Hall of Fame, Garvey and Darryl Strawberry

With Steve Garvey on the Hall of Fame ballot this year, I’d like to point something out. If he is to be voted into the Hall, then the following players must be voted in before him: Richie Allen, Tony Oliva, Ken Boyer, Norm Cash, Orlando Cepeda, Ron Santo and Joe Torre.

These are players who played in the same era, and if you combined all-around statistics, all of these players are superior to Garvey.

While Garvey had some 200-hit, 100-RBI seasons, he needed 650 at-bats to do it. While some point out he had a high postseason batting average, he had six World Series RBIs in 113 at-bats. Hit totals are nice, but the two best indicators of a hitter’s ability are slugging average and on-base percentage. Compared with the above, Garvey’s slugging average is mediocre and his on-base average is horrible.

As someone once said, you could look it up.

MIKE LORRAINE

Simi Valley