Football coaching legend Barry Switzer led the Dallas Cowboys — “America’s Team” — to a Super Bowl title in 1995 after 16 seasons at the helm of the Oklahoma Sooners, where he won three national titles. But Switzer is best known in politics as the man who uttered the most apt description yet of privilege.
“Some people are born on third base,” Switzer said in an 1986 interview, “and go through life thinking they hit a triple.”
"Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple." –
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) January 25, 2014
Barry Switzer
It’s an indelible knock that Nobelists like Hemingway or Toni Morrison might have been proud to coin — and it’s often since been appropriated by Democrats to describe their Republican adversaries, even if Switzer is an unlikely source for liberal talking points.
This week, on hearing that former Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey is running for the California Senate seat formerly held by the late Dianne Feinstein, California Congressman and Senate hopeful Adam Schiff issued a warning using Switzer’s baseball metaphor. Schiff, in a fundraising pitch, characterized Garvey’s position as one which espoused the haves helping the haves, with the have-nots left in the dugout.
Schiff writes: “Steve Garvey was a first baseman for the Dodgers and Padres, and apparently, he’s ready to take up the fight for everyone born on third base thinking they hit a triple. Go figure.”
Schiff then links Garvey’s candidacy to potential MAGA support from former President Donald Trump, a sworn enemy of Schiff. (Garvey has said he voted for Trump, but he hasn’t yet said he has Trump’s support in this race.)
“Garvey appears to be taking a cue from another celebrity Republican with no political experience, Donald Trump,” Schiff writes. “And given Trump’s determination to make sure I don’t become California’s Senator next year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Trump and MAGA world get solidly behind Garvey. I will need your help to ensure Garvey and Trump feel the sting of losing on March 5, 2024.”
Garvey’s initial foray into the race didn’t play to MAGA positions, but tried to impart a centrist approach in ways reminiscent of anti-Trump Republican former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“I played in front of millions of fans. I never played for Democrats or Republicans or independents. I played for all of you,” Garvey says in his announcement video. “Now I’m running for U.S. Senate in California — a state that I believe at one time was the heartbeat of America and now is just a murmur.”
Running in California as a Republican requires a special balance, and Garvey tried to strike it. In California, the prominent GOP abortion issue can’t play like it can in Alabama. Garvey enters aware of the majority opinion in his state. “The people of California have spoken…on abortion, and as their representative, I pledge to always uphold the voice of the people,” he said.
“I’m big on free will and choice. I think God gave us that and in what we choose in life and what we choose to do,” he said. “In this case, to be a senator from this great state means you pledge to listen to the people and uphold their wishes.”
Garvey won the National League MVP in 1974. In his career, he hit 43 regular season triples.
