LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Former Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey is among nine former players and one late executive who will be considered for election to baseball's Hall of Fame today.
Each person on the Modern Baseball Era ballot needs to receive at least 75% of the votes from a 16-member committee to be elected to the Hall of Fame. The committee members will cast their votes at baseball's winter meetings in San Diego.
The committee appointed by the Hall of Fame to evaluate the Modern Baseball Era candidates consists of Hall of Famers George Brett, Rod Carew, Dennis Eckersley, Eddie Murray, Ozzie Smith and Robin Yount; six major league executives and four media members or historians.
When candidates from what the Hall of Fame defines as the Modern Baseball Era -- candidates whose greatest contributions to baseball came from 1970 to 1987 -- were last considered for election to the Hall of Fame in December 2017, Garvey was among six candidates on the 10-man ballot to receive fewer than seven votes from a 16-member committee. The exact total was not released by the Hall of Fame. Twelve votes were required for election.
The closest Garvey came to being elected to the Hall of Fame by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America was in 1995, his third year of eligibility, when he received 42.6% of the vote. He received over 40% two other times.
Votes from 75% of those voting is required to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
Garvey played for the Dodgers from 1969 through 1982. He is fifth in team history in hits (1,968) and runs batted in (992), sixth in home runs (211), extra-base hits (579) and total bases (3,004) and third in doubles (333).
Garvey was the National League MVP in 1974 and MVP in the NL Championship Series in 1978, the second year it was awarded.
Garvey's 1,207 consecutive game streak from 1975 to 1983 was the third longest in major league history when it ended when he broke his thumb in a home plate collision on July 29, 1983. It is now the fourth longest behind Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632), Lou Gehrig (2,130) and Everett Scott (1,307).
The first 1,107 games were with the Dodgers and the final 100 were with the San Diego Padres, where Garvey completed his career from 1983-87.
Garvey made the first of his 10 All-Star Game appearances in 1974 when he was elected as the NL's starting first baseman as a write-in candidate. He was selected as the game's MVP for going two-for-four with an RBI and scoring a run. He was also the MVP of the 1978 All-Star Game.
Garvey went from a wild-throwing third baseman to a slick-fielding first baseman, receiving four Gold Glove awards and sharing the Dodgers' highest career fielding percentage for a first baseman, .996, with Wes Parker.
The other former Dodger on the ballot is Tommy John, who pitched for the team from 1971-78, part of a 26-season career in which he won 288 games, 26th most in baseball history. All but two of the pitchers ahead of John are in the Hall of Fame.
The exceptions are Roger Clemens, ninth on the list with 354 victories, who has been dogged by suspicion he used performance-enhancing drugs, and the 19th-century pitcher Bobby Mathews, 25th on the list with 297 victories, who played his entire career when the pitching mound was 50 feet from home plate, 10 feet, 6 inches less than the current distance.
John was also among the 2017 Modern Baseball Era candidates who failed to receive at least seven votes. He received his highest percentage of votes from baseball writers in his final year of eligibility, 2009, 31.7%, the only time he topped 30%.
The ballot also includes Dwight Evans, who attended Granada Hills and Chatsworth high schools before becoming one of 34 major leaguers with at least 1,300 runs scored, 1,300 RBI and 1,300 walks, and the late Marvin Miller, who headed the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1966-82.
Figures from the Modern Baseball Era are considered twice in a five- year period for election to the Hall of Fame. They will next be considered in 2022.
Individuals whose greatest contributions to baseball came from 1950 to 1969, what the Hall of Fame defines as the Golden Days Era, and before 1950, the Early Baseball Era, will be considered for the Hall of Fame next year.
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