San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California since their founding in 1969. They play in the National League Western Division.

Pre 1970s: The Beginnings
The Padres adopted their name from the Pacific Coast League team which arrived in San Diego in 1936. That minor league franchise won the PCL title in 1937, led by then-18-year-old San Diegan Ted Williams.
In 1969, the San Diego Padres joined the ranks of Major League Baseball as one of four new expansion teams, along with the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals), the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers). Their original owner was C. Arnholt Smith, a prominent San Diego businessman and former owner of the PCL Padres whose interests included banking, tuna fishing, hotels, real estate and an airline. Despite initial excitement, the guidance of longtime baseball executive Buzzie Bavasi and a new playing field, the team struggled; the Padres finished in last place in each of its first six seasons in the NL West, losing 100 games or more four times. One of the few bright spots on the team during the early years was first baseman and slugger Nate Colbert, an expansion draftee from the Houston Astros and still (as of 2007) the Padres' career leader in home runs. The 70s: Winfield, Jones, Fingers and Ozzie


Although the Padres continued to struggle after Colbert's departure via trade to the Detroit Tigers in 1974, they did feature star outfielder Dave Winfield, who came to the Padres in 1973 from the University of Minnesota without having played a single game in the minor leagues. Winfield was also drafted by the Minnesota Vikins of the National Football League, the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association and the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association.
Winfield took over where Colbert left off, starring in the Padres outfield from 1973 until 1980, when he joined the New York Yankees. In seven seasons, Winfield played in 1,117 games for San Diego and collected 1,134 hits, 154 home runs and drove in 626 runs. But most importantly, he helped the team out of the National League West basement for the first time in 1975, under the guidance of manager John McNamara, who took over the club at the start of the 1974 season.
Winfield's emergence as a legitimate star coincided with the turnaround of a promising young left-handed pitcher named Randy Jones, who had suffered through 22 losses in 1974. Jones became the first San Diego pitcher to win 20 games in 1975, going 20-12 in 37 outings as the Padres finished in fourth place with a 71-91 record, 37 games behind the Cincinnati Reds.
Jones won 22 games in 1976, winning the Cy Young Award in the process, another franchise first. The club set a new high with 73 wins, but fell to fifth place.
Jones slipped to 6-12 in 1977, and not even the acquisition of future hall-of-fame relief pitcher Rollie Fingers could help the Padres escape the second division. Only Winfield and fellow outfielder George Hendrick cracked the 20-homer barrier, and the pitching staff was filled with a group of unknowns and youngsters, few of whom would enjoy much success at the major league level.
The 1978 season brought hope to baseball fans in San Diego, thanks to the arrival a young shortstop named Ozzie Smith, who arrived on the scene and turned the baseball world on its ears with an acrobatic style that redefined how the position should be played in the field. The Padres hosted the all-star game that summer. The National League won the contest 7-3 thanks to an MVP performance by Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, who would play a crucial role for San Diego in the not-too-distant future.
Winfield and Fingers represented the team at the game, but conspicuously absent was starting pitcher Gaylord Perry, who joined the Padres after spending three years with the Texas Rangers. At 39 years of age and coming off a 15-14 season with Texas, little was expected of the future hall-of-famer. All Perry did that summer was post a 21-6 record and a 2.73 earned run average, edging Montreal's Ross Grimsley to earn the Padres' second Cy Young Award in three seasons. San Diego also picked up another first that summer, compiling an 84-78 mark for manager Roger Craig, the only time in 10 seasons the team finished a season with a winning percentage above .500.
The good times didn't last, as the Padres closed out the decade with another losing season in 1979, a 68-93 record that cost Craig his job. Winfield was the lone bright spot, leading the National League with 118 RBIs.

Washington Padres?
Before the 1974 season began, the Padres were on the verge of being sold to Joseph Danzansky, who was planning to move the franchise to Washington, D.C. by the beginning of the 1974 season. People were so convinced the transfer would happen that new uniforms were designed. Even the baseball card companies were fooled. About half of the Padres' player cards printed by Topps that season displayed "Washington National League" as the team name. But C. Arnholt Smith changed his mind, and instead sold the Padres to McDonald's' co-founder Ray Kroc, who was not interested in moving the team and kept the team in San Diego. The nation's capital would have to wait until after the 2004 season, when the Montreal Expos, the Padres' sister National League expansion team in 1969, transferred to the District of Columbia and became the Washington Nationals.

1984: The First Pennant
The 1984 season began with a shock: Ray Kroc died of heart disease on January 14. Ownership of the team passed to his third wife, Joan B. Kroc. The team would wear Ray's initials, "RAK" on their jersey's left sleeve during the entire season.
Fortunately, happier times were ahead for the team. The Padres finished at 92-70 in 1984 and won the National League West championship, despite having no players with 100-RBI and only two batters with 20-HR. They were managed by Dick Williams and had an offense that featured veterans Steve Garvey, Garry Templeton, Graig Nettles, Alan Wiggins as well as Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn, who captured his first of what would be eight National League batting championships that year (he would also win in 1987-89 and from 1994-97; Gwynn shares the National League record with Honus Wagner). Gwynn, who also would win five National League Gold Gloves during his career, joined the Padres in 1982 following starring roles in both baseball and basketball at San Diego State University (he still holds the school record for career basketball assists), and after having been selected in the previous year by both the Padres in the baseball draft and by the then San Diego Clippers in the National Basketball Association draft. The Padres pitching staff in 1984 featured Eric Show (15-9), Ed Whitson (14-8), Mark Thurmond (14-8), Tim Lollar (11-13), and Rich "Goose" Gossage as their closer (10-6, 2.90 ERA and 25 saves).
In the 1984 NLCS, the Padres faced the NL East champion Chicago Cubs, who were making their first post-season appearance since 1945 and featured NL Most Valuable Player Ryne Sandberg and Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe. The Cubs would win the first two games at Wrigley Field, but the Padres swept the final three games at then San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium (the highlight arguably being Steve Garvey's dramatic, game winning home run off of Lee Smith in Game 4) to win the 1984 National League pennant.
In the 1984 World Series, the Padres faced the powerful Detroit Tigers, who steamrolled through the regular season with 104 victories (and had started out with a 35-5 record, the best ever through the first 40 games). The Tigers were managed by Sparky Anderson and featured shortstop and native San Diegan Alan Trammell and outfielder Kirk Gibson, along with Lance Parrish and DH Darrell Evans. The pitching staff was bolstered by ace Jack Morris (19-11, 3.60 ERA), Dan Petry (18-8), Milt Wilcox (17-8), and closer Willie Hernandez (9-3, 1.92 ERA with 32 saves). Jack Morris would win games 1 and 4 and the Tigers would go on to win the Series 4-games-to-1.

1985-95: Tough Times Following a Pennant
After the Padres won the pennant in 1984, they had some tough times. Tony Gwynn continued to win batting titles (including batting .394 in 1994). The Padres would come close in 1985. They would field seven All-Stars. However, they collapsed at the end of the season.
In 1987, rookie catcher Benito Santiago hit in 34 straight games, earning him the NL Rookie of the Year Award. However, the Padres finished dead last in 1987. The next season, rookie second baseman Roberto Alomar would make his debut, forming a double play combination with veteran shortstop Garry Templeton. In 1989, the Padres finished 89-73 thanks to Cy Young Award-winning closer Mark Davis. Between 1989 and 1990, friction dominated the Padres' clubhouse as Tony Gwynn had constant shouting matches with slugger Jack Clark. But as the franchise player, Gwynn prevailed as Clark finished his career with the Red Sox.
Midway through the 1990 season, Joan Kroc wanted to sell the team. But she wanted a commitment to San Diego. So Kroc sold it to television producer Tom Werner. After the ownership change, the old brown that remained in Padres uniforms since their inception were supplanted by navy blue, a nod to the vintage 1940's PCL franchise colors. In 1992, the Padres lineup featured the "Four Tops": Gary Sheffield, Fred McGriff, Tony Fernández, and Tony Gwynn. However, Fernandez would go to the New York Mets, McGriff went to the division-winning Atlanta Braves, and Sheffield would go to the expansion Florida Marlins. Although extremely unpopular at the time, it was the Sheffield trade that brought in pitcher Trevor Hoffman, who was virtually unknown to Padres fans. While Sheffield led Florida to a World Championship in 1997, Hoffman would be the next franchise player behind Dave Winfield and Tony Gwynn. The Padres would finish dead last in the strike-shortened 1994 season, but Gwynn hit .394 that year. After that season, the Padres made a mega-trade with Houston reeling in Ken Caminiti, Steve Finley, and others. In November 1995, Kevin Towers was promoted from scouting director to general manager.

1996-97: Building a Winner
In 1996, under new owner John Moores (a software tycoon who purchased controlling ownership in the team in 1994 from Tom Werner, who subsequently formed a syndicate that purchased the Boston Red Sox) and team president Larry Lucchino, and with a team managed by former Padres catcher Bruce Bochy (a member of the 1984 NL championship squad), the team won the NL West in an exciting race, sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in the final series of the regular season. The '96 team featured Gwynn, who won his seventh National League batting championship, National League MVP Ken Caminiti, premier leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson, pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, first baseman Wally Joyner and outfielder Steve Finley. The Padres had led the NL West early in the season only to falter June, but came back in July and battled the Dodgers the rest of the way. However, they were defeated in the National League Division Series by the Tony La Russa-led St. Louis Cardinals, 3 games to 0.
The Padres suffered an off-year in 1997, plagued by a pitching slump. The one silver lining was Tony Gwynn's eighth and final National League batting title, won in the final days of the season after a down-to-the wire duel with the Colorado Rockies' Larry Walker. Walker barely missed becoming the first Triple Crown winner in baseball since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

1998: The Second Pennant
In 1998, Henderson and Valenzuela were gone, but newly acquired (from the 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins) pitcher Kevin Brown had a sensational year (his only one with the Padres) and outfielder/slugger Greg Vaughn hit 50 home runs (overlooked in that season of the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa race). Managed by Bruce Bochy and aided by the talents of players such as Tony Gwynn, Ken Caminiti, Wally Joyner, Steve Finley, pitcher Andy Ashby and premier closer Trevor Hoffman (4-2, 1.48 ERA and 52 saves), the Padres had their best year in history, finishing 98-64 and winning the NL West division crown.
The Padres went on to defeat the Houston Astros in the 1998 NLDS, 3 games to 1, behind solid pitching by Brown and Hoffman, and home runs by Greg Vaughn, Wally Joyner and Jim Leyritz (who homered in 3 of the 4 games).
In the 1998 NLCS, the Padres faced the Atlanta Braves, who had won the National League East with an astonishing 106-56 record. The offense was paced by talent such as Andres Galarraga, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones and Javy López. Their pitching staff had the perennial big-3 of Greg Maddux (18-9, 2.22 ERA), Tom Glavine (20-6, 2.47 ERA), and John Smoltz (17-3, 2.90 ERA), as well as Kevin Millwood (17-8, 4.08 ERA) and Denny Neagle (16-11, 3.55 ERA). However, it was the Padres that would prevail, 4 games to 2, with ace Kevin Brown pitching a complete game shutout in game 2 (winning 3-0). Steve Finley caught a pop fly for the final out, as the Padres clinched the series.
In the 1998 World Series the Padres faced the powerhouse New York Yankees, who had steamrolled through the season with a 114-48 record and drew acclaim as one their greatest teams of all time. There was no offensive player with more than 30 home runs, in contrast to the teams of the 1920's, or 1950's, but they had four players with 24+ and eight with 17+. Yankee pitching had been paced by David Cone (20-7, 3.55), Andy Pettite (16-11, 4.24), David Wells (18-4, 3.49), Hideki Irabu (13-9, 4.06) and Orlando Hernández (12-4, 3.13). Mariano Rivera, their closer, was excellent once again (3-0, 1.91 ERA with 36 saves).
The Yankees swept the Padres 4 games to 0. Mariano Rivera closed out 3 of the 4 games. One of the few bright spots of the series for the Padres was a home run by Tony Gwynn, not normally a power hitter, in Game 1 that hit the facing of the right-field upper deck at Yankee Stadium and put the Padres ahead briefly, 5-2. But the Yankees would score 7 runs in the 7th inning en route to a 9-6 victory.

1999-2003: Tough Times Following a Pennant Part II
The Padres opened their 1999 season in Monterrey, Mexico versus the Colorado Rockies. The Padres struggled after the 1998 season, but Tony Gwynn got his 3,000 hit in Montreal in 1999, and then retired as one of the greatest hitters of all time in 2001. After five straight losing seasons in Qualcomm Stadium (1999-2003), the Padres moved into newly built Petco Park.

2004 season: PETCO Park Opens
PETCO Park is situated in downtown near San Diego's Gaslamp District, the main entrance located just two blocks from the downtown terminal of the San Diego Trolley light-rail system. With new amenities and a revitalization of the downtown neighborhood, fan interest renewed. Modeled after recent successes in downtown ballpark building (such as San Francisco's AT&T Park), and incorporating San Diego history in the form of the preservation of the facade of the historic Western Metals Company building (now the left-field corner, the corner of the building substituting for the left field foul pole), the new Petco Park is a sharp contrast to their previous home at Qualcomm (Jack Murphy) Stadium which was a cookie-cutter type football-baseball facility located in an outer, mostly commercial-industrial, area of the city near an interstate interchange.
With the ocean air prevalent and a sharp, clean park to play in, the Padres began to win again. The new stadium also acquired a reputation as a pitchers' park, with notable complaints from some of the Padres batters themselves (deep center field and evenings with dense foggy air). The Padres finished the 2004 season with an 87-75 record, good enough for 3rd in the NL West.
The team somewhat rebranded itself going into the 2004 season, with new colors (navy blue and sand brown), new uniforms and a new advertising slogan, "Play Downtown", referring to the near-downtown location of the new ballpark.

2005 season: The Best of the Worst and the Worst of the Best
In 2005, the Western Division Champion Padres finished with the lowest-ever winning percentage for a division champion (or for that matter, a postseason qualifier) in a non-strike season, 82-80. Three teams in the stronger Eastern Division finished with better records than San Diego but failed to qualify for the play-offs, including second-place Philadelphia, which won 88 games and all six of its contests with the Padres. There had been some speculation that the Padres would be the first team in history to win a division and finish below .500, but their victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 30 gave them their 81st victory. In the NLDS, the reigning National League champion St. Louis Cardinals, who finished the season with the majors' best record, swept the Padres in three consecutive games. Thus the Padres finished the season with an overall regular-and-post-season record of 82-83, the first post-season qualifier in a normal-length season to lose more games than it won overall. The Padres remain one of five National League teams (the Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos, and the Milwaukee Brewers) to have never won a World Series.
The 2005 Padres featured bright spots, however, including ace pitcher Jake Peavy, the NL strikeout leader, and closer Trevor Hoffman, who claimed his 400th save.

2006 season: Another Division Title
The Padres started April 2006 with a 9-15 record and were stuck in the cellar of the NL West.
However, after going 19-10 in May, the club moved into first place in the division. Closer Trevor Hoffman was elected to the 2006 MLB All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, threw one inning in that game and got the loss. On September 24 (the last home game of the regular season), Hoffman became the all-time saves leader when he recorded his 479th career save, breaking Lee Smith's record of 478. (Hoffman's career total as of the end of the season was 482.) Hoffman's 2006 campaign (2.14 ERA, 46 saves in 51 opportunities through 65 games pitched) was one of his best. The 2006 Padres would attribute their success largely to the team's pitching staff. Their ERA was 3.87, first in the NL and trailing only the Detroit Tigers in all of MLB.
On September 30, 2006, the Padres clinched a playoff berth with a 3-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the final game of the season, the Padres defeated the Diamondbacks 7-6 to win back to back division titles for the first time in team history (they were tied with the Dodgers for the division title, but because of winning the season series against them, the division title went to them and the wild card went to the Dodgers). The Padres opened the 2006 National League Division Series at home against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, October 3, 2006. After losing the first two games at home (5-1 and 2-0 respectively), they won game 3 at Busch Stadium 3-1, but were eliminated with a 6-2 loss in Game 4, when the Cardinals, who trailed 2-0 before their first at-bat, scored six unanswered runs (two in the first, and four in the sixth) for the win.
Overall the Padres have a post-season record of 12-22; they have lost 10 of their last 11 games since winning the National League pennant in 1998.
One key offseason trade between the San Diego Padres' General Manager, Kevin Towers, and the Texas Rangers' General Manager, Jon Daniels, would prove to have a dramatic impact on their 2006 season. The Padres dealt starting pitcher Adam Eaton, middle reliever Akinori Otsuka, and minor-league catcher Billy Killian in exchange for starting pitcher Chris Young (a star at Princeton University), left fielder Terrmel Sledge, and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez would take over the everyday duties at first base, batting .304 with a club-leading 24 home runs and 82 RBI in his first year as a full-time starter. Sledge would hit .229 in limited major league action. Chris Young proved to be the real story, however, as he would go 11-5 with a 3.46 ERA (6th best in the National League) and allowed just 6.72 hits per 9 innings pitched - best in the majors.
2006 also ended up being the last year of Bruce Bochy's tenure as the manager of the Padres, taking the managerial position for their divisional rivals, the San Francisco Giants. He was replaced by Bud Black, a San Diego State University alumni and former pitching coach of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

2007 season: Falling Short
On Sunday, April 1, 2007, Major League Baseball's 2007 Opening Night, the Padres announced that they had agreed to terms on a four-year contract with 1B Adrian Gonzalez, keeping him in San Diego until 2010 with a club option for 2011. Prior to this contract agreement the Padres had offered to renew Gonzalez's contract during the offseason at $380,500, only $500 over the league minimum for the 2007 season.
The Padres' 2007 season began April 3 in an away game against the San Francisco Giants, winning it 7-0 in front of a capacity crowd of 42,773 at AT&T Park, defeating $126 million staff-ace Barry Zito in his Giants debut. The Padres bullpen has continued to be the team's strength as in recent years, opening the season with 28 1/3 scoreless innings, a Major League record to start a season. At the start of the season the Padres starting rotation order was as follows: Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Clay Hensley (injured, replaced by Justin Germano), Greg Maddux, David Wells (now with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the remainder of the 2007 season).
On June 4, 2007, Jake Peavy was named NL Pitcher of the Month after going 4-0 with a 0.79 ERA in May. The next day, Trevor Hoffman was named the “DHL Presents the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Month Award” for May 2007. The award recognizes the most outstanding relief pitcher during each month of the regular season.
On June 6, 2007, Trevor Hoffman became the first pitcher in major league history to record 500 saves, 498 of them coming as a Padre (the first 2 were as a Florida Marlin).
The Padres ended the regular season in an 89-73 tie for the NL wild card with the Colorado Rockies. In a cruel piece of irony, on September 29, 2007, the Padres were within one out and one strike of clinching the National League Wild Card berth, but Tony Gwynn, Jr., son of the longtime Padres legend, tripled against Hoffman to tie the game. The Padres went on to lose that game, and the one that followed, even though the Milwaukee Brewers had been eliminated from the pennant race and had nothing left to play for. The Padres then met the Rockies on October 1, 2007 in Denver for a one-game playoff to decide the wild card winner. Despite having Jake Peavy start the game and bringing in Trevor Hoffman in the bottom of the 13th inning to try to hold an 8-6 lead, the Padres' season ended when the Rockies rallied to win 9-8. It ended on a controversial call on a sacrifice fly where many questioned whether Matt Holliday ever touched home plate, leaving Padre fans saying "Holliday never touched home!"
To many Padres fans, however, the last call at the plate seemed irrelevant. Between Hoffman's two blown saves in the last three games, the Rockies' incredible surge at the end of the season and the season-long slump by the Padres' offense, a Padres postseason appearance just wasn't meant to be.
On November 15, Jake Peavy won the National League Cy Young Award by unanimous ballot. He was the fourth Padre to capture the pitching award.
The Padres entered the 2007-08 offseason with a number of questions, including the ability of Trevor Hoffman to close games past his 40th birthday, the ongoing inability to hold runners on base (the Padres' caught-stealing ratio in 2007 was one of the worst in baseball history), two holes in the back of the starting rotation, and the possible departure of Mike Cameron to free agency. The two holes in the rotation were filled by former Dodger Randy Wolf and Mark Prior and the club dealt for Jim Edmonds to replace Cameron. Additionally, Milton Bradley was signed by the Texas Rangers.
The Padres signed Mark Prior to a one-year deal in the off-season. Prior, a University of San Diego HS graduate (now Cathedral HS), joins a team that consists of players that were also local prep stars, Brian Giles (Granite Hills HS), Adrian Gonzalez (Eastlake HS), and Oscar Robles (Montgomery HS). Recent Padres teams had also included Dave Roberts (Rancho Buena Vista HS), David Wells (Point Loma HS), and Marcus Giles (Granite Hills HS).

2008 season: Another Try
The Padres will start the 2008 campaign March 31, in San Diego against the Houston Astros. San Diego will be attempting to win their third division title in four years and fifth straight winning season.

Spring Training Games
The team plays spring training games at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Arizona. They share the stadium with the Seattle Mariners.
During the 1980s (and continuing through 1994), the Padres held Spring Training in Yuma, Arizona. Due to the short driving distance and direct highway route (170 miles, all on Interstate 8), Yuma was very popular with Padres fans, and many fans would travel by car from San Diego for Spring Training games. The move from Yuma to Peoria (announced during the 1994 baseball strike) was very controversial, but was defended by the team as a reflection on the low quality of facilities in Yuma and the long travel necessary to play against other Arizona-based Spring Training teams (whose sites are all in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, both rather far from Yuma).

Logos and Colors
The San Diego Padres have used six different logos and three different color combinations throughout their history. Their first logo depicts a friar swinging a bat with Padres written at the top while standing in a sun-like figure with San Diego Padres on the exterior of it. The "Swinging Friar" has popped up on the uniform on and off ever since (he is currently on the left sleeve of the jersey), and is currently the mascot of the team. The original team colors were the brown and yellow of the original logo.
In 1985, the Padres switched to using a script-like logo in which Padres was written sloped up. That would later become a script logo for the Padres.
In 1989, the Padres took the scripted Padres logo that was used from 1985-1988 and put it in a tan ring that read "San Diego Baseball Club" with a striped center. In 1991, the logo was changed to a silver ring with the Padres script changed from brown to blue. The logo only lasted one year, as the Padres changed their logo for the third time in three years, again by switching colors of the ring. The logo became a white ring with fewer stripes in the center and a darker blue Padres script with orange shadows. In 1992, the team's colors were also changed, to a combination of orange and navy blue.
The logo was completely changed when the team changed stadiums between the 2003 and 2004 seasons, as the logo now looks like home plate at a baseball field with San Diego written in gold font at the top right corner and the Padres new script written completely across the center. Waves finish the bottom of the plate. Navy remains but a sandy beige replaces orange as a secondary color. The team's colors were also changed, to navy blue and sand brown.

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