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48 free San Diego Padres trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This San Diego Padres trivia quiz covers a franchise named for Franciscan friars that spent six years in last place, was nearly moved to Washington, and was rescued by the man who built McDonald's. There are questions on Nate Colbert, Randy Jones, Dave Winfield, Steve Garvey's 1984 homer, Dick Williams and the first pennant, Tony Gwynn's eight batting titles and .394, Ken Caminiti's MVP, Trevor Hoffman and 'Hells Bells', the 1998 sweep, Petco Park's warehouse, Manny Machado's $300 million, Fernando Tatís Jr., Joe Musgrove finally ending the no-hitter drought, and 'Slam Diego'. The culture and colours get a round too: the Swinging Friar, the San Diego Chicken, brown and gold, camouflage Sundays, the Vedder Cup with Seattle and the retired numbers at Home Plate Plaza. Easy questions suit any Friars fan; the hard ones are for people who know which grocery magnate almost took the team to Washington. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The name Padres, Spanish for 'fathers', honours which group?
The Franciscan friars of the local mission
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.
Q 02The Padres joined the National League as an expansion team in which year?
1969
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.
Q 03The Pacific Coast League Padres of 1937 won a title led by which 18-year-old San Diego native?
Ted Williams
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.
Q 04Which fast-food magnate bought the Padres in 1974 to keep them from leaving town?
Ray Kroc
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.
Q 05A grocery-chain owner's 1973 deal to buy the Padres would have moved them where?
The U.S. capital
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.
Q 06Which first baseman was the Padres' career home run leader until Manny Machado passed him in 2024?
Nate Colbert
Nate Colbert, taken from Houston in the 1968 expansion draft, hit 163 homers for San Diego, a club record that stood until 2024.
Q 07Which pitcher won the Padres' first Cy Young Award, in 1976?
Randy Jones
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.
Q 08Which manager led the Padres to their first pennant in 1984?
Dick Williams
Dick Williams, who had won two World Series with Oakland and a pennant with Boston, managed the Padres to the 1984 National League pennant.
Q 09Steve Garvey's walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 1984 NLCS came off which Cubs closer?
Lee Smith
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.
Q 10The Padres lost the 1984 World Series in five games to which team?
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers, who started 35-5 and led wire-to-wire, beat the Padres four games to one in the 1984 World Series.
Q 11Steve Garvey, whose number the Padres retired in 1988, spent most of his career with which rival?
Los Angeles Dodgers
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.
Q 12Tony Gwynn won how many National League batting titles, tied for the most in NL history?
8
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.
Q 13Tony Gwynn's career-high batting average, in the strike-shortened 1994 season, was what?
.394
Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 when the players' strike ended the 1994 season on 12 August, the highest average in the majors since 1941.
Q 21Which historic building was built into Petco Park, its corner serving as the left-field foul pole?
Western Metal Supply Co.
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.
Q 22Who threw the Padres' first-ever no-hitter in April 2021, ending MLB's longest drought?
Joe Musgrove
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.
Q 23The 'Slam Diego' nickname came in August 2020 when the Padres became the first team to do what?
Q 14On the day he was drafted by the Padres, Tony Gwynn was also picked by which NBA team?
San Diego Clippers
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.
Q 15Which Padres third baseman was the first player in franchise history to win the MVP award, in 1996?
Ken Caminiti
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.
Q 16Trevor Hoffman had been drafted as a shortstop and was converted to pitching by which organisation?
Cincinnati Reds
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.
Q 17Which AC/DC song announced Trevor Hoffman's entrance at Petco Park?
Hells Bells
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.
Q 18The Padres were swept in the 1998 World Series by which team?
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees, 114-48 in the regular season, swept the Padres in four games to cap a 125-win year.
Q 19Which manager led the Padres to the 1998 pennant and later won three Giants titles?
Bruce Bochy
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.
Q 20The Padres opened Petco Park in which year?
2004
Petco Park opened on 8 April 2004, when the Padres beat the Giants 4-3 in ten innings in the inaugural game.
Clear the bases with a homer in four straight games
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.
Q 24Manny Machado's 2019 Padres deal, then North American sports' richest free-agent contract, was worth what?
$300 million
$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.
Q 25Fernando Tatís Jr.'s 2021 extension with the Padres ran 14 years for how much?
$340 million
$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.
Q 26What were the Padres' original colours in their first big-league season?
Brown and gold
Brown and gold were the club's colours from its first season through 1984; brown returned as the primary colour in 2020.
Q 27The Padres' mascot and long-time alternate logo is known as what?
The Swinging Friar
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.
Q 28The San Diego Chicken originated in 1974 as a promotional mascot for what?
A radio station
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.
Q 29Who was named MVP of the 1998 National League Championship Series?
Sterling Hitchcock
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.
Q 30The Padres' interleague rivalry with Seattle is unofficially named after which musician?
Eddie Vedder
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.