Bob Chandler: A Snapshot of the San Diego Padres’ First Half-Century

Big-time sports in San Diego really got going in 1961 when Don Coryell came to San Diego State College as head football coach (the school is now called San Diego State University, SDSU). About the same time the American Football League’s Los Angeles Chargers moved to San Diego for the 1961 season. Then, in November 1965, voters in the city of San Diego passed a $27 million bond measure for a new stadium to be built in Mission Valley. The new stadium would have 50,000 seats and be multi-purpose, which meant it could be used for football as well as professional baseball.

In late 1965 construction was underway for another sports venue, a state-of-the-art arena, called the San Diego International Sports Arena. It opened in 1966 with the Western Hockey League San Diego Gulls as a tenant. The next year, 1967, the expansion San Diego Rockets of the National Basketball Association began play in the Sports Arena.

Another notable local sports event was in pro golf, when in 1968 Andy Williams lent his name to the San Diego Open, making it one of the major tournaments on the West Coast.

Finally, to cap off the decade, major-league baseball came to San Diego – the city was awarded a major-league baseball franchise on May 27, 1968. When that happened, it was like placing the cherry on the icing on the cake.

1969: Season 1

Those of us in the local media did not know for sure that San Diego was going to get a franchise until that May 27 date.

At the time, San Diego was part of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ market, with the team having a strong following in the region. However, there were other Dodgers-San Diego connections, in particular one major one that involved Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley. He wanted to make room for his son, Peter, to move into the Dodgers’ front office. So O’Malley helped his general manager, Buzzie Bavasi, get in on the ownership of the new franchise in San Diego. Bavasi became the Padres’ first president and general manager and Bavasi’s son, also named Peter, was placed in charge of the Padres’ farm system.

Bavasi had teamed up with C. Arnholt Smith, who was the owner of the Pacific Coast League Padres in 1968, and had the majority financial interest in the major-league Padres. While Smith left the baseball operations to Bavasi, he did make an imprint on the club’s appearance. You see, Smith had a passion for the color brown. He always wore a brown suit with a brown tie and a brown shirt. Everything the team produced was dominated by the color brown, including the uniforms.

The foundation of the first Padres team was the expansion draft held in October 1968. Of course, O’Malley knew that Bavasi had knowledge of the Dodgers’ farm system. But as a patron of Bavasi’s move to San Diego, O’Malley influenced the Padres to select former American League MVP, 28-year-old Zoilo Versalles, whose best years were already behind him, and 29-year-old Al “The Bull” Ferrara, who had two mildly productive years for the Dodgers, and a 21-year-old minor leaguer, Jim Williams.

The other expansion team, the Montreal Expos, had a totally different philosophy on how to go about the draft. The Padres went after young players who were available and built the team that way. Montreal went the opposite direction, going after veteran players with the idea that they could later trade those veteran players to contending teams and get some good youngsters back. Which approach worked best? At the end of the 1969 season, ironically, both teams had identical records, 52-110.

The Padres’ first manager was Preston Gomez. He had been the Dodgers’ third-base coach and Bavasi knew him real well. The thinking was that Preston, a Latino (from Cuba), would help draw fans from Mexico. That didn’t really work out too well in that regard with the team drawing only 512,970 in its first year.

1970-1979: Seasons 2-11

For the new Padres the 1969 season was not too successful either, with attendance or with performance. The 1970 through 1973 seasons, were more of the same and did not offer much promise: The Padres finished in last place each year and averaged 60.5 wins and 99 losses. Home attendance averaged only 614,323.

There were several bright spots: Nate Colbert slugging five home runs and batting in 13 runs in an August 1972 doubleheader in Atlanta, and near-no-hitters pitched by Clay Kirby in 1970 and Steve Arlin in 1972.

The Padres had played only 11 games in 1972 when they fired Preston Gomez and named Don Zimmer manager. Bavasi figured that Zimmer would add a little pizzazz and give the team a lift. Zimmer managed the team for another lackluster year in 1973 … lackluster except for some turmoil in midyear caused by rumors of the team moving from San Diego.

On May 27, 1973, it was announced that the Padres had a purchase offer from a wealthy Washington, D.C., grocery magnate, Joseph Danzansky. Ironically, it was exactly five years to the day since the Padres were awarded the franchise, on May 27, 1968. It was near-certain that the team would move to Washington at the end of the season … or maybe even during the season.

The club, including nonplaying personnel, was in limbo for the next seven months. In the meantime, the City of San Diego was not sitting idly by. John Witt, the city’s attorney, brought suit against the team for payment due on the remaining years of a 20-year lease for the use of San Diego Stadium. The judge hearing the case ruled that while the city couldn’t stop the team from moving, it did have grounds for damages for the 15 years remaining on the stadium lease. Did that ever shake up the hierarchy in major-league baseball!

By late 1973 some of the Padres’ front office had already left for new jobs while some were preparing to move to Washington. There was even a thought that the team might be operated by the National League for the 1974 season. Several groups came forward with interest to buy the team.

Then, in January 1974, Ray Kroc, the owner of McDonald’s, expressed interest in ownership. Kroc and Arnholt Smith quickly agreed on a purchase price of $12 million and the deal was consummated by the end of the month.

Despite the turmoil surrounding the team, in late 1973 Peter Bavasi, now running the Padres, managed to trade for some legitimate major leaguers. The biggest name was Willie McCovey, the National League’s MVP in 1969. The Padres also picked up veterans Bobby Tolan, Glenn Beckert, and Matty Alou.

For the first time in their short history, the Padres had gone after some big names and built their team in a different way. So they remained in San Diego and had some new recognizable names on the team, especially McCovey. Another important addition was new owner Kroc, whom the fans seemed to adore. Added to the mix were two key players who got their start in 1973, rookies Dave Winfield and Randy Jones.

Another offseason transaction was the hiring of a new manager, John McNamara.

For 1974’s Opening Day, the Padres were in Los Angeles, and they were blown out in three straight games by the Dodgers, being outscored, 25-2. They come home to play against the Houston Astros in the team’s home opener on April 9.

During this, his first home game, owner Kroc thought it a good idea to thank the fans. In the bottom of the seventh inning he approached the public-address booth and requested time. But it so happened that minutes earlier the Padres had blown a potential rally with a mental mistake. Kroc came on over the loudspeaker system saying that he had never seen such stupid ballplaying in his life!

That’s how the Ray Kroc era began in San Diego. The fans seemed to love his outgoing, frank personality and it helped contribute to a significant increase in attendance. Even though the 1974 team lost 102 games, it drew over a million fans for the first time.

The Padres improved in 1975 and Randy Jones won 20 games and led the National League in earned-run average.

The next change in managers occurred in 1977 when Kroc fired McNamara in late May. Bob Skinner, a coach, managed the team for one game and then Alvin Dark was announced as the new manager. (That one game left Skinner with the best won-lost record of any Padres manager in its 50-year history, one win and no defeats.)

Dark managed the team the rest of 1977; however, while he survived the offseason, he did not survive spring training, being fired late in spring training. A rebellion of the players against Dark and his rules and restrictions, and his attitude, prompted Kroc to make a change despite the bad timing.

Pitching coach Roger Craig replaced Dark. After nine losing seasons Craig led the team to its first winning record, 84-78, with the highlight being pitcher Gaylord Perry getting his 3,000th career strikeout in the season’s last game, and winning the National League Cy Young Award at the age of 40.

1980-1989: Seasons 12-21

Trader Jack McKeon replaced Bob Fontaine as general manager in 1980 and began building “his” team immediately. His first move, in December 1980, was to trade for a catcher, and the Padres traded Rollie Fingers and Gene Tenace to the St Louis Cardinals for Terry Kennedy.

Kennedy was McKeon’s first building block. The Cardinals traded Kennedy because manager Whitey Herzog had a veteran catcher, Darrell Porter. Herzog also had the worst pitching staff in baseball in 1980, so as part of this deal, he made McKeon take a bunch of lousy pitchers, just to get rid of them and their salaries. But it was worth it to McKeon to take these pitchers so he could get Kennedy. Kennedy at age 25 was the foundation for what was to come later.

The December 1980 Rule 5 draft brought in another key player for the club’s eventual 1984 season, Alan Wiggins. He was one of the fastest runners ever and a terrific outfielder.

The June 1981 amateur draft provided two more significant additions: Kevin McReynolds in the first round (at number 6) and Tony Gwynn in the third round.

In December 1981, McKeon traded Ozzie Smith to his “buddy” Herzog for the Cardinals’ switch-hitting shortstop, Garry Templeton. Smith had already demonstrated that he was one of the best fielding shortstops ever but the Padres did not think he was ever going to hit.

The next big step was when McKeon brought in Dick Williams in 1982 as manager. Williams inherited a team that had been just awful in 1981. Without the addition of anybody of significance, Williams taught them to play tough, fundamental baseball and they ended the 1982 season with a .500 record.

The next key addition took place in December 1982 when the Padres signed 34-year-old free agent Steve Garvey.

A year later, in December 1983, McKeon brought in Carmelo Martinez as part of a three-team transaction that included the Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos. Martinez was primarily a first baseman but McKeon wanted to use him in the outfield. His acquisition allowed the team to make a bold move, transferring Wiggins from the outfield to second base. The three-team trade also included another important cog in the team’s eventual 1984 season, left-handed reliever Craig Lefferts.

In early 1984 the final pieces to the puzzle fell into place. First, the Padres signed free-agent relief pitcher Goose Gossage in January. The final piece came at the close of spring training through a trade with George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees for Graig Nettles.

The 1984 team was set and the Opening Day lineup on April 3 at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates was:

1. Alan Wiggins, 2B
2. Tony Gwynn, RF
3. Graig Nettles, 3B
4. Steve Garvey, 1B
5. Terry Kennedy, C
6. Carmelo Martinez, LF
7. Kevin McReynolds, CF
8. Garry Templeton, SS
9. Eric Show, P

The four main starting pitchers in 1984 were Show, Tim Lollar, Mark Thurmond, and Ed Whitson. However, the best starters might have been Andy Hawkins and Dave Dravecky, who shared both bullpen and starting duties.

McKeon’s theory was to have a better-than-average player at every position and hope that enough of them have a good year. The team was built around a good mix of veterans and young players but a key part of it was eventual Hall of Famer Dick Williams, who was a great leader.

The Padres won the League Championship Series against the Cubs three games to two after losing the first two games in Chicago. In dramatic fashion the Padres won three in a row with Garvey winning Series MVP honors after a ninth-inning walk-off home run in Game Four. Then, in Game Five the Padres beat eventual NL Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe to capture the Series.

Up next were the Detroit Tigers, who had won 104 games in the regular season and won three straight against the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series. The Padres lost the Series four games to one, with their lone win coming in Game Two in San Diego. Kurt Bevacqua, in the lineup as the designated hitter, had a three-run home run that provided the winning margin for the Padres.

Preparing for the 1985 season Trader Jack pulled off a December 1984 trade to help the Padres pitching, acquiring the Chicago White Sox’ LaMarr Hoyt. Hoyt was the American League’s Cy Young Award recipient in 1983 and was expected to fill a void in the Padres starting pitching staff.

The 1985 season started off well. Hoyt won 11 straight starts at one stage and was selected to start the All-Star Game for the National League. Overall, seven Padres were selected for the 1985 NL All-Star team, with four voted in as starters: Garvey, Gwynn, Kennedy, and Nettles. Gossage and Templeton were the other two selected, and Dick Williams was the manager.

During the spring the team’s sparkplug, Alan Wiggins, was off to a poor start, hitting .054 in late April with no stolen bases. Then, for a game on April 25 in Los Angeles, he was initially listed on the pregame lineup card as a starter but just before the game began he was scratched from the lineup. Tim Flannery came in to play second base. It turns out that Wiggins had some serious drug issues. The result was that he never played another game for the Padres and was traded in late June to Baltimore.

The team reached its peak on July 4, being in first place by 4½ games. By the end of July the Padres were five games behind, and they never recovered. The team barely finished above .500. With Wiggins’ departure they had lost a key cog in their offense. In 1984 Wiggins stole 70 bases and when he was on first base and Tony Gwynn followed him in the order, Gwynn had a .428 batting average.

McKeon rebuilt the team, which finished 1989 with an 89-73 record and made a run at the pennant, going 42-21 their last 63 games. Jack Clark had been acquired by trade in the offseason and was set for first base. Roberto Alomar, in his second season, was fixed at second base, Templeton remained at shortstop and Tim Flannery and Luis Salazar shared third base. The outfield was set with Carmelo Martinez in left, Gwynn in center, and John Kruk in right. Benito Santiago was behind the plate.

The final series of the season had drama with a tight race for the batting championship between the Giants’ Will Clark and Tony Gwynn. Gwynn was chasing Clark going into the series, .332 to .333. In the first game, Gwynn was 1-for-5 while Clark went 2-for-4, and increased his lead. Over the next two games, though, Gwynn took the crown with a 6-for-8 performance while Clark went 2-for-8: Gwynn finished.336 to Clark’s .333.

1990-1999: Seasons 32-41 

McKeon thought he could win the pennant by adding slugger Joe Carter to the outfield. In December 1989 the Padres traded catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., to Cleveland and threw in a guy named Carlos Baerga. So the Padres gave up a lot and those two players did great for the Indians for many years. That Padres team just laid an egg in 1990 for some reason. It just didn’t click.

A new ownership team came in 1990 led by Tom Werner, referred to as the “gang of 10.” The Padres relieved McKeon. Joe McIlvaine became general manager, and Greg Riddoch took over as manager in midseason. The season resulted in a losing record, 75-87.

After the season McIlvaine traded Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar to the Toronto Blue Jays. In return the Padres received Fred McGriff, a first baseman, and Tony Fernandez, a shortstop. McIlvaine said he would rather have a great shortstop, Fernandez, than a great second basemen, Alomar. Well, Alomar was just coming into his own. Next to Gwynn, Alomar was the most talented player the Padres would ever have. Fernandez at one time was a great shortstop, but when the Padres got him he was on the downside of his career. McGriff was a home-run hitter and on the rising side of his career.

The Padres had moderately successful seasons in 1991 and 1992, with records of 84-78 and 82-80, respectively. The 1992 season highlight might have been the breakout performance of 23-year-old Gary Sheffield, who won the batting championship with a .330 average.

The new owners were not impressed and after a poor start in 1993 the Padres went on what was labeled as a “fire sale.” Randy Smith was the new general manager and was under orders to trade the guys who had some value, namely McGriff and Sheffield. Two trades resulted, involving six players, one of whom acquired was Trevor Hoffman.

The 1994 season was cut short by a player strike in August. Beginning with a 5-for-5 game on April 23, Tony Gwynn was dancing around a batting average of .400. His last game before the strike was on August 11 and he finished with a .394 average. He had been locked in all season and had the perfect personality to deal with the media pressure that already had started to build toward a .400 batting average. As for the team, it was out of the pennant race by mid-May.

Perhaps the team’s best day in 1994 was in December when general manager Randy Smith made a trade with Houston for several players, most importantly acquiring two who would contribute immensely: third baseman Ken Caminiti and outfielder Steve Finley. The sale of the club was finalized that same month and the “John Moores/Larry Lucchino era” started just days before the trade was made. A very good first step toward building a winning team.

Caminiti and Finley played for the Padres the next four years, providing superb offense and defense. Caminiti won the MVP award in 1996 by a unanimous vote, and Finley accumulated Gold Glove Awards.

Bruce Bochy was brought in to manage the 1995 team. The strike extended into the season resulting in a reduced schedule of 144 games. The Padres finished with a record of 70-74. In November Kevin Towers was promoted to general manager.

The 1996 team started winning from the start and was in first place most of the season. In September the Padres and Dodgers alternated at one-two in the league’s Western Division. With three games left to play, the Padres were two games behind the Dodgers with a three-game series in Los Angeles awaiting. The Padres won the first two games and the teams were tied going into the last game of the season. Both teams would make the playoffs; the winner would be division champion and the losing team in as a wild card.

The game was tied, 0-0, through 10 innings. In the top of the 11th inning Chris Gwynn, Tony’s brother, came to bat as a pinch-hitter with two men on base and hit a clutch two-run double. Trevor Hoffman came in for the save and the Padres won the division with a 2-0 victory.

This was the Padres’ second-ever venture into postseason play and it ended quickly: They were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals in three games in the Division Series.

The 1997 team finished fourth and was never really in the race. However, general manager Towers had pulled off a December trade that brought pitcher Kevin Brown from the Florida Marlins. The Padres gave up a good young player, first baseman Derrek Lee. Brown at the time was one of the best starting pitchers in baseball, and was a leader in the clubhouse and on the field. Pitcher Andy Ashby had his best year and Trevor Hoffman was incredible, with 53 saves out of 54 opportunities. Hoffman and Brown finished two-three in the Cy Young Award voting at year’s end. On the offense side, outfielder Greg Vaughn had quite a season. He finished the year with 50 home runs, hitting his 50th in his last at-bat of the season. Vaughn had 119 runs batted in and finished fourth in the MVP voting.

In 1998 the Padres were in first place from mid-June on and finished 9½ games in front of second-place San Francisco. The team remained hot, winning the Division Series against the Houston Astros, three games to one, and the League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves, four games to two.

So the Padres were going to their second World Series and would play the American League champion New York Yankees. The first two games were in Yankee Stadium.

Kevin Brown started Game One and entered the seventh inning with a 5-2 lead on the strength of back-to-back home runs by Tony Gwynn and Greg Vaughn. However, with one out and after giving up a hit and walk, Brown was pulled by manager Bochy. What followed was a three-run home run by the Yankees’ Chuck Knoblauch, and a subsequent grand slam by Tino Martinez.

The Padres never recovered from that seven-run inning and lost the next three games, and the Series.

While they got close, they did not win, yet San Diego fans appreciated what the team had done all season. In November 1998, San Diego residents, feeling good about their Padres, passed a ballot proposition that resulted in the building of Petco Park. While he was not an elected official, one could credit Kevin Brown with helping to pass the measure.

The 1999 season got off to a bad start in the offseason when Brown, Caminiti, and Finley all left via free agency. The Padres ended the season in fourth place and started rebuilding. The season’s highlight occurred on August 6 in Montreal when future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn collected his 3,000th hit.

2000-2009: Seasons 32-41

A string of five sub-.500 seasons followed the 1998 success. Sluggers Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesko arrived by trades, Nevin in March 1999 and Klesko in December 1999. Other key players who joined the team during this period included second baseman Mark Loretta, a free-agent signing in December 2002, and outfielder Brian Giles, by trade in August 2003. The Padres’ farm system also was productive, with players like Jake Peavy, coming up in 2002, and Khalil Greene, in 2003.

One of the more notable games took place on October 7, 2001, the last game of the season for the Padres, a home loss to the Colorado Rockies. The game was notable for two events: In the first inning Rickey Henderson hit a double for his 3,000th career hit; and in the ninth inning Tony Gwynn came to bat for the last time in his career. The script called for a hit but it was not to be, as Gwynn grounded out to the shortstop.

After 35 years in the team’s Mission Valley stadium the Petco Park era began in April 2004. The Padres had a good season in 2004, winning 87 games but missed the playoffs. Total attendance was 3,016,752, which bested their highest prior year at by almost 500,000.

In 2005 the league’s West Division underperformed and the Padres went 82-80 yet won the division by five games. They played the St. Louis Cardinals in the best-of-five Division Series. The team was seemingly void of superstar performances. Brian Giles led the team in RBIs with 83 and Klesko led with 18 home runs. Peavy led the team in wins with 13. This was the Padres’ fourth venture into the postseason in its history but they did not get far, being swept by the Cardinals in three games.

In January 2006 Kevin Towers made one of his best trades, picking up first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and pitcher Chris Young from the Texas Rangers. In February Towers signed free-agent catcher Mike Piazza.

For the second year in a row the Padres made the playoffs, finishing first in the West Division, this time tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers. (The Padres were awarded first place because they won the season’s series against the Dodgers.) Woody Williams led the team’s pitchers with 12 wins and the three other starters each had 11 wins. The bullpen was led by Hoffman with 46 saves. The offense was led by Adrian Gonzalez with 24 home runs and a .304 batting average. The Padres again played the Cardinals in the Division Series, and again lost, three games to one.

In 2007 Bud Black took over the manager reins from Bruce Bochy. It was an interesting season in that the two teams with the best records in the National League had 90 wins, the Diamondbacks and the Rockies. Next best were the 89 wins by the Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies. Unfortunately for the Padres, they were in the same division as the Diamondbacks and Rockies, and missed the playoffs.

The next 11 seasons, 2008-2018, involved a series of rebuilding efforts. The rebuilding went for naught since in only one year, 2010, did the Padres finish over .500.

In the meantime, in December 2008 owner John Moores announced that he wanted to sell the team. Within a few months a group headed by Jeff Moorad, a former player agent, came in as a minority owner and functioned as the club’s chief executive officer until March 2012. During his tenure Moorad changed general managers, firing Towers in October 2009 and bringing in Jed Hoyer. Hoyer left in October 2011 to join the Chicago Cubs organization and was replaced by Josh Byrnes.

On the business side of things, Moorad’s proposed financial plan for buying the club did not pan out and the team was again up for sale.

Within a few months, in August 2012, local San Diego businessman Ron Fowler came forward representing a group and the sale was approved for $800 million … a far cry from the $12 million Ray Kroc paid for the team in 1974.

2010-2018: Seasons 42-50

With new owner Fowler on board, the Padres finished the 2012 and 2013 seasons with identical records, 76-86. In midseason 2014 Fowler fired GM Josh Byrnes and hired A.J. Preller to replace him.

With blessings from the ownership team, beginning in late 2014 Preller went all out for a big season in 2015. He acquired some big names, along with big salaries. Trades brought in outfielder Matt Kemp, closer Craig Kimbrel, outfielder Wil Myers, catcher Derek Norris, and outfielder Justin Upton. Veteran pitcher James Shields was signed as a free agent. Added to this new mix were returning players for whom the Padres had high hopes: infielder Jedd Gyorko, first baseman Yonder Alonso, and pitchers Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy, and Tyson Ross.

The 2015 team was loaded with big names, and the fans were excited about the team’s prospects. The acquisition of the new players created a lot of interest and most people thought it was going to be a better team than the 2014 club, which won only 77 games. … It had to be!

The team’s high point that 2015 season was a 10-5 record on April 21. On June 14 the team floated under .500, and on June 15, with the team at 32-33, manager Black was replaced by coach Dave Roberts for one game, and then Pat Murphy for the remainder of the season. The change in managers did not prove to be of any help; the Padres finished the season with a won-lost record of 74-88, worse than in 2014.

In retrospect, Black with his experience may have been the best person to handle the team with all of the veteran players. Even so, when you analyze them, the 2015 team really was not a very sound team. (Also, they did not have above-average defenders up the middle.)

By the end of July 2016 all of these players were moved except for Wil Myers. Alonso, Gyorko, Kemp, Kimbrel, and Shields were traded, and Kennedy and Upton were lost via free agency. Opening Day 2017 found Myers as the lone survivor.

Management’s focus had changed from “do it quickly,” relying on established veteran players, to an approach of rebuilding from within. This new approach started with the November 2015 trade of Kimbrel to the Boston Red Sox for four top tier minor-league prospects. The Fowler-Preller team also invested heavily in players from the Dominican Republic. By 2018 the Padres were rated as having one of the best farm systems in baseball, if not the best.

The model being followed by the Padres was one the Astros and Cubs used: Build a foundation within the organization with young, very talented players, and then go after one or two veteran players to provide clubhouse leadership, as Graig Nettles and Goose Gossage did for the 1984 team and Kevin Brown for the 1998 Padres. But you have to remember that the Astros and Cubs had some very poor years before they turned it around and became World Series champions.

2019 and Beyond: Seasons 51+

The Padres after their first half-century are still looking for their first World Series title. They have managed to reach the playoffs five times in 50 seasons, twice competing in the World Series.

In 2015 the Padres decided to try a new approach and spent about $80 million investing in young foreign talent. They also traded some key players for talented youngsters in other organizations. The club said its long-range plan was to create a minor-league system in which waves of youngsters challenge to make the major-league roster each year and keep San Diego a constant contender.

Only time will tell if this approach will work but there are some promising early indications. The 2018 rankings of the 100 top prospects in major-league baseball included 10 Padres farmhands, among them the number-two prospect, shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. A couple of the long-term prospects made the roster in 2018 and several more were expected in 2019 with the idea that the Padres would start to legitimately contend in 2020.

Naturally, many San Diego fans are impatient and want a contender right now. Who can blame them after the team had failed to post a winning record since a 90-72 mark in 2010? Others enjoy watching the team build and following the progress of highly-rated young players.

Whatever your preference the process should be fascinating to watch … especially if it works!

BOB CHANDLER has relied on SABR for baseball facts and historical information since becoming a member in 1978. A San Diego resident he has been active as a sports broadcaster for several radio and TV stations since 1961. Chandler’s specialty is baseball; before 1969 he covered the PCL Padres and then was part of the National League Padres’ broadcasting team for 31 years. An authority on Padres’ history he authored a 2006 book entitled Bob Chandler’s Tales from the San Diego Padres.