March 27th, 2020 at 9:00 am 
by 0799291000348 Periodically we read articles or perhaps participate in polls that attempt to identify the best players, by position, in the long, rich history of the Dodgers. No matter the publication, there are certain players who make it into every discussion: Roy Campanella, Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, and Don Sutton – all of whom are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
There is another player who is regularly included in any discussion of the best first baseman to play for the Dodgers over a prolonged period of seasons – Steve Garvey.
A quick review of Garvey’s resume makes a robust argument for his inclusion as one of the best, if not the best, at the position:
- 14-seasons (1969-82) / 2,332 games;
- Slashed .301/.337/.459/.796 with 211 home runs, and 992 RBI;
- 4-Gold Gloves;
- 10-time National League All-Star;
- 1974 NL MVP, and All-Star game MVP; and,
- 1981 World Series championship when he slashed .417/.462/.458/.920.
Which Los Angeles Dodgers first basemen would compete with Garvey for best at the position? Offensively Pedro Guerrero (.309/.381/.512/.893) would be a strong contender, but he played more combined games in the outfield and third base than first base.
What about Eric Karros? Hitting 270-home runs in his Dodgers career gets him honorable mention, but in every other offensive category, Garvey has the better stats.
What about Brooklyn Dodgers first basemen? Gil Hodges (2,006 games played from 1947 through 1961), was a terrific fielding first baseman who slashed .274/.360/.488/.848 with 361 home runs, and 1,254 RBI in his Dodgers career. Hodges was also extremely popular with the Brooklyn fans, as is Garvey with Los Angeles fans.
As difficult as it is to compare players from different generations, I believe we should simply say that Gil Hodges was the best Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman and Steve Garvey was the best for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Garvey is also my oldest son’s favorite Dodger – ever! From the time my son was old enough to walk, he spent hours every week in either my wife’s dugout while she was playing or in my dugout when I was on the field. From watching so many Dodgers games on television and attending a handful of games each year at Dodger Stadium, he could sing the National Anthem and then yell “Play Ball!” with the best of them. And he adored Steve Garvey.
We lived in Agoura, California at the time, not far from the city of Thousand Oaks. One Saturday morning I was reading the LA Times and saw that Garvey was scheduled to be at a car dealership in Thousand Oaks that morning. I asked my son (who was 5-years old at the time) if he would like to go see Steve Garvey. His young face lit up like a Christmas tree. He ran to his room to get dressed and retrieve one of his newest baseballs.
When we arrived at the dealership, Garvey was surrounded by youngsters and parents. All at once my son froze and extended his arms for me to pick him up; he was not going any further, so we watched from about 30 feet away. Shortly, Garvey noticed us standing off to the side. He politely excused himself from the group and walked over to us.
“Hi, I’m Steve Garvey,” he said.
I introduced myself and my son, who was still frozen in my arms, with his baseball firmly grasped in tiny fingers. We chatted for a couple of minutes, then Garvey asked my son if he would like for him to autograph his baseball. The ball was immediately thrust towards Garvey for his signature. Handing the now signed ball back to my son, Garvey politely explained that he needed to return to the other fans, who were still waiting.
I was wowed by Garvey’s patience, politeness, and thoughtfulness, which made a lasting impression on my son and me. Unfortunately, in one of our relocations, that autographed ball was lost, but the memory is as strong today as it was some 43 years ago – for both my son and me.
Garvey was – and still is – at the top of my ‘all-class ballplayers list.’
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Editor’s Note: Like many current and former major leaguers, Steve Garvey is very active on Twitter (@SteveGarvey6), where he frequently interacts with his many followers. I would encourage every Dodger fan to give Steve a follow on Twitter).
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Don Sutton was the most vocal, but many of Garvey’s teammates were not fans.
From ESPN.com
Don Sutton vs. Steve Garvey
Sutton and Garvey shared the Dodger clubhouse between 1969 and 1980, and even had lockers next to each other, but there was no love lost between them. Their feud came to a head during the 1978 season. Sutton, in a Washington Post article, was quoted as saying, “All you hear about on our team is Steve Garvey the All-American boy. But Reggie Smith was the real MVP. We all know it … (Smith) has carried us the last two years. He is not a facade. He does not have the Madison Avenue image.”
Garvey’s good-boy image finally got to Sutton in their infamous clubhouse brawl.
This irked Garvey, who confronted Sutton, asking if the quotes were accurate. Sutton said they were. Then, according to wire reports, “Suddenly Sutton leaped at Garvey and flung him against a row of lockers along the opposite wall. The two players went down heavily and were clawing at one another, trying ineffectively to land punches.”
When the two were finally separated, Garvey, cut and scratched on the face, was dazed. Sutton had a bruised cheek.
Garvey wasn’t well-liked by many Dodgers, and apparently Sutton had some clubhouse foes, too. According to Tommy John, during the brawl someone yelled, “Stop the fight, they’ll kill each other!” Catcher Joe Ferguson’s response: “Good.”
Sutton was far less liked as a teammate than was Garvey.
That said, I was a HUGE Joe Furguson fan.
I will leave it at this, if faced with the choice of having one of Steve Garvey or Don Sutton on my team it would only take a nano-second to select Garvey. If you want to read an excellent piece about Garvey, both pro and con, go to:
https://vault.si.com/vault/1982/04/12/as-always-a-man-of-principle
I’m not trying to disparage Garvey the baseball player. Just noting how a word often applied to him by more than a few teammates is ‘phony’. Some people didn’t like Sutton’s straight forwardness. Particularly Garvey.
As to choosing between them, I’d prefer not to, as they were both major contributors for many years to the Dodgers. One as an often All Star first baseman, the other as a Hall of Fame pitcher. [emphasis on Hall of Fame]
https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/sutton-don
” Garvey was more concerned at times with looking good than playing good, and he would rather swing away than take a deserved walk which did not play well for TV. Garvey may have been an Iron Man playing in a lot of consecutive games but it may have been at the detriment to his team. Bottom line is that stories of his selfishness have emerged as frequently as stories of his infidelity did after his playing days ceased.”
http://www.notinhalloffame.com/baseball/910-42-steve-garvey
If you are going to quote from an article, do not take it out of context. You left off the first sentence “PERHAPS (caps for emphasis) that was the problem.” The unnamed author also wrote; “There is a good chance that if you were a fan of the L.A. Dodgers in the 70’s you were a huge fan of Steve Garvey. It would be easy to see why as his squeaky clean image and model good looks were combined with a perennial All Star who hit for solid average, had moderate power, was great in the clutch and was the Iron Man of his generation. Garvey won the 1974 NL MVP, 1978 NLCS MVP and two All Star Game MVPs. Basically, if the camera was on Steve Garvey, he produced.” Did you read the SI article? At least the SI writer (William Nack)put his name to the article unlike the anonymous writer of the article you referenced. From my perspective, you are bashing Garvey, as have others, simply because he had principles by which he lived that did not fit with their perception of how a MLB player should act.
What principles are you referencing?
The first foul ball I ever got at a Dodger game was a Steve Garvey foul ball in 1974. He signed it for me a year or so later at an event similar to yours.
He is always very positive and upbeat on Twitter – even at 71 years old. He is also very spiritual.
I hope you all are staying healthy and safe. I have Steve Garveys rookie card in hard plastic case. I always thought he would be in the Hall of Fame.
So….posts get censored if you don’t agree, Ron?
I don’t know what that’s about but I’ve had some disagreements with Ron, but never got censored.
Ditto. I noticed the other day that there was an issue with the site where some comments disappeared then later reappeared.
We did indeed have an issue with the site last week where I actually had to copy and past the respective articles and then completely redo them as new articles and then repost them.
The good news is that Scott was able to fix the issue relatively quickly. The bad news is that I was unable to copy and paste any related comments since they come directly from you guys and not us.
As far as censoring comments which may disagree with our respective opinions, I’m not even going to waste time on that. That being said, we do have three very basic guidelines here on TBLA: No politics, No profanity, and No porn. Violating any of these will indeed get your comment(s) nuked and get you banned from the site. Heaven knows, there are hundreds of other sites out there where these things may be allowed, but not here.
Both were very good players but I did not like either one, but rooted for both when playing.
Davey Lopes had similar issues with Garvey as well. Ron Cey, in addition to Reggie Smith, was often just as valuable as Garvey in the 1970s, but Garvey did get all the press. Until the stories of his infidelities came out, it used to be said that Garvey had hopes of being a Congressman or Senator so he was often ultra conscious of his public image.
I met Steve in the fall of 1967 when I served as Duffy Daugherty’s student-manager of the Michigan State football team. Steve was a starting DB–a sure-handed tackler, but too slow for a shot at the NFL. Our friendship continued throughout the years when I became a California lawyer and lived near him, a 10 minute drive from Torrey Pines.
My favorite Steve story occurred in September of 1974. The Dodgers were in a heated pennant race and I was writing a free lance story on Steve and another former Spartan, Mike Marshall. It was Steve’s breakout year and Sports Illustrated was writing a cover story on.
While Steve and I were chatting in the Dodger dugout,the SI writer said, come on Steve,we have a deadline to meet. To which Steve replied: Excuse me but I’m doing an
interview now!
GREAT story!
I see Steve every now and then at Dodger Stadium. When I do, he always has time for a short visit. A wonderful human being.
I raised my family of one daughter and five sons in Calabasas during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. I also owned businesses in Malibu and Woodland Hills and was a season ticket holder with 4 seats behind the visitors dugout. In my humble opinion Sutton was jealous of Garvey, and as a result, got on a couple of game shows, etc. but the funniest thing is Garv and Sutton were neighbors right here in Calabasas.
Steve’s stats speak for themselves, and so do Sutton’s, who is of course, in the HOF, exactly where Garvey should be with a nearly .300 average, 2599 hits, all those 200 hit seasons, the Ironman streak, the MVP’s and the professionalism, and he single-handedly saved the careers of the infielders, especially Bill Russell, by digging out those throws to first base.
Garv talks about himself a little too much sometimes, but he also has accomplished a lot of things in life outside of the lines. He can be his own worst enemy sometimes, but he really is deserving of the Hall of Fame if they’re putting Rolen in and Santo is already there. Those guys have never led the league in a single thing. Check MLB Stats sometime and see what Garvey has led the league in. The dude is not a complainer, which is refreshing right there!
PS to my comments: Steve Garvey deeply respected the game of Baseball, unlike a few notables during Steve’s playing days. I’m not mentioning any names here, especially while heaping praise upon one of the most memorable players to ever suit up. The guy could flat out hit, hit with power, and field, and made no bonehead plays. There were a few sleepless nights for everyone when Garv came up as a 3rd baseman.
But he definitely righted the ship and figured it out in due time. (((ym)))
When Garvey played third base the fans behind first base were “heads-up” and those with baseball gloves put them in anticipation of an errant throw. Great memories of Garvey. And, thankfully Gil Hodges is now in the HOF.