Let's get this over with; it's been Blocking My Path for what seems like years. (Seems? Nay, I know not seems. It has been years.)
The Padres were part of the 1969 expansion class. (And more than forty years later, those four teams have managed just one World Series title - Kansas City in 1985 -and four World Series defeats: the Padres have two October losses, the Royals and Brewers one each.) The Padres started out, as most expansion teams do, by losing and losing, for years and years. They lost more than 90 games in each of their first nine seasons, except for that one year when they lost 89. In the late 1970s, they started throwing money at whichever free agent would come to town. They signed Rollie Fingers and Gene Tenace in 1977, and in 1978 they snapped up Oscar Gamble and Gaylord Perry. In 1978, behind rookie manager Roger Craig, they pulled off their first winning season ever, despite allowing more runs than they scored. It was a bit of fluke, largely fuelled by Perry's quite unexpected (he was 37 years old) Cy Young season. When they resumed their losing ways the next season, they dismissed Craig and gave the job to their broadcaster, Jerry Coleman. That worked about as well as you might imagine.
In the early 80s, Dick Williams took over. That was a good idea - he's Dick Williams, he's not in the Hall of Fame because of his pleasant personality. He had them playing in the World Series in his third season. But on the other hand, he's Dick Williams, and four years is about the maximum amount of time anyone can stand having him around. After Williams moved on, the team fell back into badness again, until they made another inspired managerial choice. Once again, they were replacing someone (Larry Bowa) who had been an utter disaster. Jack McKeon
The Bruce Bochy years.
What's unique about today's Padres is the park they call home. Petco Park does more to depress offense than any other stadium in the history of baseball.
Something I've decided to do, beginning with this latest installment of the Lobby of Numbers, is to note every player who has represented the franchise in an All Star Game. (And if there's an asterisk besides the year, it means that they started the All-Star Game.) I figure that, if nothing else, it will at least help me to sort through some unappetizing choices.
1. This number has most notably been worn by three shortstops, all of whom made one appearance representing the Padres in the All Star Game, and all of whom had their best seasons elsewhere. Ozzie Smith (1981) and Tony Fernandez (1992) had the best careers, but Garry Templeton (1985) had the longest run in San Diego. He never came close to capturing the early promise he showed in St. Louis, but
2. Johnny Grubb (1974 AS), Alan Wiggins
3. With very little regret, I am going to snub the Padres' very first All Star. The only reason Chris Cannizzaro (1969) got to go to the game was because even the Padres got to send someone. Whereas Khalil Greene
4. Luis Salazar, Darrin Jackson, Derek Bell
5. Fred Kendall, Randy Bass, Randy Ready
6. The Dodgers, of course, got the best years of hs life, but Steve Garvey (1984*, 1985*) accomplished a thing or two in San Diego as well. Besides the two All-Star starts, there was his transcendant perfomance in the 1984 LCS. DESCRIBE The Padres have actually retired the number.
7. Ed Spiezio, Bob Davis, Kurty Bevacqua, Wiki Gonzalez
8. John Kruk, Mark Loretta (2004 AS)
9. Graig Nettles (1985* AS) was well past his prime when he came to San Diego, Benito Santiago (1989*, 1990, 1991*, 1992* AS)
10. Doug Gwosdz, Bip Roberts, Chris Gomez, Gary Sheffield (1992 AS)
11. Enzo Hernandez, Tim Flannery
12. Mario Ramirez, Roberto Alomar (1990 AS), Steve Finley (1997 AS)
13. Bobby Valentine, Juan Eichelberger, Mark Davis (1987), Oscar Robles
14. Dave Freisleben, Carmelo Martinez
15. Dave Roberts (p), Mike Ivie, Broderick Perkins, Bruce Bochy
16. Fred Kendall, Terry Kennedy (1981, 1983, 1985* AS)
17. For some reason, Gene Richards was one of my favourite players when I was young. Hardly ever saw him play - I think I just assumed he was a National League equivalent of Mickey Rivers, who I was quite familiar with. They wore the same number, they had very similar games. I had forgotten all about him. But nevertheless, the first star the Padres produced was Nate Colbert (1971, 1972, 1973 AS), a first baseman they pilfered from
18. Gene Tenace was another of the numerous free agents Ray Kroc threw money at in the late 1970s. The former Jays coach was a wonderfully productive player, But Kevin McReynolds was actually developed by the Padres, established himself as a quality major leaguer in San Diego, and went elsewhere (New York and Kansas City) to collect the money.
19. Tony Gwynn (1984*, 1985*, 1986*, 1987, 1989*, 1990, 1991*, 1992*, 1993, 1994*, 1995*, 1996, 1997*, 1998*, 1999 AS)
20. Dave Roberts (1973-75), Jerry Turner
21. Cito Gaston (1970 AS), Ken Caminiti (1996, 1997* AS)
22. Steve Arlin, Wally Joyner, Ruppert Jones (1982 AS)
23. Shane Mack, Phil Nevin (2001 AS), Greg Vaughn (1998 AS)
24. Brian Giles
25. Gary Lucas, Jack Clark, Greg Vaughn, Mike Cameron
26. Ollie Brown, Chris Welsh, Ed Wojna
27. Bill Greif, Scott Sanders, Geoff Blum, Kevin Brown (1998 AS), Rondell White (2003 AS)
28. Shawn Abner, Ruben Rivera
29. Mickey Lolich, Fred McGriff (1992* AS)
30. Eric Show, Ryan Klesko (2001 AS), Greg Maddux
31. LaMarr Hoyt (1985* AS) became the second Padre pitcher to get an All Star start, shortly his life and career took a serious turn in a very bad direction. But this is a no-brainer. The greatest Padre right-fielder, with all respect to Tony Gwynn, was Dave Winfield (1977, 1978, 1979*, 1980 AS), Ed Whitson,
32. Jerry Morales, Bob Shirley, Chris Young (2007 AS)
33. Gary Ross, Juan Eichelberger
34. The Padres showed they were serious about improving themselves by throwing a trunkload of money at a relief pitcher. Rollie Fingers (1978 AS) was no ordinary relief pitcher of course.
35. The very first Padre to start an All Star Game was a LH pitcher with a curly blond locks named Randy Jones (1975, 1976* AS). Fred Norman
36. Gaylord Perry (1979 AS), Tim Worrell
37. Dave Tomlin, Craig Lefferts (1884-87)
38. Mark Thurmond, Pat Clements, Scott Linebrink
39. Bryce Florie
40. Andy Hawkins, Andy Benes (1993 AS)
41. Eric Rasmussen, Lance McCullers, Sterling Hitchcock
42. Jerry Turner, Rich Rodriguez,
43. I am going to snub two pitchers who represented the Padres in an All Star Game. Dave Dravecky (1983 AS) came up with the Padres, as did Andy Ashby (1998, 1999 AS) and both had their moments. I think Clay Kirby was better than either, a very fine pitcher utterly wasted on a very bad team.
44. Wllie McCovery, Jake Peavy (2005, 2007* AS)
45. Jimmy Jones, Doug Bochtler
46. Greg Harris,
47. Bruce Hurst
48. Before he became one of the most disastrous free agent signings of all time, Mark Davis (1988, 1989 AS) was the Padres relief ace. They'd acquired him from the Giants, who'd grown tired of waiting for him to harness his explosive fastball and utterly devastating curve. The Padres stuck him in short relief, and for a few years there he was actually able to find the strike zone. That accomplished, National League hitters were more or less helpless. Dan Spillner, Tim Lollar,
49. Doug Brocail
50. Joey Hamilton, Brian Lawrence
51. The man who has saved more games than any pitcher in history actually started out as an infielder. And why not? Trevor Hoffman (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007) was the younger brother of one-time Red Sox shortstop Glen Hoffman.
52. Tim Mauser, Clay Hensley
53. Adam Eaton
54. Rich Gossage (1984, 1985 AS)
55. Mark Grant
Up next will be another epic - the Giants of New York and San Francisco. Expect to see a couple of guys named Willie.
The Padres were part of the 1969 expansion class. (And more than forty years later, those four teams have managed just one World Series title - Kansas City in 1985 -and four World Series defeats: the Padres have two October losses, the Royals and Brewers one each.) The Padres started out, as most expansion teams do, by losing and losing, for years and years. They lost more than 90 games in each of their first nine seasons, except for that one year when they lost 89. In the late 1970s, they started throwing money at whichever free agent would come to town. They signed Rollie Fingers and Gene Tenace in 1977, and in 1978 they snapped up Oscar Gamble and Gaylord Perry. In 1978, behind rookie manager Roger Craig, they pulled off their first winning season ever, despite allowing more runs than they scored. It was a bit of fluke, largely fuelled by Perry's quite unexpected (he was 37 years old) Cy Young season. When they resumed their losing ways the next season, they dismissed Craig and gave the job to their broadcaster, Jerry Coleman. That worked about as well as you might imagine.
In the early 80s, Dick Williams took over. That was a good idea - he's Dick Williams, he's not in the Hall of Fame because of his pleasant personality. He had them playing in the World Series in his third season. But on the other hand, he's Dick Williams, and four years is about the maximum amount of time anyone can stand having him around. After Williams moved on, the team fell back into badness again, until they made another inspired managerial choice. Once again, they were replacing someone (Larry Bowa) who had been an utter disaster. Jack McKeon
The Bruce Bochy years.
What's unique about today's Padres is the park they call home. Petco Park does more to depress offense than any other stadium in the history of baseball.
Something I've decided to do, beginning with this latest installment of the Lobby of Numbers, is to note every player who has represented the franchise in an All Star Game. (And if there's an asterisk besides the year, it means that they started the All-Star Game.) I figure that, if nothing else, it will at least help me to sort through some unappetizing choices.
1. This number has most notably been worn by three shortstops, all of whom made one appearance representing the Padres in the All Star Game, and all of whom had their best seasons elsewhere. Ozzie Smith (1981) and Tony Fernandez (1992) had the best careers, but Garry Templeton (1985) had the longest run in San Diego. He never came close to capturing the early promise he showed in St. Louis, but
2. Johnny Grubb (1974 AS), Alan Wiggins
3. With very little regret, I am going to snub the Padres' very first All Star. The only reason Chris Cannizzaro (1969) got to go to the game was because even the Padres got to send someone. Whereas Khalil Greene
4. Luis Salazar, Darrin Jackson, Derek Bell
5. Fred Kendall, Randy Bass, Randy Ready
6. The Dodgers, of course, got the best years of hs life, but Steve Garvey (1984*, 1985*) accomplished a thing or two in San Diego as well. Besides the two All-Star starts, there was his transcendant perfomance in the 1984 LCS. DESCRIBE The Padres have actually retired the number.
7. Ed Spiezio, Bob Davis, Kurty Bevacqua, Wiki Gonzalez
8. John Kruk, Mark Loretta (2004 AS)
9. Graig Nettles (1985* AS) was well past his prime when he came to San Diego, Benito Santiago (1989*, 1990, 1991*, 1992* AS)
10. Doug Gwosdz, Bip Roberts, Chris Gomez, Gary Sheffield (1992 AS)
11. Enzo Hernandez, Tim Flannery
12. Mario Ramirez, Roberto Alomar (1990 AS), Steve Finley (1997 AS)
13. Bobby Valentine, Juan Eichelberger, Mark Davis (1987), Oscar Robles
14. Dave Freisleben, Carmelo Martinez
15. Dave Roberts (p), Mike Ivie, Broderick Perkins, Bruce Bochy
16. Fred Kendall, Terry Kennedy (1981, 1983, 1985* AS)
17. For some reason, Gene Richards was one of my favourite players when I was young. Hardly ever saw him play - I think I just assumed he was a National League equivalent of Mickey Rivers, who I was quite familiar with. They wore the same number, they had very similar games. I had forgotten all about him. But nevertheless, the first star the Padres produced was Nate Colbert (1971, 1972, 1973 AS), a first baseman they pilfered from
18. Gene Tenace was another of the numerous free agents Ray Kroc threw money at in the late 1970s. The former Jays coach was a wonderfully productive player, But Kevin McReynolds was actually developed by the Padres, established himself as a quality major leaguer in San Diego, and went elsewhere (New York and Kansas City) to collect the money.
19. Tony Gwynn (1984*, 1985*, 1986*, 1987, 1989*, 1990, 1991*, 1992*, 1993, 1994*, 1995*, 1996, 1997*, 1998*, 1999 AS)
20. Dave Roberts (1973-75), Jerry Turner
21. Cito Gaston (1970 AS), Ken Caminiti (1996, 1997* AS)
22. Steve Arlin, Wally Joyner, Ruppert Jones (1982 AS)
23. Shane Mack, Phil Nevin (2001 AS), Greg Vaughn (1998 AS)
24. Brian Giles
25. Gary Lucas, Jack Clark, Greg Vaughn, Mike Cameron
26. Ollie Brown, Chris Welsh, Ed Wojna
27. Bill Greif, Scott Sanders, Geoff Blum, Kevin Brown (1998 AS), Rondell White (2003 AS)
28. Shawn Abner, Ruben Rivera
29. Mickey Lolich, Fred McGriff (1992* AS)
30. Eric Show, Ryan Klesko (2001 AS), Greg Maddux
31. LaMarr Hoyt (1985* AS) became the second Padre pitcher to get an All Star start, shortly his life and career took a serious turn in a very bad direction. But this is a no-brainer. The greatest Padre right-fielder, with all respect to Tony Gwynn, was Dave Winfield (1977, 1978, 1979*, 1980 AS), Ed Whitson,
32. Jerry Morales, Bob Shirley, Chris Young (2007 AS)
33. Gary Ross, Juan Eichelberger
34. The Padres showed they were serious about improving themselves by throwing a trunkload of money at a relief pitcher. Rollie Fingers (1978 AS) was no ordinary relief pitcher of course.
35. The very first Padre to start an All Star Game was a LH pitcher with a curly blond locks named Randy Jones (1975, 1976* AS). Fred Norman
36. Gaylord Perry (1979 AS), Tim Worrell
37. Dave Tomlin, Craig Lefferts (1884-87)
38. Mark Thurmond, Pat Clements, Scott Linebrink
39. Bryce Florie
40. Andy Hawkins, Andy Benes (1993 AS)
41. Eric Rasmussen, Lance McCullers, Sterling Hitchcock
42. Jerry Turner, Rich Rodriguez,
43. I am going to snub two pitchers who represented the Padres in an All Star Game. Dave Dravecky (1983 AS) came up with the Padres, as did Andy Ashby (1998, 1999 AS) and both had their moments. I think Clay Kirby was better than either, a very fine pitcher utterly wasted on a very bad team.
44. Wllie McCovery, Jake Peavy (2005, 2007* AS)
45. Jimmy Jones, Doug Bochtler
46. Greg Harris,
47. Bruce Hurst
48. Before he became one of the most disastrous free agent signings of all time, Mark Davis (1988, 1989 AS) was the Padres relief ace. They'd acquired him from the Giants, who'd grown tired of waiting for him to harness his explosive fastball and utterly devastating curve. The Padres stuck him in short relief, and for a few years there he was actually able to find the strike zone. That accomplished, National League hitters were more or less helpless. Dan Spillner, Tim Lollar,
49. Doug Brocail
50. Joey Hamilton, Brian Lawrence
51. The man who has saved more games than any pitcher in history actually started out as an infielder. And why not? Trevor Hoffman (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007) was the younger brother of one-time Red Sox shortstop Glen Hoffman.
52. Tim Mauser, Clay Hensley
53. Adam Eaton
54. Rich Gossage (1984, 1985 AS)
55. Mark Grant
Up next will be another epic - the Giants of New York and San Francisco. Expect to see a couple of guys named Willie.
