"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits." — Tommy Edison
Author: fartheroffthewall
Tom Hoffarth is a sports journalist in Los Angeles, born and raised (reared is the correct phrase, but it just sounds wrong) and specializing in the sports media business. A USC graduate from the School of Journalism (it still exists, somewhat) in 1984, he is also available for service at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhoffarth/
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 47: = Clay Matthews III: USC football = Andy Messersmith: California Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers = LeRoy Irvin: Los Angeles Rams = Joey Browner: USC football
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 47: = Ryan Nece: UCLA football = Luis Cruz: Los Angeles Dodgers
The most interesting story for No. 52: Trevor Bauer: UCLA baseball pitcher (2009 to 2011), Los Angeles Dodgers (2021) Southern California map pinpoints: North Hollywood; Newhall; Westwood (UCLA); Dodger Stadium
Assume there’s 47 shades of gray by which Trevor Bauer operates.
That’s problematic for someone who often seems to see the world as black and white – he’s right, and the rest of us just don’t understand why that is so.
If we played pseudo psychologist, try to figure out what’s inside the head of this uniquely driven Southern California product – born in North Hollywood, a product of Hart High of Newhall, then to UCLA and, coming off a Cy Young Award, bedazzled the Los Angeles Dodgers into taking a measured risk on him.
Eventually, everything changed in the court of public opinion. Bauer tried to reconstruct his professional resume while working in Japan, or Mexico, or back in Japan, or lately, in South Korea.
A story of local, national and global interest apparently has yet to be resolved, but provides plenty of podcast fodder nonetheless.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 6:
= Steve Garvey: Los Angeles Dodgers = Mark Sanchez: USC football, Mission Viejo High football = Eddie Jones: Los Angeles Lakers = Bronny James: USC basketball = Carl Furrillo: Los Angeles Dodgers = Sue Enquist: UCLA softball = Joe Torre: Los Angeles Dodgers manager
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 6: = Marc Wilson: Los Angeles Raiders = Anthony Rendon: Los Angeles Angels = Ron Fairly: Los Angeles Dodgers/California Angels via USC
The most interesting story for No. 6: Steve Garvey: Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman/first baseman (1969 to 1982) Southern California map pinpoints: Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium); Palm Springs
Steve Garvey offered a modest populist proposal in the fall of 2023 — nothing to do with endorsing another reverse mortgage plan, some hair restoration, weight-loss supplements or switching to dog food brands.
It would all happen very painlessly through something called efund.
Ah, the joy of six.
“Our campaign is focused on quality-of-life issues, public safety, and education. As a U.S. Senator, I will serve with commonsense, compassion, and will work to build consensus to benefit all of the people of California,” the script said quoting one of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ most popular and productive players in the 1970s and ’80s.
The CEO of Team Garvey said he needed a lot support as a Republican in a very Democratic state for the March 5, 2024 primaries.
None of this really came out of the blue.
During his baseball career, he had been planting seeds about his next career in some type of high-profile public office. For those who made a connection to the red No. 6 on the front of his Dodgers’ jersey — which he also carried onto a few more seasons in San Diego — the nostalgia was thick and the opportunity ripe as a controversial Republican president was somehow circling back to the pulpit and gaining momentum on a campaign of anti-blue sentiment.
The twist in all this — the California primaries reward the top two vote-getters regardless of party moved onto the Nov. 5 general election. In this wrestling match to finally get the seat once held by Diane Feinstein, Democratic candidate Adam Schiff was an early favorite but he created a campaign strategy targeting Garvey as his main competitor — inciting more Republican support for Garvey — because Democrat Katie Porter provided a far-more serious threat to Schiff.
As a result, Schiff manipulated it so he and Garvey finished 1-2 in the primaries with nearly the same number of votes.
Now there were eight months left of campaigning for a spot that really wasn’t that close.
Back in February of 2024, a Los Angeles Times story tried to layout the contradictory “family values” life Garvey has led coming to this point — including a disassociation with one of his daughters and his grandson. He has seven children. Not all keep in touch.
“Dozens of ex-athletes have attempted to transition into politics, some of them driven by noble aims. But what sets Garvey’s Senate run apart from all the others is that I’m not sure what it is about at all. In fact, it seems entirely devoid of a purpose beyond the name of the candidate himself.
“It’s not just that Garvey is running as a Republican in a deep-blue state in perhaps the most polarized era in modern American history; it’s that he doesn’t even seem to be trying. He speaks in aphorisms that mean absolutely nothing; he won’t even express a definitive opinion about the standard-bearer of his own party. It’s as if he’s running just to say he ran, because this is what he always appeared destined to do when he was younger. It’s as if he’s trying to fill out the gaps in his own story.
“There’s something kind of sad about this. But it also feels like a telling metaphor for modern American politics at a moment when celebrity has outweighed substance. Best as I can tell, Steve Garvey is running for office because of his own hollow conception of fame. …
“For a while, it appeared Garvey stood above it all, and then his own hypocrisy rendered him a punchline. Maybe it’s cynicism; maybe it’s naivete. But either way, it’s as if he’s trying one last time to will into truth his own hollow fiction.”
At the website Sons of Steve Garvey, billed as “random rantings and ravings about the Los Angeles Dodgers, written by a small consortium of rabid Dodger fans,” there was never a Garvey endorsement of his political aspiration.
We had a flashback to 1998 when we caught up with Garvey at a North Hollywood baseball card shop named Porky’s. At the time, Jessie “The Body” Ventura had just won the governorship Minnesota. Garvey told us that Barbara Boxer, who had just been re-elected California state senior, “could have been had” if another Republican — like him? — had stepped up to get that spot.
Even then, he said he had his eye on Feinstein, whose six-year term was coming up in 2000. But he knew he wasn’t getting any younger.
“You know, I’m going to be 50- in December,” he told me than (and he just had a two-week old daughter born).
A bumper sticker one can obtain with a donation to the Garvey campaign.
So now, in 2024, the 75-year-old Garv thought he could change the narrative of a “man of the people” journey.
A baseball card created for Garvey’s senate campaign issued to contributors.
Mailers to constituents tried to make his case through a mock up of a baseball card. Another mailer tried to make sure that even if he has supported Donald Trump in previous presidential elections, he would like to be thought of more as someone aligned with former president Ronald Reagan — sending out a 1984 photo of the two once together in San Diego.
Garvey tried to use a new-age baseball stat — Wins Above Replacement — as a way to show how Schiff’s shortcomings could be best measured.
The back side of the campaign card.
“He just doesn’t need to be replaced. He needs to be defeated,” Garvey wrote.
Even though a story in The Nation projected that Garvey could not be underestimated, it all played out as suspected. Photo ops on Skid Row in L.A. and a trip to Israel in the middle of a war to try to see for himself what was going on weren’t effective.
The fact remains that, by early November, Schiff easily send Garvey to the showers with a 59-41 percent victory that was called by an Associated Press projection about one minute after the California voting precincts closed.
Garvey (who goes with the social media handle of @SteveGarvey6) used even more twisted numerical logic in his November election-night remarks in Rancho Mirage, which occurred just days after the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series triumph, to make it appear he achieved something (by fact that California is the most populated state and likewise produces the most voters):
In baseball, like in many professional sports, there’s a tradition of members of the opposing team to congratulate the winners. Often times with a handshake on the field or even a visit to the opponent’s clubhouse. In that same spirit I congratulate Congressman Adam Schiff on his victory. Using their enormous power the voters have elected him the next U.S. Senator from California. And I respect that and wish him good choices for all of the people in the years to come. I want you to know that despite the outcome that when the counting is over we will have gotten the fourth-most number of votes in the country. This means that everyone in California does have a voice. And it will only grow louder and louder. ….
I fell in love with California since my first day when I arrived on September 1,1969, when I was a rookie with the Los Angeles Dodgers. And want it to once again be the heartbeat of America. And I want the American Dream to live on and thrive. Because as the great Ronald Reagan once said — “As long as that dream lives, as long as we continue to defend it, America has a future, and all mankind has reason to hope.” Thank you again. God bless you and God Bless America.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 51:
= Lauren Betts: UCLA women’s basketball = Randy Cross: UCLA football = Chip Banks: USC football = Alex Vesia: Los Angeles Dodgers
The not-so obvious choices for No. 51: = Randy Johnson: USC baseball = Jonathan Broxton: Los Angeles Dodgers = Terry Forster: Los Angeles Dodgers = Larry Sherry: Los Angeles Dodgers
The most interesting story for No. 51: Randy Johnson: USC baseball pitcher (1983 to 1985) Southern California map pinpoints: = Downtown L.A. (USC, Dodger Stadium)
Randy Johnson’s 2015 National Baseball Hall of Fame induction came with 97.3 percent of the 549 electorate in agreement, in his first year of eligibility.
It had everything to do with acquiring five Cy Young Awards (including four in a row at the turn of the century), second all-time in strikeouts with 4,875 (behind Nolan Ryan’s 5,714), four ERA titles, 100 complete games, a no-hitter (1990) and a perfect game (2004), 10 All-Star teams, and the fifth left-hander in MLB history to exceed 300 wins. In all caps, the bronze plaque describes his “crackling” fastball and “devastating” slider that provided assistance to six teams over 22 seasons.
The honor has nothing to do with the three years he spent at USC some 40 years earlier, throwing a baseball in the general vicinity of opposing hitter lucky enough to wear a helmet.
“The Big Unit” didn’t have a big-man-on-campus status. He was just in the process of trying to figure how to make his 6-foot-10 collapsible body work as a one unit, to create a body of work.
“The Human Tripod,” a name that could have been pinned on him when he was representing the Daily Trojan newspaper as a photographer, had bigger things to focus on.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 4:
= Rob Blake: Los Angeles Kings = Byron Scott: Los Angeles Lakers = Duke Snider: Los Angeles Dodgers = Bobby Grich: California Angels
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 4:
= Rodney Anderson: Cal State Fullerton = Joe McKnight: USC football = Kevin Pillar: Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball
The most interesting story for No. 4: Zenyatta: Thoroughbred racehorse (2007 to 2010) Southern California map pinpoints: Arcadia (Santa Anita); Inglewood (Hollywood Park)
My moments of Zenyatta came in blindsiding waves.
Driven to tears, on occasion.
Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records, pinned this name on a filly born in 2004 as a tribute to one his clients, the Police. The lads from England with the ultra-hot modern reggae/pop rock sound came out in 1980 with the album, Zenyatta Mondatta. Turns out, who knew both Zenyatta and Mondatta weree apparently invented portmanteau words by band member Stewart Copeland.
“It’s not an attempt to be mysterious, just syllables that sound good together, like the sound of a melody that has no words at all has a meaning,” he explained.
To the Moss family, it was interpreted as a zen-giving experience.
(My one and only attendance at a concert to see the Police during their Synchronicity Tour, when the bill included Berlin, The Fixx and The Thompson Twins, was at the non-concert-friendly Hollywood Park race track in 1983. A year later, the place that gave Inglewood much city pride when it opened in the summer of 1938 hosted the first Breeder’s Cup).
Not a super-keen follower of horse racing, baffled by its wagering mindset that just didn’t compute well with my thinking process, I still enjoyed being assigned to help cover big events. The 2009 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park was one of them, yet my focus was far more on those who showed up and were involved with all the money passing hands around me.
As the sun was setting on the majestic Santa Anita Park, a thoroughbred in pink and turquoise silks named Zenyatta, ridden by the master Mike Smith, would stick with me decades later as the most blindsiding, exhilarating, most Southern-California sports moment I ever witnessed.
A horse that appropriately ran away with the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic a year earlier dared to be entered in a field against the world’s most worthy males, of any age, size and nationality. This was a true world championship.
Reluctantly, flashing the No. 4, it became a forgone conclusion in her mind. Maybe. We’ll never be able to ask her.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 31:
= Mike Piazza: Los Angeles Dodgers = Cheryl Miller: Riverside Poly High basketball, USC women’s basketball = Ed O’Bannon: UCLA basketball = Reggie Miller: UCLA basketball = Kurt Rambis: Los Angeles Lakers = Dean Chance: Los Angeles/California Angels
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 31:
= Carnell Lake, UCLA football = Karch Kiraly: UCLA volleyball = Chuck Finley: California/Anaheim Angels
The most interesting story for No. 31: Cheryl Miller: USC women’s basketball (1981-82 to 1985-86) via Riverside Poly High Reggie Miller: UCLA basketball (1983-84 to 1986-87) via Riverside Poly High Southern California map pinpoints: Riverside; Westwood (UCLA); downtown L.A. (USC)
During the 2005 season, rumors percolated that Reggie Miller was ready to retire from the NBA after a hot-shot, 18-year run, all of them with the Indiana Pacers. He was coming up on 40 years old. It made sense.
TNT reporter Cheryl Miller denied the story was true.
She was even a bit adamant about it as she told her broadcasting partner on air to cease and desist with reporting such inaccurate information. Besides, if anyone should know, would be her.
Two weeks later, during a Lakers-Pistons telecast, Cheryl Miller reported on TNT that Reggie Miller would, in fact, be retiring. Reggie had told his coach, Rick Carlisle, first. Then he gave the scoop to Cheryl.
Proving again: Older sisters protect younger brothers, no matter what their age or their eventual Basketball Hall of Fame status.
For both of them.
'Froback Friday! The best brother-sister hoops tandem of all-time, Cheryl Miller and Reggie Miller. From Riverside Poly to the Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/UIvGO7EZ1s
Reggie Miller – aka Uncle Reg, The Knick Killer, Killa, Funk and Mighty Mouth, as they are listed on his BaseballReference.org biography – was born 19 months after his sister Cheryl. They were the last two of the five kids from Saul and Carrie Miller at their Riverside home. Included in that was oldest son, Darrel, a catcher for the California Angels (who wore No. 32, 1984 to 1988).
As basketball players, Cheryl was the bigger deal even if, at 6-foot-2, she was at least five inches shorter than pencil-thin Reggie in their adult lives.
It was Cheryl who once scored 105 points in a 32-minute game in 1982 for Riverside Poly High – the same night Reggie scored 40 in a game for the boy’s varsity team. Guess who got the bigger headlines?
In leading Poly to a 132-4 record, averaging 37.5 points a game, Cheryl was also said to be the first female player to dunk in a game. She was the national High School Player of the Year. As a junior and senior.
She picked USC to continue her play, a place making a name for itself with the McGee twins on the front line. USC won a national title her freshman year — the Trojans were 31-2. And in her sophomore year — the Trojans were 29-4. She took a detour to win a gold medal for US basketball in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and won the Naismith Player of the Year Award three times.
There’s little argument, even today, she is among the most dominant players in women’s basketball history. In October of 2025, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the women’s basketball poll, The Associated Press assembled a list of the greatest players since the first poll in 1976. Without ranking them, Miller was included on the AP first team with Caitlin Clark, Diana Taurasi, Brenna Stewart and Candace Parker.
“I grew up watching Cheryl Miller play,” said Chicago native Parker, who ended up a star with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. “She’d be No. 1. My dad was like ‘This is who we wanted you to be.’ I’m honored to be on this list with her.”
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 