48 Fun Facts About San Diego Padres

The name Padres, Spanish for 'fathers', honours which group?

The Franciscan friars of the local mission are the namesakes: Franciscans under Junípero Serra founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1769, two centuries before the big-league club arrived.

The Padres joined the National League as an expansion team in which year?

1969 was the Padres' first National League season; the expansion club finished last in the NL West that year and in each of the next five.

The Pacific Coast League Padres of 1937 won a title led by which 18-year-old San Diego native?

Ted Williams, born in San Diego in 1918, was the teenage star of the 1937 PCL champion Padres; four years later he hit .406 for the Red Sox.

Which fast-food magnate bought the Padres in 1974 to keep them from leaving town?

Ray Kroc, the McDonald's chief, bought the club in January 1974 after reading it was for sale; that year's Padres lost 102 games yet drew a million fans.

A grocery-chain owner's 1973 deal to buy the Padres would have moved them where?

The U.S. capital was the planned destination: Joseph Danzansky, head of the Giant Food supermarket chain, agreed to buy the club and move it to Washington, but the deal collapsed and the Padres stayed.

Which first baseman was the Padres' career home run leader until Manny Machado passed him in 2024?

Nate Colbert, taken from Houston in the 1968 expansion draft, hit 163 homers for San Diego, a club record that stood until 2024.

Which pitcher won the Padres' first Cy Young Award, in 1976?

Randy Jones won the 1976 NL Cy Young Award with 22 wins and a 2.74 ERA, a year after finishing second to Tom Seaver.

Which manager led the Padres to their first pennant in 1984?

Dick Williams, who had won two World Series with Oakland and a pennant with Boston, managed the Padres to the 1984 National League pennant.

Steve Garvey's walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 1984 NLCS came off which Cubs closer?

Lee Smith, the Cubs' closer, gave up Steve Garvey's two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 4, forcing a decisive Game 5 that the Padres won.

The Padres lost the 1984 World Series in five games to which team?

The Detroit Tigers, who started 35-5 and led wire-to-wire, beat the Padres four games to one in the 1984 World Series.

Steve Garvey, whose number the Padres retired in 1988, spent most of his career with which rival?

Steve Garvey played 14 of his 19 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning the 1974 NL MVP there before finishing with five years in San Diego.

Tony Gwynn won how many National League batting titles, tied for the most in NL history?

Tony Gwynn's 8 batting titles tie Honus Wagner for the National League record; he hit .300 in 19 straight seasons and retired with a .338 average.

Tony Gwynn's career-high batting average, in the strike-shortened 1994 season, was what?

Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 when the players' strike ended the 1994 season on 12 August, the highest average in the majors since 1941.

On the day he was drafted by the Padres, Tony Gwynn was also picked by which NBA team?

The San Diego Clippers took Tony Gwynn in the tenth round of the 1981 NBA draft, the same day the Padres chose him in the third round.

Which Padres third baseman was the first player in franchise history to win the MVP award, in 1996?

Ken Caminiti was the unanimous 1996 NL MVP with 40 homers and 130 RBIs; in 2002 he told Sports Illustrated he had used steroids that season.

Trevor Hoffman had been drafted as a shortstop and was converted to pitching by which organisation?

The Cincinnati Reds drafted Trevor Hoffman as a shortstop in 1989 and moved him to the mound in 1991; Florida took him in the expansion draft and traded him to San Diego in 1993.

Which AC/DC song announced Trevor Hoffman's entrance at Petco Park?

Hells Bells, with its tolling bell intro, began playing for Trevor Hoffman's ninth-inning entrances in 1998 and followed him when the club moved to Petco Park.

The Padres were swept in the 1998 World Series by which team?

The New York Yankees, 114-48 in the regular season, swept the Padres in four games to cap a 125-win year.

Which manager led the Padres to the 1998 pennant and later won three Giants titles?

Bruce Bochy, the Padres' catcher in the 1984 World Series, managed them to the 1998 pennant and later won the 2010, 2012 and 2014 titles with San Francisco.

The Padres opened Petco Park in which year?

Petco Park opened on 8 April 2004, when the Padres beat the Giants 4-3 in ten innings in the inaugural game.

Which historic building was built into Petco Park, its corner serving as the left-field foul pole?

The Western Metal Supply Co. building, a 1909 brick warehouse, was preserved inside the park; its left-field corner is painted as the foul pole.

Who threw the Padres' first-ever no-hitter in April 2021, ending MLB's longest drought?

Joe Musgrove, raised in nearby El Cajon, no-hit the Rangers 3-0 on 9 April 2021, ending a 52-season wait; Dylan Cease added a second in 2024.

The 'Slam Diego' nickname came in August 2020 when the Padres became the first team to do what?

Clear the bases with a homer in four straight games: grand slams from 17 to 20 August 2020, starting with Fernando Tatís Jr.'s 3-0 swing against Texas that stirred an unwritten-rules debate.

Manny Machado's 2019 Padres deal, then North American sports' richest free-agent contract, was worth what?

$300 million over ten years, signed in February 2019, topped every previous free-agent contract in North American sports; Bryce Harper's $330 million Phillies deal beat it within days.

Fernando Tatís Jr.'s 2021 extension with the Padres ran 14 years for how much?

$340 million over 14 years, signed in February 2021, was then the third-largest contract in MLB history; Tatís later served an 80-game PED suspension in 2022.

What were the Padres' original colours in their first big-league season?

Brown and gold were the club's colours from its first season through 1984; brown returned as the primary colour in 2020.

The Padres' mascot and long-time alternate logo is known as what?

The Swinging Friar, a cartoon friar mid-swing, originated with the Pacific Coast League Padres in the late 1950s and served as the big-league club's first primary logo.

The San Diego Chicken originated in 1974 as a promotional mascot for what?

A radio station, San Diego's KGB-FM, hired journalism student Ted Giannoulas in 1974 to wear its chicken suit and hand out Easter eggs at the zoo.

Who was named MVP of the 1998 National League Championship Series?

Sterling Hitchcock won the 1998 NLCS MVP after beating Atlanta in both of his starts, Games 3 and 6, as the Padres took the series in six.

The Padres' interleague rivalry with Seattle is unofficially named after which musician?

Eddie Vedder, the Pearl Jam singer, grew up in San Diego County before moving to Seattle, so fans dubbed the series the Vedder Cup; he is actually a Cubs fan.

Which Padres owner tried in 1990 to give the franchise to the city of San Diego?

Joan Kroc, who inherited the club from her husband in 1984, offered to donate it to the city in 1990; baseball's owners refused and she sold to a group led by Tom Werner.

Which Padres owner, behind the club's big-spending era, died in November 2023?

Peter Seidler, part of the group that bought the club in 2012 and its chairman from 2020, died on 14 November 2023 at 63.

Through 2024, the Padres and Brewers were the oldest MLB teams never to have done what?

Won it all in October is something neither club had managed through 2024; the Padres lost their only two World Series, in 1984 and 1998, and the Brewers lost theirs in 1982.

Whose catchphrase 'You can hang a star on that baby!' is honoured on the Petco Park press box?

Jerry Coleman, a former Yankees second baseman and Marine combat pilot, broadcast Padres games from 1972 until his death in 2014; a star on the press box honours him.

Which Hall of Famer was the first shown in a Padres cap on his plaque, when inducted in 2001?

Dave Winfield spent the first eight of his 22 seasons in San Diego and chose a Padres cap for his 2001 plaque; the club retired his No. 31 that year.

How many numbers have the Padres retired, including Jackie Robinson's 42?

The Padres have retired 6 numbers: 6, 19, 31, 35 and 51 for club greats, plus Jackie Robinson's 42, retired throughout baseball.

Which pitcher lost a no-hitter with one out in the ninth against Atlanta in 1997?

Andy Ashby held Atlanta hitless until Kenny Lofton singled with one out in the ninth in September 1997; Ashby settled for a one-hitter.

Which Hall of Fame shortstop played his first four seasons with the Padres?

Ozzie Smith played his first four seasons in San Diego, from 1978 to 1981, before the Padres traded him to the Cardinals for Garry Templeton.

Trevor Hoffman retired as MLB's career saves leader with how many, 552 of them for San Diego?

601 saves, then the most in MLB history, was Trevor Hoffman's total when he retired after 2010; 552 came for San Diego between 1993 and 2008.

Tony Gwynn attended which university, where he played baseball and basketball?

San Diego State is where Tony Gwynn was a point guard and outfielder; he returned to coach the Aztecs' baseball team from 2003 until his death in 2014.

Which general manager, hired in 1995, built the 1996 division winner and 1998 pennant club?

Kevin Towers became general manager in November 1995 and ran the front office through 2009, assembling the 1996 division winners and the 1998 pennant club.

In which year was Tony Gwynn inducted into Cooperstown alongside Cal Ripken Jr.?

2007 was Tony Gwynn's first year of eligibility; he was elected with 97.6% of the vote and inducted alongside Cal Ripken Jr. that July.

Which of these was NOT among the three teams that joined MLB alongside the Padres?

The Toronto Blue Jays did not arrive until 1977; the Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers after one season and the Expos moved to Washington as the Nationals in 2005.

What colour were the Padres' radical all-over uniforms and pants introduced with polyester in 1972?

Gold was the colour from jersey to pants: the Padres' 1972 polyester pullovers and matching trousers were both gold, trimmed in brown.

Which Arizona spring-training home do the Padres share with the Seattle Mariners?

Peoria Sports Complex, in the Phoenix suburbs, opened in 1994 as a two-team home for the Padres and Mariners.

Which slugging first baseman did the Padres trade to the Red Sox in December 2010?

Adrián González, a Padre from 2006 to 2010 who hit 161 homers for San Diego, was traded to Boston for a package headed by Casey Kelly and Anthony Rizzo.

In which 2016 Fox series did Kylie Bunbury play Ginny Baker, a Padres rookie?

Pitch ran for one season on Fox in 2016, with Kylie Bunbury as Ginny Baker, a screwball-throwing rookie who becomes the first woman to play in the majors.

Since 2008, at which home games have the Padres worn camouflage jerseys to honour the military?

Every Sunday home game from 2008 onward featured camouflage jerseys, a nod to the region's large military presence; the Padres first wore camo in 2000.