MLB great Steve Garvey swings for the Senate, announces campaign to help turn around California

World Series champion Steve Garvey talks to Fox News Digital about why he's running for the U.S. Senate in California.

Steve Garvey helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series in 1981 to snap a 16-year championship drought for one of baseball’s most storied franchises.

Garvey on Tuesday announced he is taking on a new challenge as he hopes to move his corner office from first base to Washington, D.C., in a campaign for U.S. Senate in California. The one-time National League MVP played for the Dodgers for 14 years and another five for the San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1987 and knows the Golden State like the back of his hand.

He told Fox News Digital in a recent interview he had been asked by Republicans and Democrats whether he would consider running for office and never thought it was the right time – until now.

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Baseball great Steve Garvey on Tuesday announced he is taking on a new challenge as he hopes to move his corner office from first base to Washington, D.C., in a campaign for U.S. Senate in California. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images/File)

"I like to think of myself as a concerned citizen. I started seeing a severe dysfunction in Washington. Career politicians were focusing on the business of politics and not the people," Garvey said. "And I decided if there isn’t a voice in California, then I should take a few months and see if there’s a pathway for Steve Garvey to run for the U.S. Senate."

Garvey, 74, said he’s talked to Californians up and down the state and that they’d tell him it was refreshing for him to ask their opinions on the state instead of getting told what’s good for them.

"It’s caused such a malaise for us in California," he said. "It’s