40 Years of Padres Baseball
Next year, the Padres will be celebrating their 40th anniversary. It’s pretty amazing that they have been here for so long. There have been a lot of bad years of San Diego baseball, but there have also been a few great ones.
The Padres were a minor league team until they got accepted into the National League in 1968. They made their major league debut in 1969 at San Diego Stadium. In 1974, Ray Kroc bought the Padres, thus preventing them from moving to Washington D.C. In 1982, Tony Gwynn made his major league debut. In 1984, the Padres went to their first World Series, but fell 4 games to 1 against the Tigers. 1998 was very possibly the best year in Padres history. We had a ton of amazing players like Trevor Hoffman, Tony Gwynn, Kevin Brown, Sterling Hitchcock and Greg Vaughn. Trevor got 53 saves in 54 chances that year. WOW. We got to the World Series, but the Yankees swept us in 4. It was an amazing year.
In 2004, we moved to Petco Park. The young Padre Jake Peavy had 15 wins that year. In 2005, we won the NL West. Unfortunately, we got eliminated by the Cardinals in the first round. We also won the West in 2006, but again were foiled by the Cardinals. Cla Meredith, Adrian Gonzalez, and Chris Young had great years.
In 2007, we made it to a one-game playoff against the Rockies, which we lost in 13 innings. And ’08 was bad.
The thing that sticks out the most about the Padres over the years is their inability to do well in the playoffs. We’ve made it to only two World Series and we’ve won 5 championships. The people of San Diego want a world championship. And I see it happening the near future. We will get our World Championship someday.
Meanwhile, it’s going to be a fun celebration of 40 years of Padres baseball next year. I am very excited. The Padres haven’t been that good, but we the people of San Diego have baseball. We have a beautiful ballpark. And sometime soon, we will have a world champion team.
Unfinished Business 
Kaybee…
Any idea if the Padres will be using that 40th Anniversary logo on baseballs for ’09? Just wondering.
I can’t fight the ballhawk fever:)
http://thehappyyoungster.mlblogs.com/
Hi Kaybee
That’s cool that the Padres will celebrate their 40th birthday! Any plans to bring back any of the guys from the first team who are still with us? It should be a great year – hopefully the team will rise to the occassion!
Julia
http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/
That’s such a great logo. Gotta respect a team who is not afraid to feature a fat, balding, middle-aged priest as the face of their organization. Priceless.
http://themax.mlblogs.com
Hope you have another Tony Gwynn somewhere in your farm system for the next 40 years. Not likely, but you can always hope. Tony Gwynn was one of a kind. An amazing hitter. I have a lot of respect for him. He was able to get the meat of the bat on the ball almost everytime, it was remarkable.
http://homerfoodandhistory.mlblogs.com/
I had no idea it’s been almost 40 years since the Padres became a major league team. San Diego’s a great city and their fans deserve a winner. I’ve heard Petco is a fantastic ballpark and my husband and I are planning a drive down to see for ourselves!
– http://janeheller.mlblogs.com
Wow 40 years! That’s so cool! It must be great that you’re right there to experience it. Y’all definitely deserve a World Series in the near future, and I think it could happen soon. Good thing Kroc bought the Padres so they stayed in San Diego!
-Elizabeth
http://redsoxgirl46.mlblogs.com