Is Steve Garvey in the Hall of Fame? Exploring former Dodgers infielder's bid to be amongst baseball's greatest
Steve Garvey is one of the most notable former MLB players. He played with the Los Angeles Dodgers primarily, and that always lends itself to fame after retirement. He's also currently involved with politics, which only makes him even more recognizable.
Before he retired, he was a great player. He has numerous accolades, and his stats showcase a talented ballplayer. Was any of that enough to get him into the Hall of Fame, though?
Did Steve Garvey make the Hall of Fame?
Unfortunately, Steve Garvey is not in the Hall of Fame. His length of awards and accolades stops shy of baseball's ultimate prize for players. He spent a long time on the ballot but never garnered enough votes.
He was an MVP in 1974 off of a .312 batting average and 21 home runs. That was also the first of 10 All-Star seasons for the corner infielder. He had a very solid career, but it wasn't quite enough to get him into the Hall.
His 38.0 bWAR is not all that high of a total, suggesting that his numbers weren't on the same page with his ultimate value. For comparison, that 38.0 metric is over 19 seasons. Giancarlo Stanton, who might not be a Hall of Famer, either, has 44.0 bWAR over 14 seasons thus far.
Garvey led the league in hits twice, and those are the only times he led everyone else in a good offensive statistic throughout his career. The numbers say that he was solid, but a closer look shows why the former San Diego Padres star never got to Cooperstown.
Garvey didn't even make it close to the 75% vote threshold. The highest percentage he earned was 42.6% in 1995. In his final chance, he got just 21.1%. He was later considered by the Hall of Fames' Expansion Era Committee in both 2011 and 2014 but was not inducted then as well.
Garvey had a good career. He might also have one waiting in politics. It just wasn't quite enough to be immortalized in the MLB forever.