Steve Garvey is on the Classis Baseball Yada Yada Yada Committee Ballot.
Garvey played 19 seasons in the MLB, the first 14 with the Dodgers and then 5 with the Padres. Career he hit .294/.329/.446 with 272 home runs and a 38.0 bWAR.
He received MVP votes nine times, winning it in 1974 and second in 1978. He won four Gold Gloves and made ten All-Star teams. .
The year Garvey won the MVP award, he hit .312/.342/.469 with 21 home runs and 111 RBI for a 4.4 bWAR. You are right if you think those numbers aren’t overwhelming enough to get an MVP Award. Garvey wasn’t in the top ten in the NL in bWAR (not they had such a thing back then). He was tenth in Slugging and not in the top 50 in OBP. Not in the top ten in home runs and was third in RBI.
Garvey had just one season with a bWAR above 5.0, a 5.1 in 1975 and was above 4.0 just three more times.
He won Gold Gloves at first base, but I’d bet you’d have a hard time finding someone who thought he was the best defensive in the NL.
He was on the Hall of Fame Ballot 15 times, topping out at 41.6% of the vote in his first season on the ballot. And he was on the Veterans Committee ballot four times.
Playing with the Dodgers and then the Padres, he made the playoffs five times and won one World Series ring. He hit great in the playoffs, with a .338/.361/.550 line and 11 home runs in 55 games.
He also owns the NL record for consecutive games played with 1207
He was Captain Whitebread as a player. Big smiles for the camera. I’ll admit I was never a fan. It just seemed like he was putting on an act all the time.