Many years ago, I interviewed Steve Garvey's ex-wife, Cyndy, whose memoirs had just been published. She had spent years as a lonely and resentful baseball wife, whom fans unfairly blamed for the breakdown of her marriage to a man whose squeaky-clean image belied her emotional bankruptcy and womanizing. Shortly before I sat down with her, it emerged that Steve Garvey had fathered two children with two women, while he was engaged to a third.
Yes, it turns out he was a player in every sense of the word.
opinion columnist
Robin Abcarian
Cyndy told me that there were times after the divorce when she had even thought about suicide. But the thought of Steve Garvey raising her two daughters stopped her in her tracks.
“If I had died,” he said, “my children would have been left with a Christian, right-wing, pro-life, born-again media whore as a father.”
Well then. Even all these years later, what a tidy description of the man who took the stage at USC's Bovard Auditorium Monday night, spouting platitudes and nonsense during a very serious debate between candidates for the California Senate seat that, until his death, was in the hands of Dianne Feinstein.
He faced a trio of prominent Democratic representatives: Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, who led the first impeachment trial of then-President Trump; Barbara Lee of Oakland, who was the only member of Congress to vote against authorizing war in Afghanistan three days after 9/11; and Katie Porter of Irvine, protégé of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a consumer advocate. As they discussed his strong legislative record, his fears about a second Trump presidency, his ideas for solving California's housing crisis, his support for universal health care and a humane approach to immigration, Garvey, a Republican who voted twice, for Trump, he blathered on about like a minor league first base coach.
“Let's get back to the economy,” he said. “Let's go back to the basics, a free market economy. …Let's stop that rising inflation; Let's get to the point where we cut this excessive spending in Washington.”
What's so damning about Garvey's nonsense is that the man has been talking about running for the Senate for decades. Literally decades. He had a stellar 14-year career with the Dodgers, then retired in 1987 after five years with the San Diego Padres when he was just 38 years old. He is now 75 years old. That means he has had 37 years (half of his life) to delve into these issues.
Honestly, I couldn't help but imagine that the late “Saturday Night Live” comedian Phil Hartman had walked into the room and was posing as a blowhard politician with a Jesus complex and good hair.
“When was the last time any of you went downtown and reached out to homeless people like I have these past three weeks?” Garvey asked Democrats. “I needed to talk to people. I needed to talk to the homeless, I approached them, touched them and listened to them. And you know what? They said, 'This is the first time someone has come up to us and asked us about our lives.' “
Lee, who is African American and once became homeless with her children after escaping an abusive marriage, practically sputtered: “I can't believe how he described the way he walked and touched and was there with the homeless,” she said while The audience roared with laughter at Garvey's speech. nerve. “We go there. Please please.”
Schiff was politely scathing: “This will be my only baseball analogy tonight. Mr. Garvey, I'm sorry, that was a swing and a miss, that was a total whiff.”
It is a sign of the desperation that California Republicans, who have faded into helplessness, consider a candidate so unsuitable for the position of United States Senator. And it's downright pathetic that Garvey can make it to the second round on the strength of his name and his baseball career.
“To me, politics is a position,” Garvey said at one point. “I have taken strong positions.”
Please help me understand how this man is different from an artificial intelligence robot programmed to utter the most anodyne phrases he thinks voters want to hear: “I have common sense. I am compassionate. “I’m building consensus.”
I think California can do better than replace the legendary Senator Feinstein with an algorithm disguised as a public servant.
