Profile of Steve Garvey on Famous Like Me

Steven Patrick Garvey (born December 22, 1948) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman, and current Southern California businessman.

Born in Tampa, Florida, 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.

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.

Garvey has also been in the news for some controversial issues. He and his wife, Cyndy, went through a bitter and public divorce. Several women have claimed that he fathered children out-of-wedlock with them. He sued the Major League Baseball Players Association regarding his dismissal from the Padres. He was involved in a multi-year lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department over weight-loss ads, against Garvey and one of his companies, Enforma Natural Products. He appeared as the spokesperson in the 30-minute infomercials trying to tell consumers that "Fat Trapper" and "Exercise In A Bottle" stating: ""With Enforma you can eat what you want and never, ever, ever, ever have to diet again...". Although Garvey was found personally not liable, the legal battles dragged on for five-years, causing harm to his reputation.

Highlights

• 10-time All-Star (1974-81, 1984-85)
• Most Valuable Player (1974)
• 4-time Gold Glove Award (1974-77)
• Twice All-Star Game MVP (1974, 1978)
• 6-time led league in games played (1977-78, 1980-82, 1985)
• Twice led league in hits (1978-80)
• 7-time hit .300 or more (1973-76, 1978-80)
• 6-time collected 200 or more hits (1974-76, 1978-80)
• 5-time drove in 100 or more runs (1974, 1977-80)
• Twice National League Championship Series MVP (1978, 1984)

Facts

• Garvey set a National League record with 1207 consecutive games played, from September 3, 1975, to July 29, 1983. The streak ended when he dislocated his finger in a collision at home plate against the Atlanta Braves.

• For most of his career, Garvey had a very clean-cut public image. For example, in a TV interview before the 1974 World Series when he explained that "I always try to act as though there is a little boy or a little girl around, and I try never to do anything that would give them a bad example." Garvey even had political aspirations, as he would gain the nickname "Senator." That all changed when two years after he played his last Major League game, it was revealed that he had fathered several children out of wedlock and was engaged to two women at the same time. To add insult to injury, Garvey's ex-wife Cyndy came out with a tell-all book.

• 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.

• From 1993-1998, Garvey served as a color commentator for CBS' coverage of the College World Series.

• The 1990 edition of the annual "Steve Garvey's Celebrity Billfishing Tournament" was a subject of ESPN Classic's comedy series Cheap Seats.

• Garvey makes an appearance, as a coach, in the 2005 film The Sandlot 2 (James Earl Jones).

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