Steven Patrick Garvey (born December 22, 1948) is an American former professional Major League Baseball player who played first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1987.

Garvey was a National League All-Star for ten seasons, with nine selections as starter at first base, a mark that still stands for his position.

He finished a close second in the March 2024 top-two primary, 3,478 votes behind Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, advancing them both to the general election.

[12] Garvey credited his choosing MSU to Spartan head football coach Duffy Daugherty's encouraging him to be a multi-sport athlete.

[15] Garvey continued to work towards completing his degree after beginning his professional baseball career, and in 1971 he received a Bachelor of Science in health and physical education.

Garvey's cheerful personality, his availability with reporters, and his willingness to sign autographs for fans made him a very popular player, and the Dodgers took advantage of this, making him one of the main focuses of their public relations campaigns.

Cey, Lopes, and another unnamed player criticized Garvey in a mid-June 1976 San Bernardino Sun-Telegram article, which prompted manager Walter Alston to call a team meeting.

[25] Late in the 1978 season, the rift resurfaced when The Washington Post published an article in which Don Sutton was quoted complaining that Garvey was the only Dodger to get publicity, and insisting that Reggie Smith was a better player.

[26] The day after the article appeared, Garvey confronted Sutton with a copy of it in the locker room of Shea Stadium, where the Dodgers were playing a series against the New York Mets.

After Garvey signed with the San Diego Padres in 1982, the Dodgers kept his number 6 out of circulation for 21 years until it was given to utility player Jolbert Cabrera in 2003.

It is Dodger policy not to officially retire a number unless a player who spent a majority of his playing days with the franchise gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.

In December 1982, Garvey signed with the Padres for $6.6 million over five years in what some felt was a "masterstroke" to General Manager Jack McKeon's effort to rebuild the team.

[28] Though San Diego had vastly outbid the Dodgers, McKeon noted Garvey's value in providing a role model for younger players.

[31] His first season in San Diego allowed him to break the National League record for consecutive games played, a feat that landed him on the cover of Sports Illustrated as baseball's "Iron Man".

The streak ended at 1,207 consecutive games played (from September 3, 1975, to July 29, 1983) when he broke his thumb in a collision at home plate against the Atlanta Braves.

He was the only photographer to get a sequence of shots of the swing, and went on to sell limited edition series photos of "The Home Run", along with appearances on local television.

[45] Garvey played himself on an episode of the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me!, and could also be seen in infomercials for products such as Fat Trappers and Exercise in a Bottle in 1999.

[46] Both supplements were produced by Enforma Natural Products of Encino, and both were involved in controversy, with both Sonoma and Napa counties in California filing lawsuits against the company.

[48] In 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Garvey was not liable for the content of the infomercials as he was merely a spokesman.

[49] Garvey has mainly pivoted to being a spokesman, motivational speaker, and hosting meet and greet events to sustain himself post-baseball, but has had a variety of financial troubles, including millions of dollars of liens against his properties.

The Dodgers fired him in 2011 from their marketing department when he went public with his intent at being part of an ownership group to buy the team if it was up for sale.

In the March 2024 top-two primary Garvey advanced to the November election for the term starting in January 2025 facing Democratic U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, the first-place candidate by only 3,478 votes.

[55] He encouraged law enforcement to take action against the anti-war protestors, but his comments came the day following arrests at universities across the U.S.[55] He claimed that interruptions to and obstruction of education are an act of terrorism.

Over the next few weeks, Garvey and Thomas began a courtship that included trips to the inauguration of President George H. W. Bush and the Super Bowl.