Throughout his playing career, I always assumed Garvey was a Hall of Fame player. He won many Gold Gloves, was MVP twice, won a World Series and played in four others, hit the big home run to give the Padres a pennant (over the Cubs,) and was easily on the All Star team year after year.
He finished with 2,599 hits and a .294 average, plus 272 home runs. Six times he had 200 or more hits, and five times over 100 RBI.
Clutch:
Division Series average (1981): .368
League Championship average (5 of them): .356
World Series average (5 of them): .319
All Star Games (10 of them): .393
I know it's weak to compare guys to players in the lower rungs of the Hall For example, look at Joe Tinker and his 600+ errors and .262 average for a 15-year career. You can make an argument for almost any 15-year shortstop compared to that.
But when you look at Garvey next to Jim Rice and Ryne Sandberg, two recent inductees, what am I missing?
He finished with 2,599 hits and a .294 average, plus 272 home runs. Six times he had 200 or more hits, and five times over 100 RBI.
Clutch:
Division Series average (1981): .368
League Championship average (5 of them): .356
World Series average (5 of them): .319
All Star Games (10 of them): .393
I know it's weak to compare guys to players in the lower rungs of the Hall For example, look at Joe Tinker and his 600+ errors and .262 average for a 15-year career. You can make an argument for almost any 15-year shortstop compared to that.
But when you look at Garvey next to Jim Rice and Ryne Sandberg, two recent inductees, what am I missing?
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