Garvey could hit for average, he had power, good glove, decent speed, and was a durable player. His teams went to multiple World Series', and was a clutch post season player.
Absolutely. Go look up some of the all time greats who were first ballot hall of famers, and look their post season stats up. There are some ATROCIOUS playoff stats out there. Garvey was awesome in the postseason. TEN EFFING All stars, four gold gloves. I dont even care about Garvey or the LA Dodgers, but come on! Him not being in the Hall is one of the biggest Hall of Fame travesties in history. His highest percentage was 42 percent. 42 percent! Less than half, which is UNBELIEVABLE to me considering his resume. Its not all about homers, or number of hits, its about all stars and clutch performers in big games. Steve Garvey was that. We are all getting old, including him. Do the right thing voters, and dont wait until after hes dead like Ken Stabler had happen to him.
@@chocolatetownforever7537 they're going by this WAR bullshit dude was awesome and clutch mvp of the league All-Star mvp world series champ guy never took a day off wtf do they want if he doesn't get hurt and retire he would've had 3000 hits
Garvey had a great glove and was badass in clutch games. I have a 1981 Steve Garvey first baseman’s mitt with Steve’s name on it and my name engraved. I’m an Amazing Mets fan but Garvey, Gil Hodges, and Keith Hernandez are my favorite First Basemen ⚾️. Garvey grew up in Florida, like me 🏄🏼♂️
Garvey should be in the Hall just based on his class. He is still the poster child of what the MLB would love from all its players. His consecutive games played and MVP season and Alllstar MVPs. Its a crime Garvey is not in the Hall of Fame.
Batting Average: 6 times in top 10 (2 times in top 5); RBI 7 times in top 10 (5 times in top 5); HR 3 times in top 10.Of course he should be in the HOF. And I disliked the Dodgers.
@@csnide6702 Absolutely belongs, no question whatsoever. The overemphasis on power and bias against more important parts of the game keeps out well deserving players like Garvey, Keith Hernandez, John Olerud, and Will Clark. All four were high OBP, brilliant clutch performers, and spectacular defensively, and if you think defense doesn't matter at first base, ask some managers about the dozens of errors they save each year on errant throws. Getting away from first basemen, the power bias kept Tim Raines out of Cooperstown for 8 or 9 years, which was insane. If that doesn't demonstrate the problem, I don't know what does.
@@jimwerther exactly... I don't like the racial bias either - how about a player with 2700 hits 400 steals a 21 year career with lifetime Batting avg. of .272 and 11 Gold Gloves at SS--- why isn't HE IN...?
It’s a shame that great defensive first basemen such as Steve Garvey and Keith Hernandez, who hit a ton, hit in the clutch and were stellar defensively have not been selected to the hall of fame.
They don't get a lot of credit for defense, because 1st base is the lowest valued defensive position on the field. As for Garvey, he was a good defensive 1st Baseman, but he hit like a 2nd baseman. His power numbers are not what people remember them as (HR's, slugging OPS+, RBI's, etc.) Hernandez, though having a better HOF case than Garvey, would still be one of the absolute weakest HOF 1st Basemen if inducted. His rate stats are much better than GArvey, and he was much better defensively (the only thing stopping him from playing 2nd or 3rd was throwing lefty) but his counting stats are nowhere near enough.
Garvey, Hernandez, Olerud, and Will Clark. Put them all in. They helped their teams win far more than did flashier players like Jim Rice, who is in, and Sammy Sosa, who would have been if not for steroids.
@@gopherstate777 All-Stars are often just a popularity contest, or someone is picked because you have to have someone from every team, or someone else is injured.
No he did not hit for power. He has an OPS+ of 117. He was a singles hitter who didn't walk and played the least important defensive position. He is not even close to being a Hall of Famer and I think everyone who is close should go. I am not sure he is a Hall of Very Good player. He is a popular guy who fans and writers thought was better than he was because he hit around .300.
Didn't really put up power stats. He was a 1st Baseman with one season of 30+ HR's, and less than 300 in career. His RBI's are not in the top 100. His slugging percentage is not in the TOP 500. His WAR and OPS+ are not good (not in the top 600 for WAR and barely in top 500 for OPS+). In effect, he was a 1st Baseman who hit more like a 2nd Baseman.
@@Markdfadf Absolutely belongs, no question whatsoever. The overemphasis on power and bias against more important parts of the game keeps out well deserving players like Garvey, Keith Hernandez, John Olerud, and Will Clark. All four were high OBP, brilliant clutch performers, and spectacular defensively, and if you think defense doesn't matter at first base, ask some managers about the dozens of errors they save each year on errant throws. Getting away from first basemen, the power bias kept Tim Raines out of Cooperstown for 8 or 9 years, which was insane. If that doesn't demonstrate the problem, I don't know what does.
Garvey should be in HOF for his defense alone... When he retired, he had THE highest all-time fielding percentage for 1B, and today he is still Top 5 for 1B w >10k innings played. ⚾
He was the best first baseman for a decade. That isnt being taken into account as much as it should. Comparing 70s and 80s stats with the 00s and 10s isnt fair to them. If you account his success as part of a team, his playoff stats, his games played streak and throw in gold gloves and all star games it should be a given. Another interesting stat: Players that have 6 or more 200 hit seasons and how many are in or argueable should be in HOF Pete Rose 10 years Ichiro Suzuki 10 years Ty Cobb 9 years Lou Gehrig 8 years Derek Jeter 8 yeats Willie Keeler 8 years Paul Waner 8 years Wade Boggs 7 years Charlie Gehringer 7 years Rogers Hornsby 7 years Steve Garvey 6 years Stan Musial Sam Rice Al Simmons George Sisler Bill Terry Michael Young
70s playerd have the lowest WAR of any decade. If you are one of the best or maybe top 2 of players at their position for a decade , you are the best at your generation. That alone deserves to be all u need. And i would guess 90% if not more wiuld say hes the best 1b of 1974-1984.
If u are in the top 2 at your position for a decade , that means you were the best of your generation. From 1974 to 1983 Garvey was rhe best 1st baseman in either league. Just a side note bte. Garvey won 4 straight gold gloves. Then Keith Hernandez started winning them. He had like 8 or something. I was looking at the fielder statistics for those years. Garvey was better most of if not all those years if I remember correctly. Garvey probably should of won another 2-5 told gloves too. The veterans commiittee has something personal against him. Dave Parker also.
@@howie9751 Steve was "Great" when being with his infielders of the Dodgers from the early '70's to early '80,'s. Sure, he deserves the HOF, as does Lopes, Cey & Russell, on the idea of a Tinker to Evers to Chance idea. They were all great, however, one wasn't better than the other. This was proven after they all (except Russell) went on to play for different teams. ⚾
National League record 1207 consecutive game streak. Legendary Vin Scully once said Garvey is a right-hander Lou Gehrig during a 1977 broadcast. As a kid, I never forgot that. HOF all the way. (If same era Tony Perez is in the hall then Garv should be too)
If Scully said that, he was drunk that day. Garvey was not even in the same solar system as Gehrig. Why not just go all in and say Reggie Smith was a right-handed Babe Ruth.
@@rifyrafi Those numbers provided mentioned by csnide6702 are some of the traditional numbers that would get you in almost automatically (ex. 3000 hits, 500 HR's, 1500 RBI's), etc., regardless of the rest of the resume. Those times have changed. That being said, Garvey is not on the same level as Perez. Yep, he has a higher average, for whatever that is worth. Meanwhile, Perez dwarfs him just about everywhere else: WAR, OPS+, hits, HR's, RBI's, OBP, Slugging, OPS,
@@bauerj3398 Okay, and....? Perez played in Riverfront as part of the Big Red Machine. Garvey played on light hitting teams in cavernous ballparks. Not picking on Tony Perez, who is deserving, but so is Garvey.
Lived in LA from 76 to 79 my two boys and my husband and I, never missed a home Dodger game. I absolutely LOVED Garvey ... had more fun at Dodger games than a Trump rally... He gave me and my family many many fantastic memories.
he was my first sports hero, during his peak years he was one of the biggest stars in the game, my favorite player for a long time, he was consistent and he was clutch, but I think the problem was his era , while not the dead ball era, but it paled in comparison to what would happen in the 80's and 90's and so on. Also, his last really great year was when he was 31, after that alot of mediocre seasons, maybe if he had a couple more really good years, his chances might be better
There's a theory that one reason why Steve Garvey has been kept out of the Hall of Fame was due to the two paternity suits against him in 1989. Keep in mind that prior to that, Garvey had a very wholesome, conservative, clean-cut image. So the news of him being exposed as a cheating husband, who got two girlfriends pregnant simultaneously felt like a major betrayal.
crazy,how off field that wasn't a crime or made either team he played for look bad,stop putting people on a pedastal,what he did on the field,he is a Hall of Famer,no doubt!!!!
@@DrewFromNY Yeah I agree. Actually nothing to be forgiven for. That's between him and his family. If the hall of fame excluded players who cheated on their wives they could have the ceremony in a tour bus. Definitely screwed up his political aspirations but should have no impact on his hall of fame election. Get him in!
I thought the same thing. The media went to great lengths to prop up Garvey and probably felt duped when everything came out and they're making him pay. No logical rationale for not electing him. Total joke.
I am a Detroit Tigers fan. Bill Freehan was their catcher for 15 years and went to the All-Star Game 11 times, but I would never in a million years tell you that I think he should be in the Hall of Fame. His stats just don't equal a HOF career. Neither do Garvey's.
Garvey was a very good 1b, who had the advantage of a large voter base in LA and SD. In reality, out of the 10 All-Star games he was selected to, he probably only deserved to be selected to 7 of them. Still very impressive, but not necessarily HOF worthy.
As somebody who was a huge baseball fan in the 70's and 80's Garvey definitely should be IN. Was widely considered the best 1st baseman in baseball from 1974 to 1984 ....McCovey, Stargell, Hernandez, Rose etc fans might not agree but NONE of those guys did ALL of the following: Hit for power, average, won multiple gold glove, regularly played in all 162 games, and mashed in the post season (amongst the best post season numbers in fact) AND was a monster in All Star games when they actually mattered. Nobody who was a fan back then had any doubt they were watching a future HOF in Garvey.
Garvey did not hit for power, at least not for HOF power as a 1st Baseman. He was a 1st baseman who hit like a second baseman, with the problem being, when it comes to the Hall, you are generally compared to players at your position. Garvey would be one of the absolute worst first basemen in the Hall, only ahead of the likes of Bottomley, Kelly, Chance, etc.)
I had my baseball blossoming in LA during the late 70"s and early 80's and there were few better and more consistent players in baseball than Steve Garvey. He could hit average, for power and in the clutch. He was a much better than average fielding first basemen. He was durable. He was an all-star. He continuously performed in the post-season. His numbers are just as good and if not better than other players of his era who are in the HOF. Joe Morgan and Tony Perez come to mind.
Garvey should be in HOF. During his day everyone talked about him when they talked about the Dodgers and they were always in the hunt. He also had a nice stint with the Padres. No brainer.
Unfortunately, players that just put up good career statistics get in, as if we have robot judges. They don’t care if you are a winner, hit good in the clutch, and postseason. That’s only good in the NFL, where players like Kurt Warner are in the HOF. Steve Garvey was a better player than Mark McGuire for example, but the statistics would say otherwise.
One of my favorite players as a kid; the "Reggie Incident" at first base is still ingrained in my mind after 46 years. Borderline hall of famer, but then, if Phil Rizzuto is in, then Garvey should be in.
As a baseball fan in the seventies and a dodger fan I seen all the first baseman in baseball at the time and none were better defensively, and his hitting was really good, his all star appearances alone in my book should put him in, best first baseman ever in my book
His defense was nowhere near as good as Hernandez. As for 'best first baseman ever', that is one of the more nonsensical things I have ever seen on RU-vid.
Leaving aside his personal life, which obviously was a mess, he actually was a very limited athlete. He never slugged .500 in any season, had a very low on base percentage, had 6 different 200 hit seasons without scoring 100 runs (which is astounding and shows you how slow he was), and the general thinking is that he was a not a good thrower. Having said that, my first recollection of Steve Garvey was the O.J. Simpson case, where he and his wife had attended the recital of O.J.'s daughter, and Steve's wife testified to O J.'s demeanor that night. That's one thing that Steve and O.J. had in common: they both had reputations for squeaky clean images that bore so little resemblance to the lives they lead. Granted, there's a huge difference between impregnating so many different women and murder but still.
A good summary of the case against his induction - I've looked over his stats just now and can't believe how underwhelming they are. I guess as a kid watching him I was taken in by the show because I remember him being much better than he was. And his walks were quite pathetic 429 in 9466 career played appearances. Also his career WAR was only 38.1, several notches lower than Kent Hrbek's 38.6. Yeah, hard pass.
I never knew this about the recital. The two met a long time earlier. It was on the football field. Garvey was a Spartan linebacker and Simpson was of course a Trojan. In the game, Garvey went to tackle Simpson and only came away with some jersey. Simpson had a tear away jersey. Hey, helped him win the Heisman!!
@MatthewBuffardi I've been writing comments up and down this comment section that four first basemen should be in: Garvey, Hernandez, Olerud and Will Clark, and my argument was high OBP, super clutch, and brilliant defensively. You just stuck a big, fat hole in my Garvey argument. .329 OBP? Yowsh. I just checked it up because of what you wrote. Okay, now I'm getting a little wobbly on Garvey. That said, he was a brilliant clutch hitter and excellent defensive first baseman. But that .329 OBP absolutely bothers me.
For sure! Put Garvey in the HOF! He also did it without steroids. Rice and Dawson got in. They had better stats, but I view Garvey as the overall better player when I look back on his career. Great player who also really good in the playoffs who made his teams better.
Robert Weingartner I always cringe every time I see Any Dodger wearing Number 6(Including Manager Joe Torre). To me, Number 6 will always belong to Steve Garvey!
@@robertweingartner2055 And Fernando Valenzuela, am I correct? If the Dodgers can retire Valenzuela's number 34, why can't they retire Steve Garvey's number 6? Valenzuela will never find his way to Cooperstown, and it's such a travesty to see Garvey's number 6 retired in San Diego but not in Los Angeles!
I can certainly understand the frustration that Steve Garvey has because he definitely should be in the Hall Of Fame. I haven't always gone along with some players tooting their own horn, but in Garvey's case, it is justified.
Great player and he likely gets in to the HOF at some point. The challenge is that he wasn't the MOST dominant player at his position for 10-12 years but he was damn good for quite a while.
He was pretty damn close to being the most dominant at his position, but lets assume he wasnt for arguments sake. Being the MOST dominant isnt a prerequisite to be in the Hall, nor is it logical criteria. How many players can say they were THE MOST DOMINANT player at their position for TEN TO TWELVE YEARS lol? Theres only a handful of guys that can even come close to saying that, and there are HUNDREDS of guys who are in the hall that cant say they were. No offense, buts dumb reasoning on your part, and you certainly dont know much about baseball.or logic if you dont recognize how good Steve Garveys career was lol. Dude was one of the best first baseman of ALL TIME, and certainly of his era. Go look up his playoff stats, against the best teams, and compare them to some of the guys you talk about dominating for ten to twelve years. He dominates them lol. Smarten up sir.
@@chocolatetownforever7537 No. No he doesn't. Mind you, I'm actually a fan and believe he is HOF worthy but he wasn't better than Stargell or Hernandez. Personally I would take McCovey over Garvey and the Tony Perez conversation would be an interesting one as well. Hell, Fred McGriff was from a different era but he hit close to 500 HR's and he isn't in. Cecil Cooper in his peak years was probably better and I think Rod Carew would be considered a better player by most, though I would take Garvey ahead of Carew on my own team if I had to choose.
@@SopranoPizzaJMFNJ Hernandez > Garvey, although Hernandez actually said something like Garvey should be in before he, Keith, gets in. But Hernandez's OBP is in a different stratosphere than Garvey's.
There was no doubt in my mind that Steve was already in the HOF, it was kinda a given. I was and am a Reds fan but my dad loved the Dodgers and Steve was a great player he should be in without a doubt.
I agree that Garvey should be in the HOF. I think the HOF is super political and Garvey was just a ball player. He also may suffer from being remembered in retrospect as a piece of the “Greatest infield” Dodgers in the 70’s. That retrospect certainly glosses over how great of a player Garvey was individually. There are HOF cases for Cey and Lopes as well…
@@csnide6702 Perhaps you should do some research. She had 5 #1, 18 Top-10, and 50 Top 40 HITS. She had one song that was a once-in-a-career song for any artist if they're lucky. It was a country song that crossed over to pop and went No.1 around the world. First female artist to headline & sell out Madison Square Garden, Billboard's artist of the decade (70-80). One song, my ass. Again, do some research before you make ignorant statements.
@@csnide6702 "One song" that crossed genres and went #1 worldwide. The others were just regular #1s. Other artists should be so lucky to have this problem. lol She was huge when I was a kid.
@@ChadWalker-nu9dt Oh.. She was definitely a HUGE country star in those days - I myself as a young boy had a BIG-TIME crush on her- so not meaning any disrespect.. but a Hall of Famer...? I'm not so sure .
@@csnide6702 I just naturally assumed she was already in the Country Music Hall of Fame until I read the post that started this. Anyway, we'll agree to disagree. Take care
If Ozzie Smith, Joe Morgan, and other good players of his era are already in HOF, he deserve to be in it by now. Why the voters overlook him? I don`t know.
The only reason I could think of why he is not in the Hall of Fame is because of his paternity issues. Other than that, he should be in the Hall of Fame❗
If the Hall of Fame takes into account issues like the paternity cases, ok. But he didn't murder anyone, based on his Baseball career he without a doubt deserves to be in there❗ 👍
From 1974 to 1980, Steve put up HOF stats. Six (6) 200+ hit seasons, 5 seasons of 100+ RBI's, and 6 seasons of .300+ batting average. Excellent stats. However, for a lifetime, he never had 3,000 hits or 500 hrs. For the voters, having one or both of those 2 metrics would automatically get you in. Other players (aside from catchers, shortstops and 2nd basemen) have gotten in missing both of those marks. Tony Perez and Kirby Puckett come to mind. Steve never put up the big power numbers over a career like Stargell, McCovey or Gehrig, and, unfortunately, the voters are measuring him against the other 1st basemen in the hall.
It has to be personal. His persona as "Mr. Clean" seemed to rub some people the wrong way. That's my only guess. He absolutely belongs in the HOF. Go Padres.
More 200 hit seasons than Tony Gwynn. Enough said. Three straight gold gloves. That he is not in, while a dozen others I could name are, is an outrage.
Man, Al Oliver has a better claim to being a Hall of Famer than Garvey, but you don't hear him out there smugly carrying on about how he should be in the HOF. Oliver Career WAR = 43.7 Garvey Career WAR = 38.0 Oliver; 2743 H, .303/.344/.451 Garvey 2599 H, .294/329/.446 They've both been on the same number of World Series championships...And Gold Glove Awards and number of All-Star Game MVPs, consecutive games played....none of that is a good metric for determining whether you are Hall of Fame worthy. Awards are subjective. Garvey gets more noise about being a Hall of Famer, because he played in Los Angeles while surrounded by a great group of teammates like Rick Monday, Ron Cey, Reggie Smith, Don Sutton, Tommy John, Doug Rau. If he had played for the Rangers his whole career everyone would have forgotten about him a long time ago.
If Mike Piazza who couldn't throw or catch made it certainly Garvey should be in the HOF . If Gary Carter made it certainly ''The Garv'' should be in the HOF.
Garvey is my all time favorite player.And I believe he should be in the Hall.Especially by now..What is keeping him out is (A) His onbase percentage is a bit weak..(B) and this is the most important one) He cheated on his wife and had a few paternity suits against him.All the while he was portrayed as the ultimate baseball "Good" guy..His nicknames were "The Senator" because people just assumed he had a great political career ahead of him.And Capt. America.Which speaks for itself.Back then he even had a school named after him.So unfairly people felt betrayed by him
He also has a career war of 38.0 which is less than Troy Glaus, Bill Madlock, and Rico Petrocelli to name a few. And if you think WAR is just a flawed, modern stat, it's worth noting that the Top 5 in WAR all-time are Babe Ruth (183.1), Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Barry Bonds, and Willie Mays. It's actually a fantastic stat for measuring a player's value and Garvey doesn't cut the mustard.
@@TheVCRTimeMachine I hear you..But if intangibles count Garvey had quite the pedigree..An MVP, 10 time all star, 5 top 10 mvp votes, a bunch of golden gloves..And was the clubhouse leader for a great Dodger legacy that produced World Series championships..And he may have been the best 1B of his generation as well
