Steve Garvey Is Hit With Paternity Suit

LOS ANGELES —  Steve Garvey, the retired All-Star first baseman who played for the San Diego Padres and whose clean image was sullied by revelations of sexual infidelity, was sued Wednesday by a woman who said he fathered her 2-year-old child.

Rebecka Mendenhall’s Superior Court suit said she was engaged to Garvey when she became pregnant with her child, Slade, who was born Oct. 13, 1989. Garvey broke off the relationship before the child was born and married another woman.

The former baseball star admitted in 1989 that he had fathered the children of two women out of wedlock, including the Mendenhall baby. At the time, Garvey said he would assume responsibility for any offspring proven to be his.

Garvey’s attorney, Dennis Wasser, said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit and couldn’t immediately discuss its merits.

The Mendenhall paternity action was originally filed in Georgia, but the Georgia Supreme Court dismissed the case, ruling jurisdiction belonged in California.

DNA testing proved Garvey was the biological father, and he was informed of the test results in January, 1990, the suit said. But Garvey refuses to formally acknowledge the child is his, Mendenhall’s attorney, Stephen Kolodny, said.

“I request that the court order the defendant to pay . . . ongoing support and maintenance of Slade, all costs related to my pregnancy, Slade’s birth, the related and associated costs,” Mendenhall said in court documents.

Garvey, 42, was a 10-time All-Star when he retired in January, 1988, after 17 years in the major leagues--12 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and five with the Padres.