The World of Baseball

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I have come to the conclusion that there are a handful of baseball players who deserve more consideration for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  Some of these players were one of the best at their positions for an extended period of time.  The player I will focus on is Steve Garvey, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1969-1982) and the San Diego Padres (1983-1987).  He made the National League All-Star team ten times.  I think it’s a mystery why he is not in the Hall of Fame.

            Steve Garvey was a solid two-way player with the Dodgers in the mid to 1ate 1970s into the early 1980s.  His breakout season was in 1974 when he won NL MVP and helped lead the Dodgers to the World Series.  Garvey hit 21 homeruns, drove in 111 runs, and collected 200 hits.  He also won his first Gold Glove Award at first base.  Garvey took his game to another level in the 1974 postseason, hitting .385 in 9 games.  He would become one of the best first basemen in baseball for almost a decade.

            I find it surprising that Garvey did not gain enough votes to remain on the ballot. His overall numbers are not extraordinary.  However, consider the fact that he had six seasons of at least 200 hits, and played over 1,000 straight games.  One can argue his best season was in 1977 when he hit 33 homeruns with 115 runs batted in.  He was a part of the first team in Major League Baseball to have four players hit at least 30 homeruns.  Garvey led the NL in hits twice (1978, 1980) and games played six times (1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985).

            The main reason I believe Steve Garvey should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame is because of what he accomplished in October.  He has a .338 career postseason average in 55 games with 11 homeruns and 31 runs batted in.  Garvey elevated his game to another level when the games mattered most.  His game-winning homerun with the Padres in Game 4 of the 1984 National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs is one of the greatest moments in postseason history.  Garvey won two NLCS MVPs in 1978 and 1984.

            Some fans who watched Steve Garvey will say he was a very good player for a long time.  As someone who never saw him play, I would probably say he’s not a Hall of Fame when first looking up his numbers.  As time has passed, I am convinced that there should be a spot for Steve Garvey in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  He was everything you wanted in a ballplayer. He was reliable and durable.  I hope he has his day in the sun in Cooperstown.