The Dodgers’ hallowed records: The Iron Man Steve Garvey
By: Cary Osborne
Tags: MLB, Steve Garvey, Dodgers, History

Steve Garvey played 14 seasons with the Dodgers from 1969–1982. (Los Angeles Dodgers)

(Editor’s Note: Dodger Insider continues its series looking back at the most notable records in franchise history, contextualizing them against the modern game and providing background from various sources, including the Dodger vaults.)

Previous Versions:

Gagne’s consecutive saves

Sutton’s wins and strikeouts

Hershiser’s scoreless streak

Snider and Karros: Home run kings

Maury Wills’ stolen base marks

By Mark Langill and Cary Osborne

One-thousand, one-hundred and seven consecutive games.

The streak actually reached a National League record 1,207 games when it ended for Steve Garvey as a San Diego Padre. But from Sept. 3, 1975 till Oct. 3, 1982 when he played his last game in the uniform, Garvey appeared in 1,107 consecutive games for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 1,207 is the longest streak in National League history and fourth longest in Major League history behind Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632), Lou Gehrig (2,130) and Everett Scott (1,307).

Garvey’s NL record hasn’t been challenged in 35 years. Atlanta’s Dale Murphy reached 740 games before he sat on July 9, 1986, to help him get through a slump.

The Dodgers haven’t had one player appear in all games of the season in the last three years — not even 2020’s 60-game season.

There have been 11 times in Dodgers history when a player has appeared in 162 games in a season. Five times it was Garvey, and he is the only player to do it more than once.

No National Leaguer appeared in 162 games in the 2021 season.

Reliability and consistency — that was Steve Garvey. As was the special quartet he was part of.

The Man (and Men) Beyond the Numbers

When the Dodgers were searching in June 1973 for the final piece to their infield renovation project, Steve Garvey appeared to be the least likely candidate to join, let alone make history.

Garvey in 1982. (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Garvey was almost engulfed in a wave of roster changes that occurred after the 1972 season. Among the mixed bag of prospects and veterans traded, retired or released was six-time Gold Glove first baseman Wes Parker, along with infielders Jim Lefebvre, Maury Wills, Bobby Valentine and Billy Grabarkewitz. At age 24, Garvey remained in LA limbo after the Phillies turned down a proposed trade that would’ve sent him to Philadelphia in exchange for first baseman Willie Montanez.

The Dodgers originally selected Garvey in the 1968 amateur draft out of Michigan State University as a third-base prospect. He quickly rose in the Dodger farm system and arrived in Los Angeles in September 1969. Given a chance to enter the revolving-door auditions at third base, Garvey committed 42 errors in 164 games between 1971 and 1972.

The arrival of Ron Cey at third base, the only member of the future famous infield who played his natural position, ended Garvey’s days at the hot corner. Unlike Davey Lopes and Bill Russell — converted outfielders who switched to the infield — Garvey seemingly had no place to go. Bill Buckner, a reserve left fielder in 1971 and 1972, had been groomed as Parker’s replacement at first base. For the first two months of the season, Garvey alternated between pinch-hitting and occasional starts in left field.

“The Infield” assembled for the first time during a blowout loss at Philadelphia on June 13, 1973. Trailing 12–2 in the fourth inning, manager Walter Alston replaced veteran center fielder Willie Davis with Tom Paciorek, a utility player making only his third start at first base. Garvey entered the game at first base. The new infield played three innings on defense until Lopes moved to center field in the seventh.

When Garvey started the second game of a doubleheader against the Reds at first base on June 23 at Dodger Stadium, he had not played for seven days. His batting average was .228 with no home runs in 36 games. In his next four games at the starting first baseman, Garvey went 7-for-17, including a home run off Cincinnati lefty Don Gullett. Buckner agreed to return to left field, Alston had an opening for Garvey.

“The team got off to a good start in 1973, and I sat down for a couple of months,” Garvey said. “Walter Alston said, ‘I’ve seen you play a couple games at first base. Would you like to try it tonight?’ I said, ‘Anything to get in the lineup.’ And the rest, I guess, is history.”

The Dodger infield remained together for a record 8 ½ seasons through the 1981 World Series, serving as a bridge between Alston and Tommy Lasorda, two Hall of Fame managers who piloted the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers for 43 seasons. Between 1974 and 1981, the infield quartet combined to make 20 All-Star Game appearances.

The Infield: Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Garvey.

The infield played its final game on October 28, 1981 when Los Angeles defeated the Yankees in Game 6 of the World Series in New York. The clubhouse celebration at Yankee Stadium was especially sweet for the players who endured losses to the Yankees in the 1977 and 1978, along with a loss at Dodger Stadium against Houston in a one-game N.L. West tiebreaker in 1980. For many of the Dodger veterans, that title represented a last hurrah as roster moves were on the horizon.

Lopes was traded to Oakland after the 1981 season to make room for rookie Steve Sax. The Dodgers sent Cey to the Cubs after the 1982 season, the same winter Garvey signed with San Diego as a free agent. Russell retired after the 1986 season to join Lasorda’s coaching staff.

“We were like brothers on the field,” Russell said of the infield’s success. “Could you imagine managing every year knowing the same four guys are going to be there on the infield? And we all played. Garvey played every game and we all averaged 150 games.”

The Record

Garvey showed he was indispensable in 1974. He hit .312 with 21 home runs and 111 RBI in 156 games and was selected as the NL MVP.

In 1975, he appeared in 160 games, but it was at the end of the regular season when his monumental streak began. On September 3, 1975, he started at first base and went 1-for-3 in a 13–2 loss to the Reds in Cincinnati. He wouldn’t leave the Dodger lineup until April 5, 1983 — Opening Day of the 1983 season.

Chicago Cubs legend Billy Williams held the NL consecutive games record at 1,117 before Garvey passed him in 1983. (Los Angeles Dodgers)

After the 1982 season, Garvey signed a five-year contract with the Padres ending his Dodger run.

The Dodgers opened the 1983 season at the Houston Astrodome against the Astros. Greg Brock, who hit 44 home runs at Triple-A Albuquerque in 1982, started at first base for the Dodgers. He went 1-for-5 against the Astros and ended up finishing seventh in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting. He was traded to Milwaukee after the 1986 season.

Garvey started for the Padres on April 5 and went 2-for-4 with two walks and an RBI in a 16–13 win against the Giants.

On July 29, 1983, in the 100th game of the season, Garvey dislocated his thumb in a home-plate collision. It ended the streak.

A little more than year earlier, on June 7, 1982, he appeared in his 1,000th consecutive game. Garvey received a roaring, lengthy ovation when the achievement was announced by the public address announcer at Dodger Stadium.

After the game, Garvey said: “A streak like this is a culmination of a lot of dedication and hard work. I always had dedication to my team and the fans and I’m happy to achieve this milestone at Dodger Stadium.”