Why Don't The San Diego Padres Wear That Number Anymore?

Every team in the league has its own legends.  Some legends tower over the history of the game.  Some tower over a certain portion of the history.  Some define an organization and are the first thought anyone has when the team is mentioned.

Each team finds a way to honor their legends, usually with the retirement of the player's number.  For the fans of that team it is easy to sit in the stadium seats, look out on the display of retired numbers and feel pride in the part that number represents to their team's history.  Unfortunately, fans of the visiting team stopping  by to see a game may not know the meaning of those numbers.

So during this series we will explore what the retired numbers for each team mean and why they were retired.

This week we will look at the San Diego Padres.

JC

Jerry Coleman started his career in baseball as a Rookie of the Year in 1949 for the World Series Champion Yankees.  His road to the majors had been slowed slightly by World War II,  where he served in the military.  Coleman would play a total of nine years, all with the Yankees, and was a member of six World Series teams. After retirement Coleman broadcast games for the Yankees, CBS and the Angels.  His association with the Padres started in 1972.  He broadcast for the Padres consistently from 1972 through 2013, although he did take over as manager during the 1980 season.  Despite never playing a game for the Padres Coleman was elected into the Padres Hall of Fame in 2001.  There is a statue in Coleman's honor at Petco Park.  He passed away this past winter.

RK

Ray Kroc bought the Padres organization in 1974.  He was already well known as the genius behind McDonald's restaurants.  Before Kroc's ownership the team had never finished higher than 6th in a 6 team division.  Following Kroc's purchase of the team they slowly (very slowly) started to turn things around.  To be fair, during the first few years of his ownership they were playing in the same division as the Big Red Machine and the Dodgers of Garvey, Lopes, Cey and Russell.  Kroc eventually built the team into a contender.  He passed away in January of 1984.  The Padres won their first ever Division and National League title that same year.

6

Photo of Steve Garvey Courtesy of ESPN

Steve Garvey is better known for his time with the Dodgers as an 8 time All Star, MVP winner and the face of the Dodgers of the 1970's.  In 1983 Garvey joined the Padres organization where he would play a total of five years. Garvey's arrival in San Diego coincided with the improvement of the team's young players like Eric Show, Craig Lefferts and Tony Gwynn.  Garvey's signature moment as a Padre came in Game 4 of the 1984 NLCS against the Cubs.  With the game tied in the bottom of the 9th and the Cubs one win away from  advancing to the World Series, Garvey launched a 2 run Home Run to send the series to a deciding 5th game.  Garvey would win the NLCS MVP.  Following Garvey's departure only Keith Moreland wore the number 6 for San Diego before Garvey's number was retired.  Despite having his number retired Garvey does not appear in the top 10 of any major offensive category of the Padres' history.

19

Photo of Tony Gwynn Courtesy of FoxSports

This should speak for itself.  #19 was Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn.  Gwynn leads the team's all time stats in WAR, Offensive WAR, Batting Average, Games Played, At Bats, Plate Appearances, Runs, Hits, RBI, Total Bases, Doubles, Triples, Walks, Stolen Bases, Singles, Extra Base Hits, Times on Base, Sac Flies and Intentional Walks.  Gwynn made 15 All Star Games, received MVP votes 12 times, won 7 Silver Slugger Awards and 5 Gold Gloves.  He also won 8 batting titles, hit over .300 every season except his first year when he played in only 54 games (he hit .289).  Seven times he hit above .350 for the year and twice (1987 and 1994) he was a serious threat to hit .400 for the year.  Gwynn was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.  Gwynn was a part of the only two World Series teams in Padres history.  No player was issued the number 19 for the Padres between the time Gwynn retired and the retirement of the number.  

31

Photo of Dave Winfield Courtesy of ESPN

Dave Winfield played for the Padres from 1973 through 1980 before leaving for the Yankees as a free agent.  In the days before Tony Gwynn, Winfield was the closest thing the Padres had to a Mr. Padre.  With the Padres Winfield was a three time All Star, Gold Glove winner and twice received MVP votes finishing 3rd in 1979 behind Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell.  After leaving the Padres Winfield would go on to play with the Yankees, Angels, Blue Jays, Indians and his home town Twins.  At the end of his career he had collected over 3000 hits and over 500 Home Runs.  Winfield still ranks high in many Padres categories: WAR (2nd), Offensive WAR (2nd), Average (10th), Slugging % (7th), OPS (8th), Games (3rd), At Bats (3rd), Plate Appearances (3rd), Runs (2nd), Hits (3rd), Total Bases (2nd), Doubles (5th), Triples (3rd), Home Runs (4th), RBI (2nd), Walks (4th), Stolen Bases (7th), Singles (4th), Extra Base Hits (2nd), Times on Base (2nd), Sac Flies (2nd), Intentional Walks (3rd).  Winfield was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2001.  Following Winfield's departure seven players wore the number 31 for the Padres (LaMarr Hoyt, Ed Whitson, Dave Staton, Bill Beane, Bob Tewksbury, Trey Beamon and Matt Clement).

35

Photo of Randy Jones Courtesy of Friar Wire

Randy Jones spent 8 years as a Padre.  He finished his Padre career with a 92-105 record.  In 1972, his first full season with the Padres, Jones finished with an 8-22 record.  The following year he went 20-12 and followed that up with a 22-14 season.  In both of those 20 win seasons he finished high in the Cy Young voting (2nd in 1975 and 1st in 1976).  Jones was often referred to as a "junk ball" pitcher (his nickname was Junk Man) but he was one of the few pitchers that Pete Rose hated to see on the mound.  Jones ranks high in many of the Padres' all time pitching categories:  WAR (4th), ERA (8th), Wins (2nd), WHIP (7th), Walks per 9 inings (1st), Innings (1st), Strikeouts (8th), Starts (1st ) Complete Games (1st), Shutouts (1st), and Losses (1st).  The Padres retired his number on 5/9/1997.  Six players wore the number 35 for the Padres between Jones' retirement and when the number was honored (Luis DeLeon, Chris Brown, Walt Terrell, Rafael Valdez, Al Osuna and Jason Thompson).

51

Photo of Trevor Hoffman on Sports Illustrated Courtesy of Padresnation.com

During the Padres' only consistently competitive period of their history Trevor Hoffman was the team's closer.  When opposing batters heard Hell's Bells chiming over the stadium speakers , they knew for whom the bells were tolling.  From 1993 through 2008 Hoffman was consistently one of the best relief pitchers in the game.  Hoffman saved a total of 601 games in his career.  Hoffman's name is very prominent in the Padres record books: WAR for Pitchers (1st), ERA (1st ), Wins (10th), WHIP (1st), Walks per 9 IP (6th), K per 9 IP (1st), Games (1st), Saves (1st), Innings (9th) K's (3rd) and Losses (7th), Following Hoffman's departure no player was issued the #51.

42
The league retired the number 42 permanently for all teams in 1997.  In total there were 13 players who wore the number 42 for the Padres.  The final was Pedro Martinez from 1993-1994.  It is not the Pedro Martinez pitcher of Red Sox fame but a pitcher who spent just two years with the Padres as a relief pitcher.  The other players to wear 42 for the Padres were: Billy McCool (1969) , Earl Wilson (1970), Dick Kelley (1971), Ron Taylor (1972), Al Severinson (1972), Bob Miller (1973), Frank Snook (1973), Jerry Turner (1974-1976), Mark Lee (1978-1979), George Staberlein (1980), Sid Monge (1983-1984), Greg Harris (1984) and Rich Rodriguez (1990-1993).

TRIVIA QUESTION:
Trevor Hoffman is second all time in Major League Baseball history with 601.  Although their numbers are not retired by the Padres, there are two Hall of Fame Relief Pitchers in the top 25 all time for saves, both of whom spent time in a Padres uniform.  Who are these two players?

Answer to Last Week's Trivia Question:
The Pacific Coast League started in 1887 and consisted of four teams:  Oakland (no team name), San Francisco (no team name), San Francisco A & G's and San Francisco Damianas.

The Pacific Coast League disappeared from 1887 to 1898.  It returned for the 1898 season consisting of 8 teams: Fresno/Watsonville (bizarre pairing conisdering the distance between the cities), Oakland Reliance, Sacramento Giltedges, San Francisco (no team name), San Franciso Athletics, San Jose (no team name), Santa Cruz (no team name) and Stockton,

The league disappeared again until returning in 1903 (the year of the first World Series).  Every year since then the Pacific Coast League has operated at various levels of the minor league.

The Tragedy of 2014

Like all seasons the 2014 season had some great moments, as we reviewed last week.  Of course, as with every year,  it also had some sad and some controversial moments.  Not all the moments listed were tragic but the moments listed below were definitely the negative moments of the year.

Alex Rodriguez:
It seemed, for quite some time, that this was the story that would never go away.  Alex Rodriguez was threatening to sue everyone in the world.  Even after his suspension was announced he still said he was going to show up to the Yankees' Spring Training camp.  Rodriguez was suspended for the entire 2014 season and has not been heard from in months.  What will happen when his suspension is lifted?  No one knows.


Jean Segura's infant passes:

Photo of Jean Segura Courtesy of MLB Reports.com

Jean Segura is an up and coming shortstop with the Milwaukee Brewers. His name is not one the casual fan necessarily knows immediately, but Segura was in the middle of a great season (his second straight great season) when his whole life changed.  Segura's son, just short of his first birthday, passed away suddenly. As the rest of the league was heading home for the All Star Break, Segura was heading home for his son's funeral.

Fernando Rodney's hat:

Photo of Fernando Rodney Courtesy of ESPN

Fernando Rodney wears his hat slightly cocked to the side.  He is not the only person.  There are  plenty of players who wear the hat just slightly off center.  It has been questioned as far as the fashion sense but no one ever really had a problem.  Rodney had alternately described his reasoning as a tribute to his deceased father or just a fashion choice.  The controversy arose when Joe Buck stated during the All Star Game that Rodney had said he did this to confuse the batter.  Since the pitcher is not permitted to deceive the batter the hat became an issue.  In the end the talk about the hat was loud on sports talk radio but not really a blip on the league's radar to this point.

Wainwright's All Star Game:
Adam Wainwright was chosen sot start the All Star Game for the National League.  There were many who felt that the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw was the better choice and that Wainwright was only chosen because his manager Mike Matheny was the manager of the NL team.  It is a controversy that happens at least once a year.  The real controversy came when social media ran with a story that Wainwright implied that he had grooved a pitch to Derek Jeter, making his final All Star Game appearance.  The fact that there was a controversy over a simple base hit in an All Star Game shows that baseball gets it right when it comes to their All Star Game.

Jerry Coleman (9/14/1924 - 1/5/2014):

Photo of Jerry Coleman Courtesy of NY Times.com

Coleman played nine years in the Major Leagues, all of them with the New York Yankees.  In 8 of those nine years he played on a team that reached the World Series.  In six of those seasons he saw time in the fall classic and won.  He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1949 (behind Roy Sievers of the Browns and Alex Kellner of the A's).  He was an All Star in 1950 and he was a popular player in the Yankee locker room.  Coleman had also lost several years worth of baseball time while serving in the military in World War II and the Korean War.  Coleman spent several years in the front office of the Yankees and did play by play for the pinstripes as well as CBS' Game ofthe Week.  He really gained his notoriety in San Diego.  From 1972 until 2013 Coleman broadcast the Padres' radio games and put his personal touch on each game.  He became famous for his humorous statements, much in the vein of Yogi Berra.  Some examples were saying a player was "not hurt as much as he is"  or that a player "started out here with the Astros and before that was with the Orioles" and that someone "stole second standing up.  He slid but he didn't have to". Listening to Coleman was always entertaining and it was a tremendous loss to the Padres' organization.  It was just the start of a dark year for the Padres.

Jim Fregosi (4/4/1942 - 2/14/14)

Photo of Jim Fregosi Courtesy of Philly.com

Fregosi managed for 15 years.  He twice won the Manager of the Year (1988 and 1993). He managed the Angels to their first ever playoff appearance in 1979 and the Phillies to their first World Series appearance in 10 years 1993.  That is how our generation knows him but he was much more than that.   He also played the game for 18 years with the Angels, Mets, Rangers and Pirates. He was a 6 time All Star, received votes for MVP 8 times and won a Gold Glove.  At one time Fregosi was considered potentially one of the great Short Stops of all time.  Fregosi was one of the first Angels' stars but was traded to the Mets as part of a deal that brought Nolan Ryan to Anaheim.  Later, when Ryan was dominating the AL for the halos, Fregosi was his manager.  Few managers in the 1980's and 1990's were more sought after.  Fregosi suffered a stroke this past winter and passed away.

Ralph Kiner (8/27/1922- 2/6/2014)

Photo of Ralph Kiner Courtesy of USA Today

Ralph Kiner played 10 years in the Major Leagues and made 6 All Star Games and received MVP votes seven times.  Kiner led the National League in Home Runs every year from 1946-1953 and finished his career with 369 Home Runs.  At one time the Pirates organization was not sure of the direction Kiner's career would take.  Fortunately for him Hank Greenberg, in his only year in Pittsburgh, took Kiner under his wing and helped him reach his potential.  Following his retirement Kiner entered broadcasting and broadcast for the Mets beginning in their first year of 1962.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.

Bob Welch (11/3/1956 - 6/9/2014):

Photo of Bob Welch Courtesy of CBS Sports

Bob Welch played 17 years in the Major Leagues and won more than 200 games.  He was a two time All Star, 1990 Cy Young Award Winner and played on 8 playoff teams.  Starting with the Dodgers in 1978 Welch made a postseason impact as a rookie when he struck out Reggie Jackson in the World Series.  It would be the first of many great postseason moments for him as he helped the Dodgers win the 1981 World Series.  He was traded to the A's in 1987 as part of a giant three team trade.  He teamed with Dave Stewart to help the A's dominate the American League from 1988-1990.  Welch was also the pitching coach for the 2001 World Series Champion Arizona Diamondbacks. He passed away from a heart attack at only 57.


Don Zimmer (1/17/1931 - 6/4/2014):

Photo of Don Zimmer Courtesy of Cincinnati.com

Few people have the longevity of a career like Don Zimmer.  As a player Zimmer played in 12 years for the Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Reds and Senators.  In 1961 he represented the Cubs as an All Star.  His legacy came mostly after his playing days.  He managed the Padres, Red Sox, Rangers and Cubs.  He managed the Red Sox during the 1978 season that resulted in Bucky Dent's famous Home Run.  He also managed the Cubs to the 1989 NLCS.  Zim's impact was most felt as a coach.  Wherever he went success seemed to follow.  He helped Don  Baylor on the Rockies staff as the young organization made the playoffs in 1995.  He more famously served as the bench coach for the Yankees dynasty in the late 1990's-early 2000's.  He passed away this year at 83.

Tony Gwynn (5/9/1960 - 6/16/2014):

Photo of Tony Gwynn Courtesy of Fox Sports

It was a tough year for the Padres family. They lost Jerry Coleman in January then lost Tony Gwynn in June.  Both were referred to as Mr. Padre.  Gwynn made his debut with San Diego in 1982 and was an integral part of the team's only 2 World Series teams.  Gwynn won 8 batting titles, made 16 All Star games, won 5 Gold Gloves and 6 Silver Sluggers, 10 times won player of the week, 5 times won player of the month and was an obvious first ballot Hall of Famer.  More than that Gwynn changed the way players approach the game of baseball.  Gwynn was the first player to regularly use video to break down opposing pitchers.  Gwynn was also one of the classiest, most likable players the game has ever known.

Machado vs A's:
This all started with the Orioles-A's series in mid June.  Machado was on his way to third when Josh Donaldson of the A's tagged him out.  Machado took offense to the tag and the benches cleared.  Everything settled but as the series progressed the A's claimed Machado hit the A's catchers with exaggerated back swings.  In the final game of that series A's pitchers started throwing inside to Machado, which he felt was intended as intimidation.  Machado's response was to lose his grip on the bat and send it hurtling towards third base.  The benches emptied again but no punches were thrown.  After the series the A's had plenty to say about Machado and he apologized.  Fast forward to the end of July when the Orioles traveled to Oakland for a weekend series. In the first game of the series Machado hit a late inning Home Run that looked like it would give the O's the win.  Instead, the A's won it with a walk off, 3 run Home Run from Donaldson.  The war of words was an ugly exchange that led to suspensions and was definitely not one of the positive moments of 2014.

Giancarlo Stanton:
The Marlins surprised a lot of people this year (including myself) by hanging in the Wild Card race deep into the season.  The main reason for their success was the leadership and performance of Giancarlo Stanton.  With just a few weeks left in the season Stanton took a fastball to the face, effectively ending what was arguably an MVP season.

Think I missed something from the 2014 season?  Let me know in the comments.

TRIVIA QUESTION: 

Since we're focusing on the negatives of the 2014 season, we'll make this week's trivia question a negative as well.  Although it is almost two full months since the start of the playoffs I hope everyone still remembers that the Nationals, Cardinals and Dodgers were division winners in the NL with the Giants and Pirates as wild cards.  In the AL the Orioles, Tigers and Angels won their division while the Royals and A's were the Wild Card teams.  So the question is what teams finished in last place in each division for 2014 and which had the worst record?

Answer to Last Week's Question:

The Brewers organization has had some success as an organization although the last 10 years have likely been their most sucessful.  The Brewers last made the playoffs in 2011.  They beat the Diamondbacks in the NLDS and lost to the Cardinals in the NLCS.

The Seattle Mariners went 116-46 in 2001.  It is one of the great regular seasons in history.  They beat Cleveland 3 games to 2 in the ALDS but lost to the Yankees 4 games to 1 in the ALCS.They have not been back since.

The Blue Jays are the youngest team in this group although they have really had the most success historically.  The Jays entered the league in 1977.  Their playoff appearances became fairly regular things.  The Jays made the playoffs in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1993 with near misses in 1987, 1988 and 1990.  Toronto won back to back World Series in 1992 and 1993 but have not been back since.

Kansas City reached the World Series this year.  It had been a long drought for the Royals franchise.  The franchise joined the league in 1969 and made the playoffs in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984 and 1985.  Although they played well in other seasons and came close to playoff berths, the franchise made the post season this year for the first time since 1985.