Steve Garvey, whose father drove the Dodger’s bus, reminisces about meeting the world champion Brooklyn Dodgers.
In 1985, first baseman Steven Patrick Garvey (born December 22, 1948) established a Major League Baseball record for most consecutive errorless games by an infielder. This record stood until April 2, 2008, when it was bested by Kevin Youkilis.
Garvey played football and baseball at Michigan State University. Garvey played his entire career in the National League West for two teams; the Los Angeles Dodgers (1969-82) and the San Diego Padres (1983-87). He batted right and threw right. In a 19-year career, Garvey was a .294 hitter with 272 home runs and 1308 RBI in 2332 games played. Garvey was part of the longest starting infield to play together with Ron Cey, Bill Russell and Davey Lopes.
Garvey is one of only two players to have started an All-Star Game as a write-in vote, doing so in 1974.
Garvey set a National League record with 1207 consecutive games played, from September 3, 1975, to July 29, 1983. The streak ended when he broke his thumb in a collision at home plate against the Atlanta Braves.
In the 1978 National League Championship Series, Garvey hit four home runs, and added a double for five extra base hits, both marks tying Bob Robertson’s 1971 NLCS record; Jeffrey Leonard would tie the NLCS home run record in the 1987 NLCS.
In 1981, at a point in his career when it looked like he would one day rank among the game’s all-time greats, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.
On his first trip to Los Angeles as a Padre, he took out a full-page newspaper ad thanking fans for their past support.
On October 6, 1984, during Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, Garvey hit a two-run walk-off home run off of Lee Smith in the 9th inning to give the Padres a 7 to 5 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The next day, the Padres won the National League pennant for the first time in franchise history.
Garvey’s jersey #6, worn when he was both a Padre and Dodger is retired by the Padres. His number 6 was displayed at the site of his 1984 NLCS home run in right field at Qualcomm Stadium.
Since 1988, he has been running Garvey Communications, mainly involved in television production, including infomercials. He is also the host of Baseball’s Greatest Games. In addition he is hired out to do motivational speaking, mainly for corporations.
This data was drawn from Wikipedia.
This episode was originally broadcast as a national radio syndication in June 1987.
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