I like to believe there is a baseball force in the universe that reveals itself, from time to time, as reminder that baseball represents "All That is Good."
With the news of Steve Garvey's battle with cancer hitting the wires, this week, I am honored to have Mr. Garvey's bust added to my imaginary tractor shed for this imaginary shrine. My wishes for Mr Garvey's complete recovery are very real and override any and all Cub fan animosity I still hold against him from 1984. So, get well soon, Steven Patrick Garvey, and we can call it even.
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Steve Garvey was drafted as the 14th pick in the 2006 draft. Taken by the White Sox, he played for 6 teams before retiring in 2025.
In his career he appeared in 10 All-Star games. This is the same number he appeared in IRL.
For his career, he collected 3337 hits (4th), 702 doubles (4th), 462 HRs (49th), 1737 RBI (14th), and scored 1506 runs (22nd). He slashed a career line of 308/344/510 for a npa OPS+ of 130. His 2760 Major League games is 10th most All Time.
Garvey played the majority of his career at 1B. He won 3 GGs, but two of those came as a third baseman.
He was selected in the Expansion Draft by the Dallas Burn and in 2019 and 2020 helped them to 2 WS crowns in their first 2 seasons of existence. Durng the 2019 regular season, he led the Burn in hits with 212. That was the 8th time in his career he had 200+ hits in a season. He would get a 9th in 2023 at the age of 35.
In 47 post season games over 4 seasons, Garvey hit .333 in 183 ABs.
In 2014 he had his best OPS+ season, a npa 153. In that season he walked a career high 62 times. He only had 50+ walks one other time in his career. He received 80 IBBs in his career. In 2014 he received 23. No other season did he have more than 7. 335/396/529, 209 hits, 25 HRs, 92 RBI is his quick and dirty line from 2014.
Garvey is the first player from those Dallas Burn teams to be enshrined in the HOF. He won't be the last.
Though entering after his first year of eligibility, Garvey enters on the First Ballot Standard.
Black Ink: 17 (12)
Gray Ink: 177 (142)
HOFm: 268.5 (130)
HOFs: 55 (32)
Gorilla Composite: 4.7 (2.9)
Garvey would not enter the RL HOF on the Standard Standard for this HOF, based on RL stats. However, he would perhaps get in on the VS (but I haven't calculated that threshold for RL HOF). Nonetheless, I feel Steve Garvey is RL HOFer. I found this short piece this morning as I was looking for an update on his health status:
Steve Garvey's career forgotten - ESPN The Magazine - ESPN
Has Steve Wulf been following this thread??
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Pete Rose is the 20th player to be inducted into this HOF and the previous one. He gets in as a much younger man as the additional parallel universe degree of separation has negated any retribution that might be had by the Selection Committee due to RL events.
Pete Rose Sr was chosen as the 8th overall pick in 2008 by the Mariners. In a career that spanned through the 2026 season, Rose collected 2765 hits (17th), 602 doubles (9th), and scored 1255 runs (71st) while slashing 304/373/437 (npa OPS+ 122).
Rose only appeared in one post season. His 2023 Braves lost in the LCS to the Padres (Steve Garvey chided him at the podium about that).
In 2014 Rose hit .347 to take home a batting crown. His npa OPS+ of 157 was the best of his career. Slashing 347/420/531 in Safeco is no easy feat, and his npa OPS+ is certainly undervalued for that, and the 7 other seasons he played as a Mariner.
7 times Rose hit over .300. at age 36 and 37 he hit .299 and .293, respectively.
Rose played in 4 ASGs and won one GG as an OFer.
Rose enters by virtue of his HOFs number being above the Hall average.
Black Ink: 12 (64)
Gray Ink: 76 (239)
HOFm: 96.5 (311)
HOFs: 52 (55)
Gorilla Composite: 2.7 (7.2)