Steve Garvey was one of the highest profile baseball stars of the 1970s and early 1980s. He was a smooth fielding first baseman with moderate power who hit for good batting average, and had a likable personality. But even though he was one of the biggest stars of his time, he didn’t make the Hall of Fame. Here’s why.
Longevity
Steve Garvey played 19 seasons, but that’s misleading. He made his Major League debut at the age of 20, but did not emerge as an everyday player until he was 25. And then he retired at the age of 38. So he really was only in everyday player 14 seasons.
This is why, in spite of leading the league in the hits twice and collecting 200 hits in a season 6 times, his career hit total was 2,599. And his career total of 272 home runs is a modest total for a first baseman.
Whether you look at traditional or advanced metrics, Garvey just didn’t get enough playing time in to accumulate Hall of Fame type numbers. He came close. But ultimately, his Hall of Fame case was derailed by all the time he spent as a part-time player early in his career, and a shoulder injury ending his career prematurely at the age of 38.
All that time he spent on the bench in the early 70s was acknowledged as a missed opportunity for the Los Angeles Dodgers, even while he was still active.
Why Steve Garvey rode the bench for 4 years
Steve Garvey was a bench player for 4 years for the Dodgers for what seems today like no good reason. He was a first baseman, but he didn’t look like one. Garvey only stood 5’10”, and the ideal first baseman is at least 6’1″. Taller is better. Being tall means you can reach errant throws more easily, and also means you can stretch further to catch a throw a split second sooner to turn more close plays into outs.
At 5’10”, Garvey was a more than a couple of inches shorter than the ideal first baseman. Making matters worse, he was right-handed, which meant when he had to stretch to make a play, he had his back turned to the approaching base runner.
So the Dodgers insisted on playing him at third base or in the outfield, where his height didn’t pose any disadvantage. But his throwing arm wasn’t suited for any of those positions. Eventually, Garvey got his chance when injuries left the Dodgers short of outfielders in 1973. Bill Buckner volunteered to play left field and he suggested having Garvey play first base.
For the next eight seasons, Garvey was an All-Star first baseman.
Injuries
Somewhat ironically, it was injuries that ended Steve Garvey’s career. He was one of the most durable players of his era, breaking the National League record for consecutive games played. His streak ended in 1983 when he broke his thumb on a close play.
He returned in 1984, and played 161, 162, and 155 games in his next three seasons. But he looked like he had lost something. In 1984 and 1985, his power output decreased. In 1986, he regained some power, hitting 21 home runs, but his batting average dropped to a fairly pedestrian .255.
But in 1988 he only played 27 games, and played in his final game on May 23. A damaged tendon in his shoulder made it impossible for him to continue. His shoulder didn’t regain enough strength by the start of the 1988 season, so he retired.
Sitting out the season and attempting a comeback in 1989 might have been a possibility. But both of his former teams had moved on, and he probably would have had to sign a minor league deal with an American League team, where he would have had the option of splitting time between first base and DH, and where there were fewer young and promising the first baseman competing for time.
What could have been
I think if Steve Garvey had been healthy enough to play three more seasons, he would have collected 3000 hits, and then he would have reached the Hall of Fame. Every player with 3,000 career hits has made the Hall of Fame, so far. But as it stood, he retired with 2,599 hits.
I agree that Steve Garvey was a missed opportunity for the Dodgers in the early 1970s. They had a first baseman named Wes Parker who looked the part, and could hit from both sides of the plate, but he didn’t hit for a lot of power. It stands to reason that if Steve Garvey had been given the chance circa 1971 to win the job of the everyday first baseman, he would have been at least a slight upgrade from Wes Parker. And with two more full seasons under his belt, he would have been much closer to 3000 hits at the end of his career. A mid-season comeback in 1988 or a comeback in 1989 would have been more appealing. There would have been limits on how much playing time he would have been able to get had he reunited with either San Diego or Los Angeles. But opportunities existed in the American League. Either the Detroit Tigers or Chicago White Sox would have had room for him in their lineup in 1989. And his pursuit of 3000 hits would have given some fanfare to an otherwise disappointing season.
Steve Garvey’s Hall of Fame votes
When it came to his Hall of Fame vote, he was not a one and done case. Voters agonized over his candidacy for 15 years, where he received anywhere from 20.5 to 42.6 percent of the vote. And to be fair, not all of his statistics are that far off from Hall of Fame standards. His career OPS+ is 117, is only slightly below that of Harold Baines and Andre Dawson. But both of them are borderline Hall of Famers.
Modern analytics suggest he was overrated as a hitter, because he hit for high average but didn’t draw a lot of walks and didn’t hit for a lot of power. The OPS statistic probably cost Steve Garvey more Hall of Fame votes than anything else.
The rule of thumb when it comes to balancing batting average, power, and walks is to take a player’s OPS and divide it by three. If the OPS divided by 3 is higher than their batting average, they are an underrated hitter. And if it is lower, they are an overrated hitter. Steve Garvey’s career batting average was .294, but his career OPS divided by three is merely .258. Gene Tenace, a contemporary of Garvey, had a career batting average of .241 and a career OPS of .817. Divide that by 3 and you get .272. Nobody in 1983 thought Gene Tenace was better than Steve Garvey.
Garvey came close. But ultimately, without collecting 3,000 hits to punch his ticket, he didn’t quite get close enough.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.