Steve Garvey relying on Padres and Dodgers fans might be worst campaign ever

When former Padres great Steve Garvey announced that he was running for the US Senate in Callfornia, it was met with a general "good for him". Garvey has remained active in California and if he wants to try his hand at politics, more power to him.

It wouldn't be the first time that a former big leaguer has entered the political fray. Jim Bunning put together a 17-season Hall of Fame career mostly with the Tigers and Phillies before serving in the US House and Senate from 1987-2011. In this day and age, it is even more possible to parlay a successful sports or entertainment career into a political career.

However, Garvey has been weirdly focused on his baseball accomplishments in his campaign and that doesn't seem like the wisest move, given that he's now trying to reach across the aisle and unite rival fans who hate each other.

Being a great player doesn't make one a great candidate, Steve Garvey.

Completely ignoring political affiliations here, it is a little cringe to run any sort of campaign the way Garvey is. He is hoping that his drawing power as a baseball player will translate as drawing power to the polls. Unfortunately, Garvey's career doesn't exactly move the needle a ton from a marketing prospective, especially with baseball not being as widely adopted as a fandom these as say the NFL.

Complicating matters is that he is trying to milk two rival fan bases for votes. One minute, he is talking about his Padres glory days from the end of his career. The next minute, he is patting his old Dodgers jersey and fondly remembering his 1974 MVP season. Both sets of fans are important to him, obviously, but it comes off really weird as a campaign tactic to try and ally himself so shamelessly with fans that can't stand each other.

We shall see if his campaign strategy proves to be a winning one soon. Debates amongst the candidates happen this coming week and the voters will have to decide how much Garvey's career as a ballplayer will dictate who they vote for this year.

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