The 1969 Padres coaches gather around manager Preston Gomez during spring training in Yuma, Arizona. Left to right are coaches Sparky Anderson, Wally Moon, Roger Craig, and Whitey Wietelmann. (Courtesy of Tom Larwin)

San Diegans rejoiced in May 1968 when the National League announced the awarding of expansion teams to Montreal and San Diego, beating out Buffalo, Milwaukee, and Dallas, after a 10-hour owners meeting with 18 ballots. Montreal was the first choice, and Buffalo initially had votes from eight of the 10 owners. However, the two West Coast owners, Walter O’Malley and Horace Stoneham, held out and eventually persuaded the others to go with San Diego. Less than a year later, the Padres were playing their first game, debuting at home in recently built San Diego Stadium, hosting the Houston Astros.

E.J. “Buzzie” Bavasi left the Dodgers to partner with San Diego businessman and financier C. Arnholt Smith to secure the franchise. Smith became two-thirds owner and supplied the bulk of the capital, with Bavasi owning the other third, serving as president, and providing the experience. Smith had owned the Pacific Coast League Padres and, although at the time he was known for his banking and financial empire, he also preferred to stay out of the spotlight, and was something of a mystery man to all but his closest friends.1 Eddie Leishman, general manager of the PCL Padres, became GM of the new team as well.

The roster was filled primarily through an expansion draft, during which each team received 30 players from the existing clubs. Winning the coin toss, the Padres selected right fielder Ollie Brown as the first choice. Montreal went after several veterans, but Bavasi’s plan was to draft plenty of young talent with a sprinkling of experienced players, and therefore he expected some possible lean seasons at the start. Only six players who appeared in a game for San Diego that first season were over 30 – Tony Gonzalez, Chris Cannizzaro, Roberto Pena, Johnny Podres, Jack Baldschun, and Al McBean.

The Opening Day outfield consisted of Brown, 13th pick Larry Stahl, and nine-year veteran Gonzalez, a career .293 hitter at the time who had hit .339 just two years earlier, and was chosen a surprisingly late 19th from the Phillies. The starting infielders were Bill Davis, Pena, Rafael Robles, and Ed Spiezio. Davis was a 26-year-old, 6-foot-7 slugging first baseman, acquired from Cleveland in a trade for shortstop and 1965 MVP Zoilo Versalles, the Padres’ 10th pick. Pena, drafted 24th as a shortstop, moved to second base so Robles, a rookie picked 26th, could play shortstop. Robles wound up playing only six games for the Padres in 1969 and 47 for his career. Spiezio, acquired from St. Louis along with three others for second pick Dave Giusti, started at third base. Catcher Chris Cannizzaro had still been a Pirate just two weeks before Opening Day. The starting pitcher was third pick Dick Selma.

Clarence Gaston, the name he was known by at the time and the final draftee, was due to start in center field, but came up with an infection from too many foul balls off his left foot.

The Padres were confident they had an excellent outfield of Brown, Gaston, and Gonzalez, with Al Ferrara (drafted 15th) as a fourth outfielder needing to get playing time. Bavasi said he would not trade his outfield corps for the entire Dodgers picket line of Ron Fairly, Willie Davis, Andy Kosco, Len Gabrielson, and Willie Crawford.2

Padres manager Preston Gomez, who had been a coach with the Dodgers, proclaimed that his team would hit better than the Dodgers.3

On Tuesday evening, April 8, 1969, as fans and sportswriters gathered for the first major-league game in San Diego, optimism was in the air. The club expected 35,000, but only 23,370 showed up. The original take on that was that this was a glass half-full. San Diego Union sports editor Jack Murphy wrote, “This was a gala occasion, and a festive crowd came to the stadium on a pleasant spring evening convinced that youth was not wasted on the young. This is the youngest, rawest team in baseball – a team with a high potential for excitement. It just might be the perfect team for San Diego.”4

Houston manager Harry Walker called San Diego “another happy city. Another hot spot for baseball.” Walker exulted that San Diego’s attractive new stadium was one of the finest he’d ever seen.5

Former catcher Ken Retzer was in the stands, and declared that the Padres were better than the original 1961 expansion Senators, on which he played.6

Not everyone saw the Padres in such a positive light. Astros starting pitcher Don Wilson had said a night earlier that he would “enjoy” pitching the opener and told Dick Selma, “You know, don’t you, that you are going to lose tomorrow night?”7

At 8:15 P.M., Selma delivered a first-pitch strike to Jesus Alou, who eventually singled, stole second, and scored on a single by Doug Rader. In the home half, Rafael Robles, the first Pade batter ever, reached base on an error by Joe Morgan, but was left stranded after stealing second.

The Padres also got a runner into scoring position in the third inning when Cannizzaro walked and was balked to second, but the game reached the fifth still 1-0. Ed Spiezio tied the game with a one-out solo home run over the 17-foot wall in left field, for the team’s first homer and first run. It was also the Padres’ first hit. Then in the sixth inning, Pena led off by getting hit by a pitch, and Brown doubled him home with one out. Both runs came off Wilson, who went six innings.

Houston threatened in the fourth (a single by Curt Blefary and a passed ball) and fifth (a triple by Alou), but couldn’t score, and after that got a runner to second base only once. Selma, a spring-training flop, pitched a masterful 2-1 complete-game victory, allowing five hits and two walks, striking out 12.

San Diego made several outstanding defensive plays, the first of which came right after Rader’s RBI single. With two on, Pena made a difficult snag of a blistering liner hit by Blefary. Brown made an exceptional catch of a second-inning foul fly by Johnny Edwards, and in the eighth, with a runner on second, Gonzalez crashed into the concrete wall in left-center to grab a 370-foot drive by Rader.

Selma, by the way, had a perfect day at the plate with two of the team’s four hits and a sacrifice bunt.

The Padres’ record would reach 3-0 with consecutive 2-0 wins over Houston, behind Podres, allowing two hits in seven innings, and Dick Kelley, allowing one hit in 8⅓ innings, the hit coming in the seventh. Podres had been a candidate to be the Opening Day starter8 although he did not pitch in 1968.

Reality set in soon thereafter, to a lack of both victories and fan interest. The lower-than-expected Opening Night crowd foreshadowed five years of concern about San Diego’s ability to support baseball. Attendance figures for games two and three with the Astros were both under 5,000.

San Diego fell to 3-6 before winning again, but interestingly had six winning streaks of at least three games (including one at six) among its lowly 1969 win total of 52.

As for Gomez’s prediction that the Padres would outhit the Dodgers, they did out-homer them, 99-97, but hit .225 and scored the fewest runs in the league. The Dodgers outscored them 645-468, and every other team outscored the Padres by more than 100 runs.

Three of the Padres’ starting nine in the opener would be gone by mid-June. Selma, Davis, and Gonzalez were traded for younger players. Davis, suffering from an Achilles tendon injury that kept him out of all of 1967, never recovered, and did not play again in the majors after leaving the Padres. His departure was hastened by the development of another young first baseman, Nate Colbert.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the following:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN196904080.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B04080SDN1969.htm

Kaegel, Dick. “Sweating, Waiting … As N.L. Debated,” The Sporting News, June 8, 1968: 5.

Lang, Jack. “Hill Gems Scarce, Expos, Padres Discover,” The Sporting News, October 26, 1968: 11.

Cour, Paul. “Padres Hopes Hinge on Comeback Trio,” The Sporting News, April 19, 1969: 22.

Porter, David, and Joe Naiman. The San Diego Padres Encyclopedia (Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC), 2002.

Notes

1 Bob Ortman, “Scouts Are No. 1 on Bavasi’s Lists of Musts,” The Sporting News, June 22, 1968: 9.

2 Paul Cour, “No Poverty in Padres’ Picket Line,” The Sporting News, March 15, 1969: 9.

3 Paul Cour, “No Poverty in Padres’ Picket Line.”

4 Jack Murphy, “Happy City, Beautiful Stadium Impress Diamond Veteran Walker,” San Diego Union, April 9, 1969: C1.

5 Murphy.

6 Jerry Magee, “Pad Fans Hopeful, Optimistic, Daring,” San Diego Union, April 9, 1969: C1.

7 Phil Collier, “Padres Sparkle in Debut, Selma Beats Astros, 2-1,” San Diego Union, April 9, 1969: C1.

8 Paul Cour, “Podres Takes Vows With Padres,” The Sporting News, April 5, 1969: 15.

“It’s not that I’m bitter,” said Kirby in 1990, a year before his untimely death. “But … when I try to look at the logic behind it, I don’t see it. We … needed something to drum up interest in the ballclub. A no-hitter would have given the franchise a much bigger boost than one more victory. If it had been the seventh game of the World Series, I could understand it, I guess. But we were in last place.”1

On the night of July 21, 1970, San Diego fell behind right away, mainly because of Kirby himself. Tommie Agee walked to open the game and stole second. With one out, Ken Singleton also walked. The Mets then worked a double steal — “I wasn’t careful,” said Kirby.2 Agee scored on a fielder’s choice.

The hole was shallow, but Mets pitcher Jim McAndrew allowed just three hits and no walks while striking out nine. Just two Padres reached second base. Ed Spiezio doubled to start the third inning, and Al Ferrara had a two-out two-bagger in the fourth. After that, all they could muster was a two-out single by Bob Barton in the fifth.

Meanwhile, Kirby had “a real good breaking ball and his fastball was moving,” said Mets outfielder Art Shamsky. Kirby walked just three more; McAndrew came closest to getting a hit. In the eighth, he “drilled a hot grounder to first baseman Nate Colbert, who threw out [Joe] Foy at the plate.”3

Kirby then struck out Agee “on three pitches — fast, faster, and fastest, and see you later. I figured I had a no-hitter in the bag.

“When I came in after that inning, I got a drink of water, and I saw [pitching coach] Roger Craig coming in with a long look on his face. He was really upset, because he obviously wanted me to proceed.

“I knew then that something was up. When I put my helmet on, Gómez called me back. He basically said, ‘Get your butt back here.’ I said, ‘What?’ and that was it. [Clarence] Gaston felt bad. He didn’t want to go up and hit for me.”4

Gaston — the Padres’ batting average leader in 1970 — hadn’t started because of a strained leg muscle.5 Kirby was due to bat third, after Spiezio and Barton. Gómez recalled, “If Spiezio hits a home run or if one of them gets on and I can bunt with Kirby, then he stays in. But my mind was made up to hit for him if neither one of them got on.”6 At the time, he said that if Spiezio had led off with a hit, he’d have had Barton sacrifice and then lifted Kirby. Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner commented, “The game doesn’t belong to the pitcher. The manager has no choice but to pinch-hit.”7

Gómez had scant precedent. As of 1970, there’d been just two combined no-hitters in the majors, with only one then recognized as such.8 That was the bizarre game on April 30, 1967, in which Baltimore’s Steve Barber and Stu Miller held Detroit hitless yet still lost, 2-1. When Orioles manager Hank Bauer yanked Barber after 8⅔ no-hit innings, there was no dispute — Barber had walked 10 and wild-pitched in the tying run.

In just two other big-league games had a pitcher been lifted with a no-hitter in progress after seven innings.9 The closest parallel to Gómez’s situation came on May 26, 1956. Cincinnati was trailing 1-0 in the top of the eighth when — “shunning tradition and sentimentality”10 — manager Birdie Tebbetts sent up a pinch-hitter for Johnny Klippstein, who’d walked seven. The crowd that day booed, yet the Cincinnati Enquirer didn’t second-guess Tebbetts, writing, “There’s no room for sentiment in baseball. … It was the correct move.”11

On May 22, 1962, Yankees manager Ralph Houk removed Whitey Ford in the bottom of the seventh with the game tied 1-1 — but there was a key difference: a strained back muscle forced Ford to leave his potential no-hitter.12 After Kirby’s game, Houk said he’d have done the same as Gómez.13

Gómez cited success in a similar spot when he managed the Spokane Indians in the Pacific Coast League. His account, however, does not square with the available facts. It has not been possible to determine whether such a game took place.14

Mets ace Tom Seaver said the New York bench “gasped in disbelief” when Gaston was announced.15 The San Diego crowd was a modest 10,373 — but booed loudly. A couple of enraged fans went after Gómez but were restrained.16

Gaston struck out, and Jack Baldschun relieved Kirby. He promptly gave up the Mets’ first hit, a single by Bud Harrelson. Two runs eventually scored to make it 3-0.

McAndrew then set the Padres down in order in the bottom of the ninth to complete his shutout. He retired the last 13 men to face him.

“The reporters … wanted me to say something about Preston,” Kirby recalled. “I couldn’t do that. I respect him as a man and as a manager.”17

Gómez said, “It would have been the easy way out for me to let the kid go up and hit. I hated to take him out, but we needed runs. I don’t play for the fans.”18 He added that winning was also important because the Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates were battling for first place.19

Gómez thought the same way 20 years later. “I always felt that when you’re playing this game, you play to win. I don’t care if we were 160 games behind. I’d do the same thing. The commissioner (Bowie Kuhn) called me and so did several other managers, and they all said it was the only way to play the game.”20

Cito Gaston and Roger Craig — who’d both become managers themselves by then — agreed. So did Dave Campbell, a Padres second baseman in 1970. On September 4, 1974, Campbell was with the Houston Astros — managed by Gómez. Houston’s starter versus Cincinnati, Don Wilson, was in the same boat as Kirby. He had a no-hitter through eight innings but trailed 2-1 because of two walks and an error. Gómez’s strategy was consistent: He pulled Wilson for a pinch-hitter. Campbell said, “I sure do” when Gómez asked if he remembered seeing it before.21 The end result was similar. The Astros couldn’t tie it, and reliever Mike Cosgrove gave up a single to open the top of the ninth.

After that game, Kirby — who’d been traded to Cincinnati after the 1973 season — walked into Gómez’s office at the Astrodome and shook his hand.22 He said, “Preston told me he’d never change his ways.” Indeed, Gómez reiterated, “I play this game to win.”23

Starting in 1975, there have been 12 more combined no-hitters in the majors. Also, from 1996 through 2020, eight pitchers have been removed after going at least seven no-hit innings, and the bullpen subsequently gave up hits.24 Managers today have another excuse to pull a starter during a no-no: pitch limits/protecting pitchers’ arms. Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts did so twice in 2016; for him the decision was hard but clear.25 Marlins manager Don Mattingly did the same in both 2016 and 2017.26

By contrast, when Johan Santana pitched the Mets’ only no-hitter to date27 in 2012, skipper Terry Collins agonized about leaving Santana in even after exceeding his 115-pitch limit. Many argue that ending the club’s notorious 50-year no-hitter drought was costly — Santana made just 10 more starts in the majors.28

Preston Gómez, who died in January 2009, didn’t suffer such doubts. After the Kirby game, he said, “I never second-guess myself. And I can always go home after a game and sleep, figuring I did what I thought was right.”29

Clay “The Kid” Kirby said, “I’m only 22 and I’ll have a lot more chances to pitch one [a no-hitter].”30 He never did, though he came close twice more as a Padre, in consecutive starts in September 1971. Various other San Diego pitchers also had chances but were denied. One of them, 1976 Cy Young Award winner Randy Jones, said in 2015: “I’ve got a feeling the no-hitter is going to come out of nowhere. We keep waiting for that night.” Padres broadcaster Ted Leitner added, “There’s going to be one. The question is just who and when.”31

That turned out to be Joe Musgrove on April 9, 2021.32

Notes

1 Bob Wolf, “Near Miss Haunts Pitcher,” Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1990.

2 “No-Hitter Less Vital Than Win?” Florida Today, July 23, 1970: 7C.

3 Paul Cour, “Clay Cool in Heat of No-Hit Fuss,” The Sporting News, August 8, 1970: 18.

4 Bob Wolf.

5 Joseph Durso, “8-Inning No-Hitter Irks Fans on Coast,” New York Times, July 23, 1970: 34.

6 Bob Wolf.

7 Durso.

8 In September 1991, the Committee for Statistical Accuracy reclassified the game of June 23, 1917 — in which Ernie Shore retired 27 straight batters after Babe Ruth’s ejection — as a combined no-hitter.

9 Two other pitchers had thrown games of seven-plus hitless innings without being relieved. They were also declassified as no-hitters in 1991 because they did not go the regulation nine. On August 27, 1937, Fred Frankhouse pitched 7⅔; on September 26, 1959, Sam Jones pitched seven. Rain ended both of those games.

10 Gregory H. Wolf, “Ray Crone,” SABR BioProject. 

11 “Fowler Faces Braves; Buhl Battles Redlegs,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 27, 1956.

12 “New York Wins on Four-Man One-Hitter,” Emporia (Kansas) Gazette, May 23, 1962: 10.

13 Durso.

14 “Padres’ Kirby Loses No-Hit Bid,” Tucson Daily Citizen, July 22, 1970: 31. According to Gómez, “Phil Ortega was pitching a no-hitter for eight, I batted for him in the bottom of the eighth, the pinch-hitter, Tony Roig, doubled and we won the game 2-1.” Gómez managed Spokane from 1960 through 1962. During this period, Roig played for Spokane only in 1960, and Ortega pitched just seven innings in three games for Spokane that year.

15 Durso.

16 Brian Hiro, “Forty Years After the Infamous Clay Kirby Game, the No-Hitter Drought Lives On,” San Diego Union-Tribune, July 17, 2010.

17 Bob Wolf.

18 Durso.

19 Bob Chandler with Bill Swank, Bob Chandler’s Tales from the San Diego Padres Dugout (New York: Sports Publishing, 2006), 49.

20 Bob Wolf.

21 Ibid.

22 Chandler, Tales from the San Diego Padres Dugout, 53.

23 Bob Hertzel, “’I Play to Win,’” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 5, 1974: 41.

24 In addition to the four cited in notes 25 and 26, they were David Cone (September 2, 1996), Damian Moss (May 3, 2002), Kevin Slowey (August 15, 2010), and Aaron Harang (April 18, 2014). Also, on April 10, 2010, CC Sabathia would have been lifted because of his pitch count even if his no-hitter hadn’t been broken up after 7⅔ innings.

25 On April 8, 2016, Ross Stripling left his big-league debut after 7⅓ no-hit innings because he’d thrown exactly 100 pitches. Ken Gurnick, “Tiring Stripling Agrees With Exiting No-Hitter,” MLB.com, April 9, 2016. On September 10, Roberts lifted Rich Hill after seven perfect innings. Ken Gurnick, “Health Over Accolade Fuels Decision to Pull Hill,” MLB.com, September 10, 2016.

26 Mattingly pulled Adam Conley after 7⅔ on April 29, 2016, and Wei-Yin Chen after seven on April 18, 2017.

27 As of April 2021.

28 Phil Taylor, “No-No Regrets: Johan Santana Would Not Alter a Thing. Terry Collins Might,” Sports Illustrated, June 1, 2015. For a counter-argument, see Ted Berg, “Did Johan Santana’s 134-Pitch No-Hitter Really Ruin His MLB Career?” USA Today, April 14, 2016.

29 Paul Cour, “Second-Guessers Pouring It On Poor Preston,” The Sporting News, August 8, 1970, 18.

30 Cour, “Clay Cool in Heat of No-Hit Fuss.”

31 Sam Gardner, “Somehow, Only the Padres Have No History of No-Hitters,” Foxsports.com, August 24, 2015.

32 The drought had spanned 8,205 regular-season games and 40 postseason games. Kirk Kenney, “Musgrove’s gem gives Padres no-no watcher cause for pause,” San Diego Union-Tribune, April 10, 2021. It was the second-longest such drought in major-league history after the 8,944 games between  no-hitters for the Philadelphia Phillies from May 1, 1906 (Johnny Lush) to June 21, 1964 (Jim Bunning). Sarah Langs and Manny Randhawa, “9 amazing facts about SD’s first no-hitter,” MLB.com, April 10, 2021. 

There was also an 11th time, in 1995, if we count Pedro Martinez’s perfect game that wasn’t — nine perfect innings forced to a 10th inning by a 0-0 score, then broken up by Bip Roberts’ double. This one never got on the books because of a 1991 ruling that all no-hitters would have to cover an entire game, no matter how long. Another perfect game near-miss was Pappas losing out after getting an 0-and-2 count on the 27th batter, with the next four pitches just missing the strike zone.

Padres pitchers have got close many times over the years. Probably the most famous is Clay Kirby throwing eight hitless innings, only to be pinch-hit for because the team was losing 1-0, and reliever Jack Baldschun allowing multiple hits. This occurred in 1970, only the Padres’ second season.

There have been had four other occasions in which Padres pitchers carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning: Steve Arlin in 1972, Andy Ashby in 1997, Chris Young in 2006, and Aaron Harang plus four relievers in 2011. There have been five one-hitters in which the hit came in either the eighth or ninth: Kirby in 1971 (Willie McCovey’s eighth-inning homer ruined an otherwise perfect game), Randy Jones in 1975 (a perfect game through seven), Greg Harris and Craig Lefferts in 1991, Andy Benes in 1994, and Chris Young and Cla Meredith in 2006. A special mention should go to Kirby; his near-perfect game was his second straight start taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

Through the 2018 season, there have been 300 no-hitters in baseball history, 132 since 1969. During the Padres’ time, that comes to about 2.6 per season, and one every 10.4 years or so per team.

The Padres closed the 2018 season 44 games short of breaking the Mets’ all-time record of 8,019 games before pitching a no-hitter. As of the start of play in 2019, they are the only active franchise without one.

Getting two strikes on the final batter with one out to go is about as close as one can get. That was Steve Arlin’s fate on July 18, 1972. It also happened in 2011 when the Padres sent five pitchers to the mound on July 9, with Luke Gregerson allowing a double on a 1-and-2 pitch to Juan Uribe of the Dodgers, but the Arlin story has a more interesting ending.

Arlin, a dentist in the offseason and after his career ended, was drafted by Philadelphia in 1966, and made a deal with the Phillies that he would be permitted to complete his dental-school studies each spring before reporting to the minors. But possibly because of that, he was left open in the 1968 expansion draft, from which the Padres selected him 26th out of 30 picks.

Not many people remember that Arlin had been on a tear in midseason 1972. Beginning on June 18, four of his seven starts before his no-hit bid were gems of at least nine innings allowing just one hit or two hits. On June 23 he beat the Giants on a one-hitter and on July 6 he threw one-hit ball for 10 innings in a 14-inning 1-0 win against the Mets.

The game on July 18 was at San Diego Stadium against the Phillies before a crowd of just 4,764. Through the first four innings, Arlin allowed only a first-inning walk to Tom Hutton. San Diego scored in the first on Jerry Morales’s walk and Nate Colbert’s double.

The Padres loaded the bases in the second and put two on in the third, but it was still 1-0 in the fifth inning.

In the Phillies’ fifth, Willie Montanez walked, but two outs later was caught stealing. The Padres scored twice in their half when Morales singled and Colbert homered.

A two-out walk to Larry Bowa in the sixth produced the only other Phillies baserunner before the ninth. The best defensive play of the game came next. Second baseman Derrel Thomas dived to his left to stab a smash by Denny Doyle and threw him out from a sitting position.

In the seventh, Arlin induced three groundballs, by Hutton, Greg Luzinski, and Montanez.

The Padres padded their lead to 5-0 with a triple by Morales, an intentional walk, Cito Gaston’s double, and a groundout.

In the eighth, Arlin struck out Don Money, then retired Oscar Gamble and John Bateman on grounders to third base.

After the Padres failed to score in the eighth, Arlin faced pinch-hitter Deron Johnson to begin the ninth. Third baseman Dave Roberts made a leaping catch of Johnson’s liner. Next up was Bowa, who popped out to second baseman Thomas for the second out.

Denny Doyle was all that was left between Arlin and history. Roberts had been playing the normal strategy of moving in at third base to cover a possible bunt, and as soon as there were two strikes on Doyle, Roberts moved back. But Padres manager Don Zimmer, fearing a possible two-strike bunt attempt, motioned for Roberts to stay in, so Roberts moved back in about eight feet on the grass. With the count 1-and-2, Arlin threw a slider inside, and Doyle hit a one-hop chopper that bounced over Roberts’ head into left field. Roberts probably would have caught the ball with ease had he played back at normal depth.

The no-hitter gone, Arlin appeared to lose his composure and balked Doyle to second, then gave up a run-scoring single to Hutton. Fans urged Arlin just to finish the game, which he did by getting Luzinski to fly out.

Arlin originally thought he had the no-hitter. Not realizing where Roberts was positioned, and seeing the path of the poorly hit ball, Arlin said he was ready to begin celebrating.1

After the postgame radio show, Zimmer took the blame, approaching Arlin with a razor blade and, pointing to his throat, said, “Here. Just make it quick.”2

But Arlin defended his manager, saying he thought both Bowa and Doyle might try to bunt in the final inning.3

Years later, Arlin had this to say: “I should have had my no-hitter. It’s stupid how I lost my no-hitter. It was a case of over-managing. We knew he wasn’t going to bunt with two strikes.”4

Arlin’s start had originally been scheduled for the following night, but was moved up a day so that he could be ready to pitch in the All-Star Game. But National League manager Danny Murtaugh elected to leave Arlin off the nine-man staff,5 despite his run of allowing only 33 hits in 71 innings.

The near-miss was his third two-hitter, along with the preceding two one-hitters in a 31-day span. After that, his career started to spin downward, and although the next season, 1973, featured a four-game span highlighted by three shutouts, the first hit came very early in each of those games. Steve Arlin never came close again.

Sources

The box score can be found at retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B07180SDN1972.htm.

The author attended the game and had a home-plate view of Doyle’s single.

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the following:

Keidan, Bruce. “Doyle Ruins Arlin’s No-Hitter in 9th,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 19, 1972: 25.

Notes

1 Bill Conlin, “No-No by Zimmer Costs Arlin No-Hitter,” Philadelphia Daily News, July 19, 1972.

2 Phil Collier, “Low-Hit Gems Are Arlin’s Specialty,” The Sporting News, August 5, 1972: 17.

3 Ibid.

4 Mel Antonen, “Despite Close Calls, Padres Only Members of the No No-Hitters Club,” https://www.si.com/more-sports/2012/06/13/padres-no-hitters, June 13, 2012.

5 Bruce Keidan, “When Baseball’s Inept Meet, Arlin Performs Like a Master,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 19, 1972: 28.

Colbert signed with his hometown St. Louis Cardinals after graduating from high school in 1964, and then spent three seasons in the Astros organization before heading to San Diego in the expansion draft.

Colbert’s propensity for the long ball quickly made him the face of the franchise, giving the Padres fans something to look forward to during an otherwise dismal 110-loss first season. Colbert hit 38 homers in 1970 and his 27-homer season in 1971 was highlighted by his being named to his first All-Star team. 

Colbert started off slowly in 1972, even by his standards. A career .258 hitter entering the season, Colbert was at a season-low .194 on June 15. As the San Diego summer started to warm up, so did Nate, raising his average to .233 on the eve of the All-Star Game, coincidentally played in Atlanta. Colbert scored the winning run in the National League’s 4-3, 10-inning victory and then hopped a plane to join his teammates in Cincinnati.

A two-homer game against the Astros in Houston in the second game of a July 30 doubleheader gave Colbert the National League lead by one home run (25-24) over Johnny Bench, and his 68 RBIs ranked third behind the 75 posted by Bench and Willie Stargell.

The Tuesday, August 1, doubleheader in Atlanta was the first of a four-game series and despite Colbert’s earlier optimism the day didn’t start as planned. Plagued with chronic back issues that would ultimately end his career at the age of 30, Colbert woke up and could barely move, so he took an early cab to the ballpark for treatment. After a while, Colbert went into Zimmer’s office and said he didn’t think he could play; Zimmer asked him to wait until after batting practice to decide.

“I took 10 swings and hit all 10 into the seats, seven fair and three foul,” Colbert recalled. “I walked past Zim and he said, “You’re in.”1

Clay Kirby scattered seven hits in pitching a complete-game shutout in the Padres’ 9-0 victory in the first game. Ron Schueler took the loss. Colbert paced the way on offense, going 4-for-5 with two homers and driving in five runs. He hit a three-run homer off Schueler in the first inning, which held up as the game-winning hit. A solo home run to lead off the seventh against Atlanta reliever Mike McQueen added the Padres’ eighth run.

In the first inning of the second game, Larry Stahl drew a two-out walk and Colbert came to the plate to face right-hander Tom Kelley. Colbert hit Kelley’s first pitch into the upper deck just foul down the left-field line before also drawing a walk. Cito Gaston then hit a chopper back to the mound which Kelley threw wildly past first base, allowing two unearned runs to score and giving the Padres the early lead.

After Fred Stanley grounded out leading off the second inning, Kelley walked the next two hitters and was replaced by righty Pat Jarvis, who allowed a run-scoring single to Dave Roberts and walked Stahl. This brought Colbert to the plate with the bases loaded. Colbert took the first pitch for a ball, then lined a high slider deep into the left-field stands for a grand slam and a 7-0 Padres lead.

Colbert grounded to third in the fourth inning. Meanwhile, San Diego starter Ed Acosta had held the Braves to just one run through six innings.

Colbert came up for his fourth at-bat in the seventh against right-hander Jim Hardin. Larry Stahl grounded a one-out single to center and Colbert followed up by lining a Hardin slider just inside the foul pole in right, a two-run homer that extended San Diego’s lead.

Acosta tired in the bottom of the seventh and was charged with four runs. The Braves chipped away, adding two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, cutting what had been a 9-1 deficit to 9-7 heading into the top of the ninth. Side-arming righty Cecil Upshaw was now pitching for Atlanta. Stahl once again gave Colbert a chance to hit, grounding a two-out single to right. “Upshaw always gave me problems,” Colbert recalled. “For some reason, maybe to fool me because I was swinging early in the count, he threw me a fastball overhand and I hit that one out.” As Colbert rounded second base he said to umpire Bruce Froemming, “I don’t believe this,” to which Froemming replied, “I don’t, either.”2

It was 11-7 in the Padres’ favor and when Atlanta failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, that stood as the game’s final score.

On May 2, 1954, 9-year-old Nate Colbert and his father were seated in the upper left-field grandstand in St. Louis to watch their beloved Cardinals take on the New York Giants in a doubleheader. The Cardinals’ superstar outfielder, Stan Musial, hit five homers that day and drove in nine runs. For the day, Musial set the record for the most homers in a day with five, the most runs batted in (nine), and the most total bases (21). 

The Padres completed the first four-game road sweep in franchise history in Atlanta, then continued to Los Angeles and San Francisco before returning home to face the Dodgers on August 11. Before the game the Padres honored Colbert for his accomplishment and surprised him by him by flying in Musial to take part in the ceremony. 

Colbert’s day included breaking Musial’s RBI record with 11 (broken in 1993 by Mark Whiten) and his total-base record with 22. His five homers came off five different pitchers and he reached base eight times in 10 plate appearances.

Colbert was an All-Star again in 1973 at the age of 27 but then his back problems intensified and finally forced him out of the game after he was released in spring training in 1977 by the Toronto Blue Jays at the age of 30.

Colbert drove in 111 of the Padres’ 488 runs in 1972 or 22.75 percent, a record that still stood as of 2018.3 He is the Padres’ career home-run leader with 163.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, and Padres360.com.

Notes

1 All quotes taken from the transcript of a phone interview between Colbert and historian Seth Swirsky unless otherwise noted. seth.com/coll_histbseballs_18.html.

2 Phil Collier, “Just Night’s Work for Nate: 5 HRs, 13 RBIs,” The Sporting News, August 19, 1972.

3 Bob Carroll, “Nate Colbert’s Unknown RBI Record,” The National Pastime (SABR, 1982).

Lowell Palmer, purchased from the Yankees 10 days earlier, was making his second San Diego start, while Jim Rooker was on the mound for the Pirates. Pittsburgh had a terrific hitting lineup that year: first in batting and top three in most offensive categories. The first seven in that day’s lineup were named Clines, Hebner, Zisk, Stargell, Oliver, Sanguillen, and Stennett.

Palmer got into trouble in every inning, while Rooker breezed. In the first, Palmer got out of a bases-loaded jam, but in the second he allowed a sacrifice fly by Gene Clines after Rennie Stennett and Mario Mendoza singled. A third inning two-run homer by Manny Sanguillen made it 3-0, and Palmer managed to strand a runner at second in the fourth. In the fifth, another two-run homer, this time by Willie Stargell, and a one-out single by Sanguillen finished Palmer.

In the seventh, off Dave Tomlin, Stargell tripled home Richie Zisk, and then scored on a single by Al Oliver to make it 7-0.

Meanwhile Rooker was sailing along with a five-hit shutout through seven innings. Other than a third-inning hiccup during which Enzo Hernandez walked and reached second, but was thrown out after hesitating when Tolan lined off the right-field wall, Rooker appeared to be in total command of the game.

In the eighth, Rooker himself upped the score to 8-0 when he doubled to left and scored on Richie Hebner’s single.

It looked like just another game in which the Padres were headed for their sixth consecutive last-place finish and fourth 100-loss season. One of the bright spots in this particular season was a young tuba player named Jim Eakle, a Marine who had begun showing up at games near the end of the dismal 1973 season, playing hand-clapping tunes and familiar songs on a green-painted tuba. By 1974, a Pied Piper-like following had formed, marching down the stadium aisles generating enthusiasm throughout, playing flutes, drums, and other assorted instruments. Calling themselves McNamara’s Band, after newly hired manager John McNamara, they marched around virtually every game.

But on this particular day, with many of the 7,309 spectators already on their way home by the middle of the eighth inning, even the Tuba Man wasn’t getting much response during this one-sided affair.

Bobby Tolan led off the bottom of the eighth, and, before the inning started, was engaged in some sort of squabble with home-plate umpire Andy Olsen. Tolan, standing in the batter’s box, but facing away from the mound, with his bat in only one hand, arms dropped at their sides, continued to bark at Olsen. The umpire, appearing to have heard enough, signaled to Rooker to begin pitching. Rooker wound up and only after the pitch was on its way did Tolan turn around and drop a perfect drag bunt past the mound toward second base for an infield hit. Whether or not this was any kind of catalyst could be open for debate, but it’s a matter of record that the next five batters all reached base.

Dave Winfield doubled to center, scoring Tolan, Nate Colbert walked, and even though it was still only 8-1, manager Danny Murtaugh replaced Rooker with Bruce Kison. Cito Gaston greeted Kison with a three-run home run to make it 8-4. Fred Kendall walked, and Dave Roberts reached base on an error by Stennett. But a strikeout and two flyballs ended the eighth.

Vicente Romo pitched a perfect ninth for the Padres.

Ramon Hernandez, who had come in to get all three outs in the previous inning, retired Tolan to start the ninth. But Winfield shot a home run over the center-field fence to make it 8-5. At that point, Murtaugh elected to go to his ace reliever, Dave Giusti, who, after throwing a strike, issued consecutive walks on eight straight balls to Colbert and Gaston. Murtaugh quickly yanked Giusti, and brought in a young rookie pitcher named Kent Tekulve. Called up from Triple-A Charleston in May, Tekulve was making his eighth appearance for the Pirates. Kendall singled to right, loading the bases. Roberts then grounded the ball back to Tekulve who threw home for the second out.

Tekulve got two strikes on pinch-hitter Derrell Thomas, who then lined a base hit into left-center to make it 8-6. Bob Barton, also pinch-hitting, and also with two strikes, hit a routine grounder into the 5.5 hole1 that barely eluded shortstop Mendoza. Two runs came in and the game was tied.

Horace Clarke was next. Tekulve again got two strikes on the batter, but Clarke hit a soft liner over second base, scoring Thomas, for the unexpected victory.

An hour before the game, Pirates general manager Joe L. Brown had said, “This club is built on two things — our hitting and our bullpen.”2

After the game, an enraged Rooker said, “The job isn’t being done by the bullpen and that’s the truth. No matter how well I pitch, they figure out a way to put men on and to let them in.” It was the fourth time in 10 starts that Rooker reached at least the seventh inning with a lead that the bullpen failed to protect. He was also upset after being pulled with a seven-run lead.3

For Padres fans, though, it wasn’t the usual victory celebration. Many walked away stunned at what they had just witnessed: the greatest Padres comeback ever, accomplished in the last two innings. No San Diego team (as of 2018) has ever been behind by more runs at any stage in a game and won.4

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org, and relied on his personal memory of the game, which he attended. The following two articles were also helpful:

Collier, Phil. “Padres’ Five-Run Ninth Startles Pittsburgh, 9-8,” San Diego Union, June 11, 1974.

Feeney, Charles, “Padres Explode to Whip Bucs,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 11, 1974.

Notes

1 The term “5.5 hole” is one that is very familiar to Padres fans. It was invented by Tony Gwynn to describe his favorite target: hitting a line drive between third base and shortstop.

2 Bob Smizik, “Bullpen Leaves Pirates for Dead,” Pittsburgh Press, June 11, 1974.

3 Ibid.

4 On May 23, 1970, San Diego fell behind 8-0 to San Francisco, but closed the gap to 8-7 by the fourth inning, and won 17-16 in 15 innings.

This game, played on Sunday afternoon, October 1, was the last game of the 1978 season. It was Fan Appreciation Day and a crowd of 37,185 turned out. This game marked the conclusion of the Padres’ 10th major-league season. Over this 10-year span the team had lost almost 60 percent of those games — but this day’s extra-inning win concluded the Padres’ first winning season. With a record of 84-78 (.519) they finished in fourth place, 11 games behind the West Division leaders, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Padres’ Gaylord Perry, at 21-6, was going up against the Dodgers’ Don Sutton with a record of 15-11. Perry was on his way to a Cy Young Award for the season and started the game with a career mark of 2,991 strikeouts. The trouble was that the fans — and the local media — thought Perry was actually at 2,990 career strikeouts.

This meant that the journey to 3,000 that was being watched over the course of the game was predicated on the wrong career strikeout number. What follows is the story of the game as viewed by fans at the game, and by the local media as reported the next day in the news.

While not part of the publicized activities, this game also featured a pregame surprise for the fans. The Padres’ shortstop, Ozzie Smith, was finishing his rookie season and decided before the game to perform a backflip as he went to his position in the first inning. While fans may have noticed the flip, no one in the media apparently paid any attention.

Meanwhile, Perry started strong with seven strikeouts through the first four innings, by which time the Padres led 3-1.

With the National League Championship Series looming in three days, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda began resting his starting lineup in the bottom of the third inning. In the bottom half of the fifth, it was left fielder Dusty Baker’s turn to take a rest when 26-year-old Joe Simpson, a Dodgers September call-up, took over with the score 3-2 in favor of the Padres.

The game progressed into the sixth inning and the San Diego Stadium scoreboard kept the crowd aware of Perry’s march toward history as he rang up strikeout number 2,998. Reporter Dan Berger, in the next day’s San Diego Union, noted that the tension started to mount when “the scoreboard flashed the word to the assembled. The word was 2,998.”2 In reality the tally was off by one, and the number flashed should have been 2,999.

There were no Dodgers strikeouts in the seventh and the game entered the eighth with the score remaining 3-2. With everyone believing Perry was still at strikeout number 2,998 after one out, Joe Simpson came up with the bases empty. Into this at-bat Simpson had a career batting average of .194 in 62 plate appearances. With two strikes on him, he obliged Perry with a swing and miss and Perry’s strikeout total now was said to stand at 2,999. In reality, it was strikeout number 3,000.

After Simpson’s strikeout the Dodgers went on to tie the game, 3-3. Neither team scored in the eighth inning. The Dodgers came up in the ninth and Perry continued to put the crowd in “delightful agony” as fans were aware of a potential history-making strikeout.3 The Dodgers did not comply as they went down without a score and without a strikeout. It appeared likely that Perry would exit the game with a presumed 2,999 strikeouts.

In the bottom of the ninth the Padres rallied and the game’s end looked imminent. With one out they loaded the bases with Perry scheduled to bat. Perry had gone nine innings already and a deep fly ball or hit would win the game, so the situation called for a pinch-hitter. However, manager Roger Craig decided to stay with Perry — who had a .093 batting average for the season. After the game Craig admitted wanting to try to help Perry get strikeout number 3,000.4 So he left Perry in the game. Craig also figured that if Perry was successful in getting the run home, he would pick up the win — number 22 for the year — which would cinch his chances of receiving the National League’s Cy Young Award.

The drama ended quickly as Perry grounded into a pitcher-catcher-first double play … and the game went into extra innings.

Due up for the Dodgers in the top of 10th inning were Manny Mota pinch-hitting for reliever Rick Sutcliffe, Jerry Grote, and Simpson again. Both Mota and Grote went to two-strike counts but neither contributed to Perry’s strikeout total, Mota flying out and Grote grounding out. That brought up left-fielder Joe Simpson — who was Perry’s last strikeout victim, in the seventh inning.

Perry “tantalized” the crowd by getting two strikes on Simpson.5 His next pitch was on the outside corner and Simpson looked at it while home-plate umpire Lee Weyer signaled it a strike. With that pitch Perry had ended the inning with his 10th strikeout of the game and what all understood to be career whiff number 3,000.

The scoreboard announced the historic event with the large number “3000.” Anyone not aware of the milestone being achieved might have thought the Padres had won the pennant. “There was a 2½-minute standing ovation. … His teammates poured onto the field to pound his back.”6 Perry had become the third major leaguer to achieve 3,000 career strikeouts.

The game continued and the Padres did not score in their half of the 10th. The 11th inning arrived and reliever Rollie Fingers came in for the Padres. The Dodgers managed a hit and a walk but were not able to push across a run. Up came the Padres and Dave Winfield led off with a double to left field. A sacrifice moved him to third base and pinch-hitter Oscar Gamble came through with a single to end the game with Winfield scoring and the Padres winning, 4-3.

Rollie Fingers picked up his sixth win of the season to go with a league-leading 37 saves that were good enough for him to win the league’s Rolaids Relief Man of the Year and The Sporting News Fireman of the Year Awards.

Going into 1978, the 3,000-strikeout club included only two pitchers: The first to reach that plateau was Walter Johnson in 1923. It took 51 years before a second pitcher joined the ranks with Bob Gibson getting number 3,000 in 1974. It took another 14 years before Perry achieved that number on October 1.

As for Ozzie Smith, the game articles the next day had no mention of his backflip.

Years later Smith offered background on the backflip. He said the idea for one started in spring training when he had been “goofing around … doing some flips.”7 Catcher Gene Tenace noticed him doing the flips and told Smith he would like him to do it sometime during the season when his daughters could see him perform it. The timing finally came together when Smith learned that Tenace’s daughters would attend the season’s last game. After being urged on by Andy Strasberg, the Padres promotion director, Smith decided to do the backflip on his way out to the field at the top of the first inning.

The backflip became so much a part of Smith’s career that words on his Hall of Fame plaque note his “trademark backflip.”8

Fast-forward 40-plus years and looking back at this game, it does not rise up to the importance that some thought it would have back on that day in October 1978. Yet at the time, it was a very entertaining game — a memorable one even — and matched two starting pitchers who both would go on to win over 300 games, strike out more than 3,500 batters, and be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.9 The game was memorable in another aspect: There were seven Hall of Famers active in the two dugouts, six on the Padres side and one for the Dodgers.10

As for the factual error on Perry’s strikeouts, the record books got it right even though the team and local media were wrong. The mistaken count did not change two important aspects of the record strikeout: The batter was Joe Simpson and it occurred on October 1, 1978.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the following:

Armour, Mark. “Gaylord Perry,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/f7cb0d3e.

Faber, Charles F. “Ozzie Smith,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/a6663664.

San Diego Padres, 1978 Official Program and Souvenir Magazine, 1978.

Notes

1 San Diego Padres Report, Vol. 1, Issue 17, November 1978: 15.

2 Dan Berger, “Perry Makes Padres Part of a Baseball Legend,” San Diego Union, October 2, 1978: C-1.

3 Earl Gutskey, “Perry’s 3,000th Strikeout Livens Up 4-3 Padre Win,” Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1978: 179.

4 Phil Collier, “Perry Collects 3000th Whiff in 4-3 Victory,” San Diego Union, October 2, 1978: C-1. Had Craig realized that Perry already had 3,000, he might well have brought in a reliever.

5 Gutskey.

6 Berger. Despite the timing of the ovation, everyone present had indeed witnessed a very special moment in baseball history. And it was indeed Simpson whom Perry had struck out for number 3,000.

7 Ozzie Smith with Rob Rains, Wizard (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1988), 27.

8 Ibid.

9 In a curious and ironic twist in the Padres’ history, what turned out to be a memory of equal — or more — importance from the game would be Ozzie Smith’s first backflip and not Gaylord Perry’s career number 3,000 strikeout.

10 Of the seven, only one was a Hall of Famer at the time, Padres’ coach Billy Herman. Six others would go on to be inducted (in order by year of induction): Perry, Fingers, Lasorda, Sutton, Winfield, and Smith.

The day before, Hawaii manager Doug Rader had called Gwynn into his office after Gwynn made the last out of the game at home plate on a baserunning mistake. Gwynn figured he was in for a chewing-out. “He went through the whole thing, ripped my butt, then said, ‘Anyway, you are going to join the Padres tomorrow.’”1

In May, Padres manager Dick Williams had asked general manager Jack McKeon to promote Gwynn to the Padres. But Gwynn was off to a slow start, hitting .239, while Alan Wiggins was hitting .319, so the Padres promoted Wiggins instead.

At the All-Star break, on July 11, the Padres were only two games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League West Division. It was their best showing at the break in their history. After the break the Padres hosted the Montreal Expos for four games. The Padres lost all four games and fell to five games out of first. The front office looked for more help.

Since early May, Gwynn had got hot and was hitting .328, so McKeon brought him up, hoping to help end the Padres’ losing streak.

On the flight to San Diego, Gwynn thought about his chance to play in front of his buddies from San Diego State (he had to hand out 24 tickets), and his whole family was coming down from Long Beach, California. He had been told he would be facing star Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton.

The Padres had given him wrong information. He would be facing right-hander Mike Krukow, who was 9-6 with a 2.56 ERA, fourth in the National League. Krukow wasn’t Steve Carlton but he was still a very competitive pitcher for Gwynn’s first game.

Gwynn got to the ballpark 5½ hours early. He wasn’t really nervous, just eager to get his major-league career started. After getting him situated at his new locker, clubhouse man (and former coach) Whitey Wietelmann handed Gwynn his first uniform, number 19. Whitey said, “I wore this number playing for the PCL Padres so don’t disgrace it!”2

The Padres started left-hander John Curtis, who was 6-5, against the Eastern Division’s first-place Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies had future Hall of Famers Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt in the lineup besides pitcher Steve Carlton in the dugout. Also on the field was future Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey at first base.

The Phillies went down one-two-three in the first as leadoff hitter Bob Dernier lined out to second baseman Tim Flannery, Pete Rose grounded back to Curtis, and Gary Matthews popped out to Flannery.

The first three Padres batters singled for a 1-0 lead. Sixto Lezcano bunted and Krukow nailed him for the first out of the inning, Flannery, taking third with one out. The scene was set for Tony Gwynn’s first major-league at-bat. It was 7:21 P.M. when Gwynn got in the batter’s box for the first time.

“I wasn’t nervous on the on-deck circle,” said the rookie. “As I walked to the plate, obviously you could hear the crowd cheering for you but when you’re playing you just try to focus in on what you’re trying to do.”3

That first inning at-bat produced Gwynn’s first major-league RBI when he lifted a fly ball to center field and Flannery scored. The Tony Gwynn era had begun. Now he needed his first hit.

In the top of the second inning, Mike Schmidt and Bo Diaz hit back-to-back home runs to tie the game at 2-2.

After singles by Broderick Perkins and Luis Salazar in the second, John Curtis struck out but Gene Richards singled to center field for his second hit of the game and the bases were loaded. That was it for starter Krukow. In came reliever Sid Monge, and he walked Flannery to force in a run, making it 3-2, San Diego. Monge got the next two batters out.

Curtis never got an out in the third. Monge walked and Bob Dernier and Pete Rose singled (number 3,799 for Pete), loading the bases for Gary Matthews. He singled in Monge to tie the game, 3-3. Dick Williams brought in right-hander Floyd Chiffer, who got Schmidt on a short fly ball but gave up a single to Bo Diaz, knocking in a run. The Phillies now led, 5-3. Chiffer then got Bill Robinson on a grounder, but Matthews scored and it was 6-3.

In the bottom of the third, Gwynn batted for the second time. He hit the ball hard but right at shortstop Ivan DeJesus, just missing the “5.5 hole” that Gwynn would make famous during his career — the area between third base and shortstop.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth innings were scoreless. In the Padres’ fifth inning Gwynn faced left-hander Monge for the second time, his third at-bat in the game. Lezcano was on second base with one out. During his career, striking out would become a rarity for Gwynn but Monge got him on a nasty slider.

Pete Rose led off the top of the seventh inning with his second hit of the game (number 3,800), off Eric Show, who in 1985 would give up Rose’s record-setting 4,192nd hit. George Vuckovich doubled, scoring Rose for a 7-3 Phillies lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Lezcano led off with a home run off Monge. Gwynn congratulated him after he rounded the bases. Now it was Gwynn’s turn to hit against Sid Monge for the third time. Gwynn doubled to left-center field for his first major-league hit, the first of 3,141.

Pete Rose, playing first, backed up the play at second base. Rose noticed the ball was being retrieved and told Gwynn, “I didn’t realize this was your first game. Nice going, kid.”4 That impressed Gwynn forever.

Sparky Lyle relieved Monge and gave up a run as Luis Salazar grounded out and Gwynn scored his first major-league run. Kurt Bevacqua’s pinch-hit single plated another run, bringing the Padres to within a run of tying the game.

Gwynn’s night wasn’t over yet. After Padres reliever Luis Deleon set down the Phillies in the top of the ninth, it was time for Gwynn’s last at-bat in the game. He came up against reliever Ron Reed after Templeton and Lezcano made the first two outs.

Like Gwynn, Reed had been a basketball star in college, at Notre Dame, and had played two seasons in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons. Gwynn, who set a record for assists at San Diego State, had been drafted by the San Diego Clippers in the 10th round of the NBA draft on the same day he was drafted by the Padres.

Gwynn lined a single to center field to solidify a successful major-league debut, going 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and a run batted in on the sacrifice fly. As Gwynn stood at first base after his ninth-inning hit, Pete Rose told him, “Don’t try to catch me all in one night.”5

Terry Kennedy grounded out to the pitcher to end the game. Tony Gwynn’s first two hits were in the books. The Padres had lost their fifth straight game but through no fault of the rookie center fielder.

Gwynn went hitless in his next game and then hit in 15 straight games, the longest streak by a Padre in 1982. Gwynn hit .289 in 54 games that season. He would never again hit below .300 in his career.6

Author’s Note

I was blessed to be there that night and I was able to stand behind the cutout windows behind the plate due to the friendship of major-league umpire Joe West. I took pictures of the game with a 24-picture throwaway camera. I recorded Gwynn sitting in the dugout moments before his first at-bat; the scoreboard showing the exact moment of his first plate appearance (7:21 P.M.); his first major-league hit (9:23 P.M.); and the scoreboard announcing “That was T. Gwynn’s 1st major lge hit.”  In 2007 Gwynn took the hit picture to Cooperstown and former head archivist Pat Kelly asked me to donate it, which I did. The Hall of Fame sent me a certificate describing my donation. It truly was a moment of being in the right place at the right time.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Rich Wolfe, Tony Gwynn: He Left His Heart in San Diego (Phoenix: Lone Wolfe Press, 2014), 143.       

2 Kirk Kenney, “Gwynn’s Debut Impressive, but Padres Lose 5th Anyway,” San Diego Union-Tribune, July 19, 2014: C-4.

3 Ibid.

4 Tony Gwynn with Jim Geschke, Tony! (New York: Contemporary Books, 1988), 48.

5 Tony!, 49.

6 Bill Center, Padres’ Essential (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2007), 70.

A record 17 ballplayers were ejected during one game. The San Diego Padres were in first place in the National League West, and the Atlanta Braves were in second, but they weren’t exactly battling it out in this Sunday game — the Padres had a 10½-game edge over Atlanta, with 46 games left on their schedule. They’d just added two games to that lead with a 4-1 win over the Braves the night before and a 10-4 win on Friday night.

Umpire Steve Rippley had worked the August 11 game at first base and he recalled that San Diego second baseman Alan Wiggins had repeatedly tried to lay down bunts for base hits. Braves right-hander Pascual Perez was sitting in the dugout, at the first-base end, charting pitches. After the third bunt attempt, he recalled, Perez “started yelling at Wiggins. ‘Swing the bat. …’ You know, baseball crap. They were yelling back and forth at each other, and then the fourth one they got on each other again, screaming.”1

Wiggins was the leadoff batter in the top of the first in the Sunday afternoon game and Perez was the pitcher. With the first pitch of the game, he hit Wiggins. No harm done. The Braves took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Claudell Washington homered off San Diego’s Ed Whitson.

Perez came up to bat in the bottom of the second, and Whitson tried to hit him but threw a wild pitch. Both teams were given warnings by Rippley, working the plate in this game. Whitson struck out Perez. The Braves did add a run in the inning and led 3-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Whitson tried again to hit Perez — not once, but three times. And failed all three times. Rippley had seen enough. Whitson was ejected and so was San Diego manager Dick Williams. Greg Booker took over for Whitson, and Ozzie Virgil Sr. became acting manager, now that Williams had been tossed.

In the top of the sixth, while the Padres were batting, both of the two replacements were themselves ejected — Booker and Virgil.

Jack Krol now became the third manager of the game for San Diego. Greg Harris became their third pitcher, and was somehow able to get through two innings without incident.

After 7½ innings the score stood 5-1, Braves. When the Braves came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth, it was looking likely to be their last time at the plate. Craig Lefferts came in to pitch for the Padres. He got the first batter out, but then up came Pascual Perez. Oops! Hit by pitch. Both benches cleared. Lefferts was ejected, and so was Krol. The Padres had thus had three managers ejected in one game.

Bob Horner of the Braves was out with a broken hand and in the press box when the game began, but as the ongoing bad blood had been evident, he had gone to the locker room and suited up. After the game, he said, “You didn’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out what was going on.”2 The brawl lasted 10 minutes and Perez had wisely returned to the Braves bench — but San Diego first baseman Champ Summers had left his team’s bench (he was not playing in the game) and tried to attack Perez there, but was blocked by Horner. Summers was ejected, of course. Horner was not — since he was on the DL and thus not even officially at the game.

Padres left fielder Bobby Brown was tossed, as were three Braves who had come from the dugout and bullpen to join the fray — outfielder Gerald Perry and pitchers Rick Mahler and Steve Bedrosian.

The score in the game was 5-1 in the Braves’ favor. The score in ejections stood San Diego 8, Atlanta 3.

Then there was the top of the ninth. Donnie Moore took over pitching duties for the Braves. All he needed to do was secure three outs and the game would be over. But he hit the first batter, Graig Nettles. So Moore was ejected, and so was Braves manager Joe Torre — who had, of course, been warned back in the second inning. But Nettles was ejected, too — he’d charged the mound after being hit. The benches cleared again. Tim Flannery, who had pinch-hit earlier in the game and been replaced, was now thrown out of a game he could not otherwise re-enter. Goose Gossage, who had retired the last two batters in the Braves’ eighth, was tossed, too. So was San Diego’s Kurt Bevacqua (who had been on the bench and was standing in the dugout; when hit by a beer, he charged into the stands).

The ejections now totaled San Diego 12, Braves 5.

Umpire crew chief John McSherry, working first base in the game, took action to prevent a further bench-clearing brawls — he cleared both benches himself, ordering all the remaining players to their respective clubhouses. They would be available to play, but not permitted to sit on the benches, awaiting a possible call to play. He contemplated forfeiting the game, but this would have meant rewarding the Braves, who had been the initiators.

“We started worrying about crowd control,” McSherry said after the game. “That’s the reason we cleared both benches.”3 Policemen were positioned on the tops of both dugouts, and police later said five fans had been arrested.4

After the game, McSherry said of the brawl, “I’ve never seen violence like that. It’s a miracle somebody didn’t get seriously hurt.”5 San Diego GM Jack McKeon accused the umpires of losing control of the game. McSherry retorted, “The guy who lost control was in their dugout,” referring to Williams, who watched the last few rounds from the stands. Atlanta Constitution columnist John McGrath headed his admittedly biased column “Padres’ Williams Wanted to Play Thug for a Day.”6

Gene Garber took over pitching duties. Catcher Terry Kennedy doubled, and the Padres scored twice, on back-to-back sacrifice flies, but finally Garber retired Garry Templeton and the game was over.

Fourth on the Padres’ managerial depth chart was bullpen coach Harry Dunlop. It was he who was acting manager when the game ended.

In postgame comments, Torre called Dick Williams “an idiot and you can spell that with a capital I,” and said, “He should be suspended for the rest of the season.”7 While he was at it, Torre added, “It was gutless. It stinks. It was Hitler-like action.”8 Dick Williams said the Braves started it. “We will not be intimidated.”9 Bob Watson of the Braves declared, “It won’t end here.”

In all, five Braves were tossed and an even dozen Padres. Two guys who didn’t get thrown out were Perez and Wiggins. In fact, Perez got the win, improving his record to 11-4.

Dick Williams was suspended for 10 days and fined $10,000, and Torre for three days, fined $1,000.10 Five players were also suspended and fined, two from the Padres and three from the Braves. Seven other Padres players and the team’s first two ejected acting managers were also fined.

• Related link: Listen to highlights from our 1984 Padres Panel at the SABR 49 convention in San Diego

Sources

In addition to the Sources cited in the Notes, the author relied heavily on the Retrosheet description of the game and a number of videos on YouTube, the longest of which appears to be at: youtube.com/watch?v=rlHJ9ZaREmc. An earlier account of this game was written by the author for Rule 5.01 — “Play Ball!” in The SABR Book on Umpires and Umpiring (SABR, 2017) and much of the material is drawn directly from that account. Box scores can be found at:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL198408120.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1984/B08120ATL1984.htm

Photo courtesy of MLB.com.

Notes

1 Steve Rippley interview with author, January 10, 2017.

2 Steve Dolan, “14 Are Ejected as Beanball War Erupts in Atlanta,” Los Angeles Times, August 13, 1984: C1. Different newspapers gave different numbers of how many had been ejected.

3 Gene Ballard, “Padres Go Down Fighting, Literally; Braves Win, 5-3,” Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, August 13, 1984: B5.

4 Associated Press, “Atlanta Tips Pads in Brawl-Marred Tilt,” The Oregonian (Portland), August 13, 1984: 66.

5 Chris Mortensen, “McSherry Calls Brawls the Worst He Has Ever Seen,” Atlanta Constitution, August 13, 1984: 3D.

6 John McGrath, “Padres’ Williams Wanted to Play Thug for a Day,” Atlanta Constitution, August 13, 1984: 3D.

7 Ballard.

8 “Braves, Padres Brawl, Then Say Wait ’Til Fall,” Seattle Times, August 13, 1984: 18.

9 Associated Press, “Atlanta Tips Pads in Brawl-Marred Tilt.”

10 Associated Press, “NL Gives Suspensions to Williams, Torre,” Dallas Morning News, August 17, 1984: 5B.

A headline in one newspaper said, “Padres Go With Lollar, a Questionable Starter.”1

The writer said, “An entire San Diego Padre season rests this evening on the left shoulder of pitcher Tim Lollar. And the shoulder has been a sore spot lately.”2

Lollar, who was 11-13 with a 3.91 ERA in the regular season, started on September 25 but missed his final scheduled start of the regular season on September 30. He had thrown on the sidelines twice since and had thrown well enough to be deemed fit to pitch in the NLCS game on October 6.

Williams’s plan was that everyone but Eric Show, who was scheduled to be the Game Five starter, and Ed Whitson, who had pitched eight innings in Game Three, would be available in relief of Lollar.

Frey was going with Scott Sanderson, who had spent 21 days on the disabled list after recurring back spasms earlier in the season, instead of going with ace Rick Sutcliffe on three days’ rest. Sutcliffe, who had pitched seven innings the Cubs’ 13-0 victory in Game One, had gone 16-1 in the regular season after joining the Cubs in June. Sanderson was 8-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 24 starts, but had won just two of his last 10 starts. He had pitched five shutout innings in the Cubs’ regular-season finale on September 30.

“I didn’t want to move (Sutcliffe) out of his normal routine,” Frey explained. “I want to give him his full rest so he’ll have the best chance to do his best. I want all the conditions right for him.”3

Game Four was an important one for both franchises.

The Padres, making their inaugural playoff appearance in their 16th season of existence, had lost the first two games of the series, 13-0 and 4-2, in Chicago. After avoiding a sweep with a 7-1 victory over the Cubs in Game Three in San Diego, the Padres were trying to prevent their first foray into the postseason from being brief.

The Cubs were trying to get to the World Series for the first time since 1945. They hadn’t won a World Series since 1908.

The Padres staked Lollar to a 2-0 lead with two runs — on a sacrifice fly by Tony Gwynn and an RBI double by Steve Garvey — in the bottom of the third inning.

The Cubs rallied for three runs off Lollar in the top of the fourth. Lollar walked Gary Matthews, then Jody Davis, and Leon Durham hit back-to-back home runs to give the Cubs a 3-2 lead.

Neither Lollar nor Sanderson made it out of the fifth inning. After retiring the first batter in the top of the fifth, Lollar walked the next two and was replaced by Andy Hawkins. Hawkins got a double play to end the threat.

In the bottom of the fifth, Garvey’s single off Sanderson tied the score and ended Sanderson’s outing.

Garvey’s single off reliever Tim Stoddard in the seventh inning came after an intentional walk to Gwynn. Gwynn eventually scored on a passed ball to make it 5-3.

The Cubs got those two runs back in the eighth inning — on an RBI single by Keith Moreland and a double by Davis off Goose Gossage — to tie the score, 5-5.

The Cubs then threatened in the top of the ninth. With one out, Bobby Dernier doubled down the left-field line and stayed at second when Ryne Sandberg popped to third. Craig Lefferts intentionally walked Matthews to get to Henry Cotto, a rookie who had hit .274 in 105 games and 146 at-bats during the regular season. (Cotto had pinch-run for Moreland in the eighth inning.)

The strategy backfired when Lefferts hit Cotto with a pitch to load the bases. But Ron Cey grounded out to second baseman Alan Wiggins to end the inning.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Gwynn singled to center. Garvey, who was the only Padre with more than 75 RBIs during the regular season (he had 86), then hit Lee Smith’s 1-and-0 fastball into the right-field stands.

“He’s a great clutch hitter, what else can you do?” Jody Davis said of Garvey. “We had our best reliever and we gave him our best pitch. He just beat us tonight, and there’s no second-guessing around here.”4

Padres reserve Kurt Bevacqua, Garvey’s roommate on the road, predicted Garvey’s role in the playoffs.

“I don’t want to say I told you so,” Bevacqua said, “but I told people before the series: Watch Gary Matthews and watch Garvey. Why? Because that’s him. He’s been a great clutch performer all these years and he’s going to do it for a lot of years to come.”5

The 35-year-old Garvey, in his second season with the Padres after playing on four World Series teams with the Los Angeles Dodgers, had rescued the Padres with a historic day. The home run, his fourth hit of the game, gave him a playoff-record-tying five RBIs. Each of his first three hits came with two outs.

Williams, in his 17th season as a major-league manager, said, “No question, it was the greatest playoff game I’ve ever been associated with, or World Series. I had (Carl) Yastrzemski when he was MVP in 1967 and I’ve never watched a player have a year like he had, but I don’t recall him ever having a day like Steve did today. It was utterly fantastic.”6

For Garvey, the game-winning home run was rarity after a regular season that saw him hit just 8 home runs in 161 games and 617 at-bats. Garvey, who had averaged a little over 20 home runs in his final nine seasons with the Dodgers, had hit just three home runs after the All-Star break and none in the Padres’ final 43 regular-season games. The home run was his first since August 15.

The home run gave Garvey 20 RBIs in 21 games in 21 League Championship Series games.

“I’ve thought about why,” Garvey said. “I get myself up for these moments. I look at the statistics and it gives me a lot of satisfaction.”7

The next day, in Game Five, Garvey went 1-for-3 and drove in a run as the Padres beat the Cubs, 6-3, to earn their first World Series berth. The Padres became the first NL team to win a playoff series after trailing 2-0 in the series.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com, and Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Steve Dolan, “Padres Go With Lollar, A Questionable Starter,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1984: Part III, 17.

2 Ibid.

3 Jerome Holtzman, “Eliminating DH Might Even It Up,” Chicago Tribune, October 7, 1984: Section 3, 3.

4 Gordon Edes, “Garvey Has a Night to Remember,” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1984: Part III, 1.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Mike Littwin, “When Spotlight’s on Garvey, He Always Shines,” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1984: Part III, 1.

The stakes were high for both teams entering Game Five of the NLCS: The Padres had never won a postseason series in their 16-year existence and the Cubs had not appeared in postseason play since 1945. They had not won a postseason series since they took the 1908 World Series over the Detroit Tigers. This was the last year of the best-of-five NLCS format; the major leagues went to a best-of-seven format for the League Championship Series the next season.

Because the umpires went on strike after the close of the regular season, the first four games of the Series were officiated by replacement umpires. The walkout was settled in time for the regular umpiring crew of John Kibler, Paul Runge, John McSherry, and Doug Harvey to be back for Game Five.1

The Cubs won the first two games of the series at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, 13-0 and 4-2. After Game Two the Padres’ plane was delayed on the tarmac at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to allow the Cubs’ plane to depart first. Then, after arriving at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field, the players learned that the bus route back to Jack Murphy Stadium was being detoured.2

“We weren’t told about why we were being delayed or detoured,” Tony Gwynn recalled years later. “All we knew is that a long day was getting longer. We weren’t happy.”3 

Then, as the Padres neared their Mission Valley home, the reason for the delay and detour became apparent. Friars Road was backed up by traffic. More than 15,000 fans were in the parking lot to greet the Padres. Because the team’s return had been delayed, the throng had started partying without them.4

“It was unbelievable, great chaos,” said Gwynn. “The fans were celebrating and we had lost two straight. It got to us. It got to all of us. It was crazy. We’re on the verge of getting swept out of the playoffs and the fans came out to welcome us. What I saw was a lot of hope and frustration of the (16-year) losing history boiling over. I didn’t know if we were going to win the series, but I knew we weren’t going to lose the next day.”5

As the series shifted to San Diego, the Padres came from behind to take Games Three and Four, the latter capped off by Steve Garvey’s walk-off two-run homer to give the Padres a 7-5 victory, setting the stage for Game Five.

On the mound for the Padres was Eric Show, the Game One starter. Rick Sutcliffe, the Cubs’ starter, had been picked up in a trade with the Cleveland Indians on June 13 coming with George Frazier and Ron Hassey for Joe Carter, Mel Hall, Don Schulze, and minor-leaguer Darryl Banks. Sutcliffe went 17-1 the rest of the season, including the 13-0 blowout in Game One. Including Game One of this series, Sutcliffe was 3-0 with a 0.37 ERA against the Padres this season.6

With two outs in the top of the first, Gary Mathews walked and stole second. Leon Durham homered to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead against Show. Cubs catcher Jody Davis led off the top of the second with a home run to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. After Larry Bowa flied out to left, Sutcliffe singled to right, chasing Show. Reliever Andy Hawkins got Bobby Dernier to ground into a 4-6 fielder’s choice, then was caught stealing to end the inning. Hawkins pitched a scoreless third inning and gave way to pinch-hitter Mario Ramirez, who fouled out to the catcher. Alan Wiggins followed with a walk, but was stranded at first to end the inning

The score remained 3-0 going into the bottom of the sixth with Sutcliffe holding the Padres to two singles. Wiggins reached on a bunt single to open the inning. Tony Gwynn followed with a single to left, Wiggins stopping at second. Steve Garvey walked and the Cubs bullpen was warming up in a hurry. Graig Nettles’ fly ball to center scored Wiggins with Gwynn taking third. Terry Kennedy followed with a sacrifice fly to left, cutting the Cubs’ lead to 3-2. Bobby Brown grounded out to first baseman Leon Durham to retire the side.

The Cubs went down in order in the top of the seventh. Carmelo Martinez walked to open the Padres’ seventh. Garry Templeton sacrificed Martinez to second. Tim Flannery batted for Padres pitcher Craig Lefferts and his grounder went through Durham’s legs, scoring Martinez and knotting the score at 3-3. Wiggins singled to left, Flannery stopping at second. Gwynn’s potential inning-ending double-play ball took a hop past Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg and rolled into center field for a double, scoring Flannery and Wiggins with Gwynn taking third on the throw home. Steve Garvey drove in Gwynn with a single, chasing Sutcliffe. Cubs manager Jim Frey called on Steve Trout to relieve Sutcliffe and he retired Nettles on a grounder to first and struck out Kennedy, but the Padres now led, 6-3.

Of Flannery’s groundball to Durham, the Cubs first baseman said, “It was a routine ball and it stayed low. I was anticipating a hop.” The grounder to Sandberg took a hop when he thought it was going to stay low. “If either groundball is caught,” Frey said, “Sutcliffe gets out of the inning.”7

Rich “Goose” Gossage came in for the Padres in the top of the eighth. With one out, he hit Richie Hebner with a pitch. One out later Sandberg singled Hebner to third. After Sandberg stole second, Gary Matthews struck out swinging to end the inning.

Keith Moreland singled with one out in the Cubs’ ninth, but Gossage got Ron Cey to pop out to first and Jody Davis to hit a force-play grounder to third, ending the game and the series.

The Cubs were ahead in every game of the Series and seemed about to put it away at any time, but the Padres and their fans were not about to give up. More than 58,000 spectators showed up for each of the San Diego games and were constantly loud nonstop. The PA system at Jack Murphy Stadium was playing “Cub-Busters,” a parody on the title song from the movie Ghostbusters, which came out earlier that year. A popular item during the series was Cub-Busters T-shirts. During the clubhouse celebration after Game Five, many of the Padres players took off through a tunnel to the parking lot and through a chain-link fence greeted the fans.8

“If it wasn’t for Wednesday night, when all those people were out at the stadium when we got off the bus, this might not have happened,” said Tim Flannery. “On the airplane back from Chicago, we were all looking through travel magazines trying to figure out where we are going on vacation.”9

Author Studs Terkel even found a silver lining in the loss. “I think they’re more endearing in defeat than in victory,” he said of Cubs fans. “I like their loser-like quality. At least this will force all the Johnny-come-suddenlys off the bandwagon. But they were a great team. Far better than the teams of the 1930s.”10

Steve Garvey, who batted .400 with 7 RBIs, was named the series’ Most Valuable Player.

The Padres went on to meet the Detroit Tigers in the 1984 World Series.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also accessed Retrosheet.org, and Baseball-Reference.com for player and game information.

Notes

1 Associated Press, “Umpires End Their Strike,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 8, 1984. The article explained, “Substitute umpires had been working both the American and National League championship series since the strike began after the close of the regular season last Sunday.”   

2 Bill Center, “NLCS Victory Over Cubs Capped Historic 1984 Season,” FriarWire, padres.mlblogs.com/nlcs-victory-over-cubs-capped-historic-1984-season-b2541c11a7d3.

accessed November 21, 2018.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 David Bush, “Rally Stuns Cubs, Wins NL Pennant,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 8, 1984.

7 Bernie Lincicome,  “The Fold of ’84 Came in Hurry,” Chicago Tribune, October 8, 1984.

8 Steve Wulf. “You’ve Got to Hand It to the Padres,” Sports Illustrated, si.com/vault/1984/10/15/627634/youve-got-to-hand-it-to-the-padres, accessed November 21, 2018.

9 Phil Hersh, “Suddenly, a Serious Love Affair,” Chicago Tribune, October 8, 1984.

10 Associated Press, “No Joy in Wrigleyville,” Peoria Journal Star, October 8, 1984.