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06/21/2009 12:41 AM ET
True Taste of the Big Leagues: Garvey in OKC
Steve Garvey takes time during appearance at the Brick to talk with Bob Hersom
By Bob Hersom / okcredhawks.com
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 Former big leaguer Steve Garvey tossed a first pitch and signed autographs on the concourse. (Wendy Eagan)
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Two years ago, former major league closer Goose Gossage came to
Oklahoma City and I asked him why he wasn't in the Baseball Hall of
Fame.
Four months later, he was voted into the Cooperstown hall.
Last year, someone figured out that only 14 major leaguers had
produced four straight 200-hit, 100-RBI seasons. Of those 14 elite
hitters, all but two were either still playing or in the Hall of
Fame.
The two exceptions were Jim Rice and Steve Garvey.
Rice will enter the Hall of Fame this year.
Garvey is still waiting.
Saturday, the always-gracious Garvey was in Oklahoma City. He threw
out the first pitch before the RedHawks played Nashville at AT&T
Bricktown Ballpark.
In the ballpark where I asked Gossage about Cooperstown, I asked
Garvey the same question.
Why do you think you're not in the Baseball Hall of Fame?
"That's always the first question," Garvey, 60, said. "I don't know
why I'm not. I wish I had a clear-cut answer for you."
Garvey's baseball credentials are Hall of Fame-worthy. A 10-time
all-star. Four-time Gold Glove winner. National League MVP in 1974,
and three-time NLCS MVP. In five World Series. NL-record 1,207
consecutive games played. And terrific in the postseason: .338
average, 11 homers and 33 RBIs in 55 playoff games.
"I was in New York for my book ("My Bat Boy Days") last year and on
the Mike and Mike Show," Garvey said. "They were going to have me for
10 minutes and they ended up spending 45 minutes, because when they
looked at all the stats they said, 'Hey, wait a minute,' we knew you
were a good ballplayer but we didn't realize all the things you
did."
But Garvey's 15 years of eligibility for Cooperstown ended after the
2007 vote, when he received 115 of 409 votes - only 28.1 percent, and
13 fewer votes than alleged steroid juicer Mark McGwire.
Through regular channels, players need 75 percent of the vote to earn
Hall of Fame induction. Garvey's best finish has been 42.6 percent.
Now, his only chance to get into the Hall of Fame is through the
every-other-year voting of the veteran's committee.
"I was on the veteran's committee this year for the first time, and I
didn't make the final 10, which I thought was really odd," Garvey
said. "I had a lot of confidence in my peers, that even if I wasn't
elected this time that I would be close. That was a little confounding
there."
Garvey played in 19 major league seasons, 1969-87. In his final dozen
full seasons, from 1975-86, he had more hits (2,121) than everyone
except Rice (2,145).
Garvey also had 1,076 RBIs during that 12-year span. Only George
Foster and Hall of Famers Rice, Mike Schmidt and Dave Winfield drove
in more runs during that time.
"I think my career is more a body of work," Garvey said. "Consistency,
longevity, durability. I had my best games when the world was
watching, so to speak."
So, why hasn't Garvey been voted into the Cooperstown hall?
Maybe it's the damage his Mr. Clean image has taken over the last two
decades. One the jokes going around in the '80s was that Steve Garvey
was "The Father of Our Country."
Why? Because he fathered two daughters with his first wife, Cyndy;
during divorce proceedings it was revealed that he had fathered two
children with two other women; and he has had three children with his
second wife, Candace.
Which brings up a couple of interesting Garvey tidbits.
His wife, Candace, is a native of Wheaton, Ill., and a lifelong
Chicago Cubs fan. Most Cubs fans are not big Steve Garvey fans simply
because of what happened in the 1984 National League Championship
Series. After the Cubs took a two games to none lead over San Diego in
the best-of-5 NLCS, Garvey led the Padres to three straight wins and
the World Series.
"Every day a Cub fan yells to me or comes up to me and says, "How
could you hit that home run against us? You seem like a nice guy,'"
Garvey said. "But Cub fans are great. They're perennial losers, with
the 100 years (since a World Series win) and all that. But if you beat
them, they have a lot of respect for you."
One of the Garvey's children, 16-year-old son Ryan, just finished his
sophomore year at Palm Desert (Calif.) High School. A first baseman
and outfielder, he hit .361 with 21 RBIs in 26 games this year. In one
April game he had two home runs and five RBIs in one inning.
"He's got great power," said Garvey, who was a Gold Glove first
baseman with powerful forearms. "His hands are this big and he's got
size 15 shoes. He's 6-foot and about 185 right now. He's just got
great raw power and he loves the game. And he's got his mother's
speed."
Saturday marked the third time I had interviewed Garvey - whose
birthday is the same as mine - and he's been exceptionally cordial
each time, at spring training in Phoenix, before a Dodgers-Giants
game, and twice in Oklahoma City.
His first visit to Oklahoma City was in May of 1989, four months
after he had married Candace, and also a few months after the two
other women claimed he had fathered their children.
"I'm obviously embarrassed by it," Garvey told me then. "It was a
whirlwind romance, and it's probably one of the problems, because if I
hadn't gotten married, the other women wouldn't be mad."
Good Guy Garvey said a lot more that day about the "Father of Our
Country" talk, and about some of his Dodgers teammates claiming he was
not genuine. Anything asked, he answered, at length.
So I didn't ask him those tough questions again Saturday. Steve Garvey
deserves a break - along with a place in Cooperstown. Here's hoping he
follows the road Goose Gossage indirectly took, from The Brick to The
Hall. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.
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