Looking At The San Diego Padres

In 1969, Major League Baseball expanded by adding four new teams. The Seattle Pilots and the Kansas City Royals joined the American League. The Pilots would later become the Milwaukee Brewers. To the National League went the Montreal Expos, who later became the Washington Nationals, and the San Diego Padres. For all of these teams, success would not be in sight. This is particularly true for San Diego.

The coming of the Padres filled the city with excitement. Fans were full of hope when it came to their new ball club. They had good reason to be. There was a brand new stadium, an experienced front office and a young team to look forward to. Their enthusiasm would turn out to be short lived. Frankly, the team was terrible. They came in last on their division for the first six years of play. In four of those last place finishes, they amassed 100 or more losses.

There were a couple of bright spots during these years of futility. First, there was Nate Colbert. He was a legitimate power hitter who played first base. One of his greatest accomplishments (and only one of two players to ever do it, the other is Hall of Famer Stan Musical) was to whack five home runs in the course of a doubleheader. By the way, he also drove in thirteen runs during that doubleheader, and that record belongs exclusively to him.

The next bit of hope came with the sale of the team to Ray Kroc. Kroc was owner of the largest fast food chain in the world and he wanted to win. Among the first things he did was to make an introduction to Padre fans at a game over the PA system. During his speech he apologized for his team's "stupid ball playing" and vowed improvement. Unfortunately for Kroc, a streaker ran across the field as he spoke, probably mitigating the impact of what he had to say.

Very slowly the team started to improve. In 1978, they played . 500 ball for the first time ever. In fact, they finished the season five game over . 500. This was due in large part to some good players such as Rollie Fingers, Gaylord Perry and Dave Winfield. Unfortunately for the Pads, Winfield and Fingers were both lost to free agency.

The Pads did see success with two pennants and appearances in the World Series in 1984 and 1998. As luck would have it, both times they were facing juggernaut teams. First was the Detroit Tigers who began their season 35-5 and went on to win the whole thing in 5 games.

Second they had to face the New York Yankees. The 98 Yanks won 114 of their games and are ranked among the best teams in the history of baseball. The Yanks swept that series, but San Diego played their hearts out. Three of the games were exciting nail biting matches.

The 2000s have seen unevenness of play. They were the division champs in 2005 and 2006 but other years turned out to be disappointments. Today, they remain decent, but not terrific. Time will tell what is in store for them.
Bobbie Barton is a fitness trainer She likes SportsFanTreasures.com and recommends you check out their info on Chicago White Sox Watch, Atlanta Braves Bedding and Philadelphia Phillies Bedding