 in Glendale, California, USA) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball for two teams, and a highly regarded commercial sculptor of fantasy miniature figurines.
Major league pitcher
During college, ...
and struck out in his one appearance at the plate. He had two more plate appearances in 1969 as a pinch hitter and recorded his first hit on September 10, off
Denny Lemaster of the
Houston Astros. He played
third base for the Dodgers in 1970 and hit his first home run on July 21, 1970, off
Carl Morton of the
Montreal Expos. He moved to
first base in 1973 after the retirement of
Wes Parker.
Garvey was part of one of the most enduring infields in baseball history, along with third baseman
Ron Cey, shortstop
Bill Russell, and second baseman
Davey Lopes. The four infielders
stayed together as the Dodgers' starters for eight and a half years, starting on June 13, 1973.
Garvey is one of only two players to have started an All-Star Game as a write-in vote, doing so in
1974. That year, he won the
NL MVP award and had the first of six 200-hit seasons. In the
1978 National League Championship Series, which the Dodgers won over the
Philadelphia Phillies, Garvey hit four home runs and added a triple for five extra base hits, both marks tying
Bob Robertson's
1971 NLCS
The 1971 National League Championship Series was a best-of-five series that pitted the East Division champion Pittsburgh Pirates against the West Division champion San Francisco Giants. The Pirates won the Series three games to one and won the 19 ...
record and earning him the
League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award;
Jeffrey Leonard would tie the NLCS home run record in the
1987 NLCS
The 1987 National League Championship Series took place between October 6 and 14 at Busch Memorial Stadium (Games 1, 2, 6, and 7) and Candlestick Park (Games 3, 4, and 5). It matched the East division champion St. Louis Cardinals (95–67) a ...
.
Garvey's cheerful personality, his availability with reporters, and his willingness to sign autographs for fans made him a very popular player, and the Dodgers took advantage of this, making him one of the main focuses of their public relations campaigns. This caused friction with some of his Dodger teammates, such as Cey and Lopes, who thought Garvey was only acting this way to get endorsement opportunities. Cey, Lopes, and another unnamed player criticized Garvey in a mid-June 1976 ''San Bernardino Sun-Telegram'' article, which prompted manager
Walter Alston to call a team meeting. At this meeting, Garvey said, "If anyone has anything to say about me, I want it said to my face, here and now." No one said anything.
Tommy John thought it was at this point that Alston, who retired at the end of the year, began to lose control of the team.
Late in the 1978 season, the rift resurfaced when
Don Sutton criticized Garvey for being the only Dodger to get publicity, insisting that
Reggie Smith was a better player. The day after the article appeared, Garvey confronted Sutton with a copy of it in the locker room of
Shea Stadium, where the Dodgers were for a series against the
New York Mets. When Sutton affirmed that the quotes were his, the two got into a brawl. Garvey threw Sutton into Tommy John's locker, causing 96 baseballs John had been signing to fall out. Neither was hurt, though, and the two managed to overcome their feud, making sure they were the first to congratulate each other on the field for the rest of the year.
With the Dodgers, Garvey played in 1,727 games over 14 seasons and hit .301 with 211 homers and 992 RBI.
He was selected to eight All-Star Games and won the
All-Star Game MVP Award for the 1974 and
1978 games.
He also won four straight
Gold Glove Awards from 1974 to 1977, won the 1981
Roberto Clemente Award, and finished in the top 10 in the NL MVP Award voting five times.
After Garvey signed with the San Diego Padres in 1982, the Dodgers kept his number 6 out of circulation for 21 years until it was given to
utility player Jolbert Cabrera in 2003. It is Dodger policy not to officially retire a number unless a player who spent a majority of his playing days with the franchise gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.
San Diego Padres
In December 1982, Garvey signed with the Padres for $6.6 million over five years in what some felt was a "masterstroke" to General Manager
Jack McKeon's effort to rebuild the team. Though San Diego had vastly outbid the Dodgers, McKeon noted Garvey's value in providing a role model for younger players.
Additionally, Garvey's "box office appeal"—his impending departure from the Dodgers provoked some Girl Scouts to picket the stadium—helped San Diego increase its season ticket sales by 6,000 seats in Garvey's first year. ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...
'' ranked the signing as the 15th best free agent signing ever as of 2008.
His first season in San Diego allowed him to break the National League record for consecutive games played, a feat that landed him on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' as baseball's "Iron Man". In an unusual homecoming, Garvey tied the record in his first appearance back at
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ...
in Padre brown. For breaking the record, he was named the National League Player of the Week. The streak ended at
1207 consecutive games played (from September 3, 1975, to July 29, 1983) when he broke his thumb in a collision at home plate against the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...
. It is the fourth-longest such streak in Major League Baseball history.
It was Garvey's second season in San Diego, however, that would be his highlight in a Padres uniform. In 1984, Garvey became the only first baseman in MLB history to commit no errors while playing 150 or more games. He handled 1,319
total chances (1,232
putouts and 87
assists) flawlessly in 159 games for the Padres.
Led by Garvey, winning his second
National League Championship Series MVP award, the
Padres won their first National League
pennant over the
Chicago Cubs in 1984.
In Game 4,
Tony Gwynn drew an intentional walk that Garvey converted into one of his four RBIs.
After getting hits in the third, fifth, and seventh innings, Garvey capped off his efforts with a two-run
walk-off home run off
Lee Smith in the ninth inning.
As he rounded third base, Garvey was met by fellow Padres who later carried him off the field in celebration.
The home run became popular among San Diego Padres fans and was captured in a sequence of three shots by Padres team photographer Martin Mann. He was the only photographer to get a sequence of shots of the swing, and went on to sell limited edition series photos of "The Home Run", along with appearances on local television. In an interview with
The San Diego Union Tribune, Martin Mann said, “It was like nothing I’ve ever seen at a baseball game. It was just a magical night. There was something about that night, I don't know what it was. It felt like something was going to happen.”
Garvey made his final appearance in a game on May 23, 1987, pinch-hitting for
Lance McCullers in the ninth inning. He hit a flyout in his one appearance at the plate. In his 19-year MLB career, Garvey was a .294 hitter with 272 home runs and 1308 RBI in 2332 games played.
MLB statistics
Steve Garvey's major league stats:
Hall of Fame candidacy
In his 15 years (1993–2007) on the
National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot of the
Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), Garvey failed to reach the 75% required for induction. His highest percentage of votes was 42.6% in ; he received 21.1% in his final year on the ballot.
He was considered by the Hall of Fames's Expansion Era Committee (for the 1973–present era) in voting for and and was not elected. In 2017, he was on the 10 candidate ballot that was considered by the Hall's Modern Baseball Era Committee (for the 1970–1987 era) in voting for and fell short of the 75% threshold. In the December 2019 voting by the Modern Baseball Era's 16-member committee for the Hall of Fame class, Garvey received six votes (37.5%). The Modern Baseball Era Committee votes next in December 2023.
Post-baseball career
In 1983, Garvey started Garvey Media Group while playing for the Padres. Its strength was in sports marketing and corporate branding.
In 1988, he headed Garvey Communications, mainly involved in television production including
infomercials. In addition, he did
motivational speaking for corporations.
Since 1990, he has served as a member of the board of the
Baseball Assistance Team, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping former major league, minor league, and negro league players through financial and medical hardships.
Garvey played himself on an episode of the NBC sitcom ''
Just Shoot Me!'' in 1999.
Personal life and honors
Garvey is Irish American from his father's family. His father's roots come from County Cork, Ireland.
At age 22, Garvey married
Cynthia Truhan in 1971. They had two children, Krisha and Whitney. Cynthia was not very popular with most of Garvey's Dodger teammates or their wives, according to Tommy John. Cynthia left Garvey for composer
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of only seventeen people to win Emmy, Grammy, Academy Awards, Oscar and Tony Awards, Tony awards. This collection of all fou ...
; Garvey was already romantically involved with his secretary.
Garvey and Cynthia divorced in 1983.
In July 1988, Garvey discovered that Cheryl Moulton was pregnant with his child, Ashleigh.
Despite this, Garvey proposed to Rebecka Mendenhall in November 1988, telling Mendenhall about Moulton at the time of the proposal. Mendenhall learned that she was pregnant that January. Garvey broke their engagement January 1, 1989, on a phone call. Garvey and Mendenhall had been in a relationship since 1986. Their only child, Slade, was born in October 1989.
In January 1989, Garvey became engaged to Candace Thomas, whom he met at a benefit for the
Special Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...
. Over the next few weeks, Garvey and Thomas began a courtship that included trips to the inauguration of President
George H. W. Bush and the
Super Bowl.
Garvey, in the midst of what he termed a "midlife disaster", sued his ex-wife Cyndy for access to his two children.
His daughters testified in court that they did not wish to see him.
Under the shadow of multiple lawsuits, Garvey lost business opportunities and paid half his monthly television earnings in child support.
Garvey and Candace were married on February 18, 1989. They have three children together, Sean, Olivia and Ryan Garvey, and four from previous marriages, Taylor Abess, Shaunna Thomas Butler, Whitney Garvey, and Krisha Neither. Garvey resides in Los Angeles and
Palm Desert, California.
On September 1, 2000, Garvey and his management company, Garvey Management Group, were charged by the
Federal Trade Commission in the
United States District Court for the Central District of California for
false advertising
False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
related to a
weight-loss
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health, or physical fitness, refers to a reduction of the total body mass, by a mean loss of fluid, body fat (adipose tissue), or lean mass (namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon, and other conn ...
product. In 2004, the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* Distri ...
ruled that Garvey was not liable for the content of the
infomercials as he was merely a
spokesman. He had earned $1.1 million for appearing in the advertisements.
Honors
* Steve Garvey Junior High School (1978), in Lindsay, California, was named for him, but was eventually renamed as part of Reagan Elementary in 2011.
* In 1981,
Lawrence Ritter and
Donald Honig included him in their book ''The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time''.
* Garvey's jersey No. 6, worn when he was both a Padre and Dodger, was
retired by the Padres on April 16, 1988.
* Irish American Hall of Fame (2009).
* Michigan State University Athletics Hall of Fame (2010).
*He was selected to the initial class of "Legends of Dodger Baseball" in 2019.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
*
List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
*
List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
*
List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
Listed are all Major League Baseball (MLB) players with 1,000 or more career runs scored. Players in bold face are active as of the 2022 Major League Baseball season.
Key
List
*Stats updated through the 2022 season.
Through the end of th ...
*
Major League Baseball consecutive games played streaks
References
*
External links
Steve Garveyat SABR
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garvey, Steve
1948 births
Living people
American people of Irish descent
Major League Baseball first basemen
Los Angeles Dodgers players
San Diego Padres players
National League Most Valuable Player Award winners
National League Championship Series MVPs
Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVPs
National League All-Stars
Gold Glove Award winners
Major League Baseball players with retired numbers
Ogden Dodgers players
Albuquerque Dodgers players
Spokane Indians players
Michigan State Spartans baseball players
Michigan State Spartans football players
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Los Angeles Dodgers Legend Bureau
George D. Chamberlain High School alumni
Baseball players from Tampa, Florida