Glory Days D uring the 20th century Southern California became a baseball hotbed Good weather and a growing population meant the game could be played all year long In 1958 the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles Three years later the Angels began play in Southern California In 1969 the National League NL added two new teams California’s southernmost city San Diego was chosen for one of these teams The Padres were born The team’s owner was a banker named C Arnholt Smith He had previously owned a club in the minor leagues It was also called the San Diego Padres Smith saw no reason to change the name of his new team in the major leagues Building a winner posed a greater challenge The Padres tried to find 6
LEFT Clarence Cito Gaston RIGHT Dave Winfield players that other teams had overlooked They discovered some good ones in Nate Colbert Cito Gaston Clay Kirby Dave Roberts and Ollie Brown Unfortunately they still finished last in the NL West year after year In 1974 Smith had to sell the Padres after his bank failed He found a buyer in Ray Kroc who had built the McDonald’s fast-food empire Kroc was used to giving orders and getting results He was not used to losing Kroc needed great patience to make it through his first 10 seasons as owner of the Padres The team had only one winning year during that time For Kroc and San Diego fans exciting players such as Dave Winfield Gene Richards Ozzie Smith and Rollie Fingers made the losing a little easier The Padres finally began to play winning baseball in the early 1980s The team put it all together in 1984 Young outfielders Tony 7
Gwynn and Kevin McReynolds led a club that included veterans Steve Garvey Graig Nettles Garry Templeton and Goose Gossage Manager Dick Williams made all the right moves and the Padres won the pennant San Diego fans had to wait 14 years for the team’s next trip to the World Series During that time a lot of good players came and went Stars who wore the Padres uniform included John Kruk Benito Santiago Bip Roberts Tony Fernandez Roberto Alomar Gary Sheffield Fred McGriff Bruce Hurst and Andy Benes None of those players could lead the team back to the World Series Finally in 1998 San Diego reached the top again Gwynn was the leader of a club that starred pitchers Kevin Brown and Trevor Hoffman Sluggers Ken Caminiti and Greg Vaughn provided power at the plate Bruce Bochy was LEFT Tony Gwynn batted over 350 seven times for the Padres ABOVE Benito Santiago was the top catcher in the NL when he played in San Diego 9
