San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The team was founded as an expansion franchise in 1969. The Padres play their home games at Petco Park, which has served as the home ballpark of the team since 2004. The team's name, Spanish for "fathers", refers to the Spanish Franciscan friars who founded San Diego in 1769.
"Padres" redirects here. For the former minor league franchise, see San Diego Padres (PCL). For other uses, see Padres (disambiguation).
The Padres are owned by the estate of Peter Seidler, who owned the team from 2012 until his death in 2023.[3][4] The first owner of the team was prominent San Diego businessman C. Arnholt Smith. The Padres are one of two Major League Baseball teams in California to originate from the state. The Padres have won two NL pennants, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both years; they are the oldest team yet to win the World Series. As of 2023, the Padres have had 17 winning seasons in franchise history.
Among the eight expansion teams of the 1960s, the Padres were the last to reach the postseason. Randy Jones achieved the first Cy Young Award for the Padres in 1976. In the 1980s, Tony Gwynn became a major star, winning eight National League batting championships, eventually being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Under third-year manager Dick Williams, the Padres clinched their first NL pennant, eventually losing to the Detroit Tigers in the 1984 World Series.
In 1995, Kevin Towers became general manager; under his lead, Ken Caminiti became the first Padres player to win the MVP Award. The Padres achieved their second NL pennant through the efforts of future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman, leading to a sweep by the New York Yankees in the 1998 World Series. Despite reaching the postseason four times from 2005 to 2022, the team has yet to return to the World Series. From 1969 through 2023, the Padres have an overall record of 4,034–4,648–2 (.465).[5]
Military appreciation[edit]
In 1996, the Padres became the first national sports team to have an annual military appreciation event.[60] In 2000, the Padres began wearing a camouflage jersey to honor the military. Starting in 2008, the Padres began wearing camouflage jerseys for every Sunday home game. The team also wears the uniforms on Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. For 2011, the Padres changed the camouflage design to a more modern "digital" design, using the MARPAT design after receiving permission from then-Commandant James Conway,[61] and dropped the green from the lettering and logo of the jersey. Green was replaced by a sand-olive color (also in the cap worn with the jersey). For 2016, to coincide with hosting the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the Padres changed the camouflage jersey once again, this time to navy blue. This design was only worn for one season. In 2017, the Padres switched the camouflage jersey to a Marines style, which was used through 2019. For 2020, the Padres began using two different camouflage jersey colors: green and sand-olive, both with the current Padres logo. Even though MLB and Nike implemented a "4+1" rule regarding team uniforms starting in 2023, the Padres were given special permission to continue wearing their military uniforms; thus they are the only team to wear six different uniforms per season.[62]
Since 1995[63] Marine Recruits from the nearby Marine Corps Recruit Depot often visit the games en masse during Military Appreciation Day, in uniform, often filling entire sections of the upper deck of Petco Park. When present, the team commemorates them with a special Fourth Inning Stretch featuring the Marine Hymn played by stadium organist Bobby Cressey.[64] Through April 2005 over 60,000 marine recruits were hosted by the Padres.[65] This is part of an extensive military outreach program, which also includes a series of Military Appreciation Night games,[66] and game tapes mailed to deployed United States Navy ships of the Pacific Fleet for onboard viewing (a large portion of the Pacific Fleet is homeported in San Diego).[67][68][69] Now, every Sunday home games the Padres play is "Military Sunday".
The San Diego area is home to a number of military installations, including several Navy and Coast Guard bases centered on San Diego Bay, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (former home of the "Top Gun" training program), and the Marine Corps training ground at Camp Pendleton. Civilians employed at those bases account for around 5% of the county's working population.[70]
As of May 31, 2023, the Padres' regional telecasts are produced by MLB's local media department and distributed via local origination channels on television providers in the team's regional market, as well as an over-the-top subscription service distributed by MLB.tv. These telecasts are branded as PADRES.TV. Games air on the following cable providers and networks:[71][72][73]
Don Orsillo is the play-by-play announcer, with Mark Grant as color analyst and Bob Scanlan as field reporter. Bally Sports San Diego (formerly Fox Sports San Diego) had assumed the rights to the team in 2012 under a 20-year deal, replacing Cox Cable's 4SD.[74][75] Amid the chapter 11 bankruptcy of the network's parent company Diamond Sports Group, Bally missed a rights payment to the Padres in May 2023, causing the rights to the Padres to revert back to the team; MLB subsequently took over production of the Padres' regional broadcasts, retaining the commentators and contracted employees.
[72][73][76][77]
As of the 2021 season, Padres radio broadcasts in English are carried by KWFN 97.3 The Fan, after having previously been carried by sister station 94.9 KBZT upon the acquisition of the radio rights by Entercom in 2017.[78][79] Jesse Agler is the primary play-by-play announcer, with Tony Gwynn Jr. serving as color analyst. The games are also broadcast in Spanish on XEMO-AM, La Poderosa 860 AM, with Eduardo Ortega, Carlos Hernández and Pedro Gutiérrez announcing. Padre games were also aired from 2006 to 2010 on XHPRS-FM 105.7.
Spanish language telecasts of Sunday games are seen XHAS-TDT channel 33. Until September 2007, Friday and Saturday games were seen in Spanish on KBOP-CA channel 43, until that station changed to an all-infomercial format. This makes XHAS-TDT the only over-the-air-television station carrying Padres baseball. English-language Padres over-the-air broadcasts aired through the years on XETV-TV 6, KCST-TV 39, KUSI-TV 51, KFMB-TV 8 and KSWB-TV 69.
John Demott was the Padres' first public address announcer when the team began in 1969. By the late 1970s, Bruce Binkowski had taken over as PA announcer, and became the longest-serving public address announcer in the team's history, remaining until the end of the 1999 season. First DeMott and then Binkowski also were responsible with PA announcing duties for the San Diego Chargers and the San Diego State University Aztecs, both of which were joint tenants at Qualcomm Stadium with the Padres until the Padres moved into Petco Park. From Petco Park's opening in 2004 until 2013, the PA announcer was Frank Anthony, a radio host with 105.7 XHPRS-FM. On April 19, 2014, Alex Miniak was announced as the new Public Address announcer for the San Diego Padres. Miniak was formerly the PA announcer for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, and is the current PA commentator for the MLB The Show series.[80]
The San Diego Padres were first portrayed in the 1979 NBC made-for-TV film The Kid from Left Field, starring Gary Coleman as Jackie Robinson "J.R." Cooper, a youngster who is passionate about baseball, and puts his knowledge to good use when he becomes the manager of the Padres and helps lead them to the World Series.
In 2015, the San Diego Padres were also seen in an HBO original comedy/Documentary style movie, Ferrell Takes the Field starring Will Ferrell, where he plays ten major league baseball Spring-training games in ten different positions on the field in one day, one of the teams including The San Diego Padres. The movie was a special by HBO sponsored by MLB and dedicated to the fight against cancer charity, Cancer for College. The movie premiered in Petco Park after the Padres vs. Dodgers game on September 5, 2015.[81]
[82] In 2016, the San Diego Padres were portrayed once again in the one-season Fox television series Pitch, starring Kylie Bunbury as Ginny Baker, the first female to play in Major League Baseball.