About duaneharris19

Baseball player and blogger.

Padres Pics #4.

Posted on August 6, 2015 by duaneharris19

GWYNN.On July 19th, 1982, the Padres played the Phillies at Jack Murphy Stadium. Batting 5th in the lineup and starting in centerfield was a youngster making his major league debt by the name of Tony Gwynn. In his first major league at-bat, he hit a sacrifice fly against Mike Krukow in the bottom of the first inning. Later in the game, he got his first major league hit with a double to centerfield against Sid Monge in the bottom of the 8th inning. The above photo captures this historic moment.

.1969.

The San Diego Padres Opening Day lineup for for their first regular season game, which took place on April 8th, 1969. The game took place at Jack Murphy Stadium (then known as San Diego Stadium) and the Friars beat the Astros, 2 to 1.

Here’s the who’s featured in the photo (L to R): Rafael Robles, Roberto Pena, Tony Gonzalez, Ollie Brown, Bill Davis, Larry Stahl, Ed Spiezio, Chris Cannizzaro, and starting pitcher Dick Selma and manager Preston Gomez to the right. (Photo Source: The San Diego Union Tribune)

A few fun facts about this game and the 1969 team:
1) This first Padre homerun was hit by Ed Spiezio in the bottom of the 5th inning of this game. Spiezio is the father of former big leaguer, Scott Spiezio.

2) Former Padre star and team leader in homeruns for the 1969 team, Nate Colbert did not start the game. He entered as a defensive substitution at first base in the 5th inning and finished the game without an at-bat.

3) The lone All-Star representing the inaugural Padres in 1969 was catcher Chris Cannizzaro. Honestly, how he was an All-Star that season baffles me. In any case, besides being an original member of the MLB Padres, he was also an original member of the Mets back in 1962. Kinda cool.

(Photo Source: The San Diego Union Tribune)

PEAVY.
On June 15th, 2007, Cubs slugger Alfonso Soriano hit a homerun off of Padres starting pitcher, David Wells. Soriano pimped it out the box and actually trotted backwards for a bit down the first baseline. Needless to say, the Padres were not happy with this and Jake Peavy let it be known with the above quote, which I LOVED. I will forever be a fan of Peavy for his days in San Diego and can say he’s still easily my favorite pitcher in the game.

The following day, Chris Young hit Cubs first baseman (and former Padre) Derrek Lee in the 4th inning and a brawl ensued. If you’ve never seen the video, I suggest checking it out HERE. The 5’8 Marcus Giles pushing the 6’10 Chris Young out of danger is quite amusing.

A Blast From The Past: “The Heartbreak of Being a Padres Fan.”

Posted on August 3, 2015 by duaneharris19

In 2012, I wrote “The Heartbreak of Being a Padres Fan” for 90 Feet of Perfection and recently got the idea to share it here on The 5.5 Hole. I’ve generally kept my rooting interest for the Padres at a minimum on that site, but at that time I had no other outlet for a post of that nature. This was written prior to losing both Tony Gwynn and Jerry Coleman in 2014, so that’s not included. Also, the perception on some situations have changed a bit over the years, but the overall theme of the post still remains the same. This is why I’m leaving everything intact from the original post and not updating it; minus fixing a few grammatical issues that caught my eye.

The San Diego Padres are not a baseball team that many people give much thought to due to the fact that they are a small market team on the West Coast lacking franchise success in terms of post-season achievements. Many fans can not name 5 players currently on the Padres roster due to their lack of “superstars” and their decision to embrace the youth movement which often comes hand in hand with teams in rebuild mode.

Being a San Diego sports fan is a tradition in my family. To this day I still bond with my Father and Grandmother over the Padres. In fact, my Grandmother is in her late 80’s and still a Padres fan. During my childhood, my parents, older half-brothers, and Grandmother all filled my head with various stories about the Padres that still resonate with me. Hearing stories about watching the Padres prior to their MLB debut in 1969 while still part of the PCL blew my mind. Hearing my Dad quote Jerry Coleman (“Oh, Doctor!” & “You can hang a star on that baby!”) will always entertain me and bring me joy. Stories about players with names like Nate Colbert, Willie McCovey, Ozzie Smith, Goose Gossage (My Mom’s favorite player), Rollie Fingers, Dave Winfield and Randy Jones all held my attention and captivated my imagination at a very young age. I still retain these stories in my memory bank and always will.

When I discovered Baseball around 1987 or 1988 I quickly found a baseball hero of my own and his name was Tony Gwynn. I could be wrong but I believe my Grandmother thinks Tony Gwynn is a saint and she has every right to believe so, as he is still the one shining beacon of joy, hope and pride that Padres fans never lost or felt betrayed by. Even with potential free agency looming at the end of contracts and when being pursued by large market teams such as the Yankees; he stayed with San Diego more than once and often for below market value. Unfortunately this is where the joy for many Padres fans end.

I am now 32 years old and I started to follow the Padres around the age of 8. What this means is that I have 24 years of baseball heartbreak in some shape or form. I’m not implying that this heartbreak is as bad as what Red Sox fans went through during their 86 year drought or what Cubs fans have gone through since 1908. That would be ridiculous to compare the teams as the Padres are only entering their 44th year in Major League Baseball. However, It hasn’t been easy though.

In my years as a Padres fan there have been a number of heartbreaking moments that still do not sit well with me and that is the purpose of this post; to list my most heartbreaking Padres moments. If you see the list and wonder why I did not list the 1984 or 1998 World Series defeats, the answer is easy: they were not heartbreaking for me. I was too young to remember the 1984 World Series and I never thought for a moment that the Padres could beat the Yankees in 1998. I was just happy to see them in the World Series and to see them get National recognition and respect.

So with all this said, I now give you my most heartbreaking moments a Padres fan in a somewhat chronological order:

-The Padres 1992-1993 fire sale.

I was too young to completely understand what was going on but there were 2 things which were very apparent to me. The first is that all of the Padres stars were being shipped off at an alarming rate, with the exception of Tony Gwynn. The 2nd being that to this day my Dad has never said or heard the name “Tom Werner” without following it up with an explicit name not to be said around those easily offended. I too have inherited this trait from him and would like to think if I ever met Werner I would give him a piece of my mind.

The only positive aspect of the fire sale was that we got Trevor Hoffman. Andy Ashby may have been good, but not good enough to erase the sting of the team getting gutted. (Screen capture courtesy of Baseball-Reference)

-Cardinals defeating SD in the 1996, 2005, and 2006 NLDS.

With the exception of 1998, I have not personally seen the Padres win a playoff series. I have seen the Cardinals knock out my Padres on 3 different occasions. To add insult to injury, out of all three of these playoff series, the Padres only managed to win one game (Game three of the 2006 NLDS ). This post-season domination by St. Louis is both embarrassing and frustrating.

With that said, I must proclaim that Chris Young will forever have my respect and admiration for his performance during Game 3 of the 2006 NLDS. (Screen capture courtesy of MLB)

-October 1st, 2007: Game 163 against the Rockies.

An extra inning battle which was settled in the 13^th inning after Trevor Hoffman blew a save and was rocked to the tune of 3 runs for a final score of 9-8. I really thought they had this nailed shut when Scott Hairston crushed a home run in the top of the 13th inning off of Jorge Julio. Unfortunately the Baseball gods thought otherwise.

I’ll always be somewhat bitter towards Umpire Tim McClelland and will forever hold the stance that Matt Holliday did not touch the plate. It’s safe to say that it still hurts when I think about this night.

-Losing Adrian Gonzalez and Jake Peavy.

2008 opening day payroll: over $73 million.
2009 opening day payroll: under $43 million.
2010 opening day payroll: under $38 million.

After reading the payrolls above, you may be asking yourself how did the Padres payroll drop so dramatically in such a short period of time? Well, the majority of the blame is to be pointed at soon to be former owner of the Padres, John Moores. His nasty divorce screwed the Padres in terms of payroll and led to him beginning the selling process of the team in early 2009. Add this to an outdated television deal and the results were a financial nightmare for San Diego with the main casualties being Jake Peavy and Adrian Gonzalez, as the Padres were not able to retain their stars through this transition period. Thankfully, the completed purchase of the Padres and new TV deal should be finished in the next couple weeks.

It still stings to see the both of them in other uniforms, especially Peavy as he is without a doubt my favorite Pitcher in Baseball.

Note to owners: Don’t be idiots in regards to your marital affairs, it can and will screw your team in some way shape or form as both the Padres & Dodgers can attest.

-Trevor Hoffman leaving San Diego.

Trevor Hoffman was the face of the Padres after Tony Gwynn retired and he should have played out the rest of his career in San Diego. This did not happen. Take the above mentioned payroll issues into consideration along with the fact that now former Padres CEO Sandy Alderson is a egomaniac with an attitude problem who retracted a contract offer to Hoffman. What you have left is Trevor playing his last 2 seasons with the Brewers.

Much like Tom Werner, I wish nothing but failure for Sandy Alderson in regards to the rest of his career in Baseball.

-The 2010 late season collapse.

This still stings. 2010 could have been, in many ways, the Padres unexpected year of greatness. Overall it was a very good year but a monumental 10 game losing streak late in the season, smack in the middle of a division race will screw any team. Add that to a loss to the Giants on the final day of the season and their chances of the post-season were destroyed.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the loss on the final day of the season fell on my birthday? It was a birthday that I will never forget, although it is one that I would love to, as I was almost brought to tears by the team’s collapse.

Bridging the Gap: The PCL Padres & MLB Padres (Part 2).

Posted on July 17, 2015 by duaneharris19

In part two of “Bridging the Gap: The PCL Padres & MLB Padres,” I share those who have a connection to both the PCL and MLB Padres via managing or coaching. This list is solely based on my personal research, so it’s quite possible I could be overlooking someone. Much like part one of this project, I’ll update this post for reference reasons if it turns out this is the case.

Whitey Wietelmann
Whitey Wietelmann is a name that I hope most Padres fans are somewhat familiar with. In some ways, Wietelmann was “Mr. Padre” prior to Tony Gwynn due his years spent with the team in different capacities and his love for Padres baseball. Wietelmann played parts of nine seasons in the big leagues with both the Boston Braves/Bees and Pirates and after his big league career ended, he found himself in the Pacific Coast League. After one season with the Sacramento Solons, he found himself in San Diego with the PCL Padres in 1949, where he played until 1952. Wietelmann fell in love with the city San Diego and decided to move there. He never left.

After his playing days ended, Wietelmann was hired as a coach for the PCL team from 1957 to 1958, then from 1960 to 1965, and again in 1968. After MLB granted San Diego an expansion team in 1969, Wietelmann joined the big league staff as the bullpen coach, where he stayed for an entire decade. Even after 1979, Wietelmann still stayed active in the Padres organization through the early 1990s as an advisor, handyman/assistant equipment manager, and even a clubhouse cook. For this, he was dubbed “Mr. Indispensable,” and was a beloved member of the San Diego Padres.

Three fun facts about Whitey:
1) He threw out the ceremonial first pitch of Game 4 of the 1984 NLCS against the Cubs. As you all know, this was the Garvey homerun game.

2) Wietelmann kept a scrapbook collection of every single MLB Padres box score, from their inaugural season of 1969 until 1993. The collection of scrapbooks is now taken care of by the San Diego SABR Baseball Research Center and continues to be updated to this day.

3) Curious as to who Tony Gwynn got his famous #19 from? Search no farther than Whitey Wietelmann. Whitey wore #19 as a coach for both a PCL Padres and MLB Padres. After his days as a uniformed staff member ended, long time Padres equipment Manager Ray Peralta got “permission” from Whitey to assign the number to Gwynn. In fact, before Gwynn’s first major league game in 1982 against the Phillies, it was Whitey who physically brought him his new jersey. According to Tony, Whitey informed him that only a few players had worn #19, so don’t disgrace it. Gwynn said he was just happy that it was lower than #53, his spring training number. Ten years later Tony asked Whitey how was he doing and he responded by saying “Yeah, kid, you’re doing all right.”

Larry Bowa

I assume most people who read this are familiar with Larry Bowa. He’s still quite involved with baseball and is currently the bench coach for the Phillies. For me though, I’ll always think of him as a Padre due to the fact that he was the Manager of the team when I first became interested in baseball in 1987/1988. In fact, I loved THIS card as a kid and still think of the Padres teams from that era quite fondly. Besides managing the MLB team, Bowa spent a quick minute in San Diego in 1966 as a player, during the team’s time as the AAA affiliate of the Phillies.

A cool sidenote: Although I’ve never read it, his book “Bleep: Larry Bowa Manages,” which he wrote with Barry Bloom, features the manager in his Padres uniform.

Deacon Jones

George William “Deacon” Jones played for the PCL Padres in 1960, during the team’s short time as the AAA affiliate of the White Sox. Although he only played in the big leagues for small parts of three seasons, he spent parts of 11 seasons in the minor leagues, where he was a notable power hitting prospect in the White Sox system, until a shoulder injury derailed his career. Jones came back to San Diego as the hitting coach for the MLB team from 1984 to 1987, serving under Managers Dick Williams, Steve Boros and the above mentioned Larry Bowa.

At the age of 81, Jones is still involved in baseball, working in the Sugar Land Skeeters organization, a team in the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

Dick Sisler
Sisler was an outfielder and first basemen for the Padres from 1954 to 1956, during the classic era of the Pacific Coast League. Even though it was near the end of his playing career (he hung up spikes after the 1958 season), his three seasons for the Friars were solid. In fact, he was a pretty solid player in general and was even an All-Star with the Phillies in 1950. Sisler eventually came back to sunny San Diego as a hitting/first base coach for MLB Padres during the 1975 and 1976 seasons, under manager John McNamara. However McNamara is is best known as the manager who essentially blew the 1986 World Series for the Red Sox.

Bob Skinner

Despite having an impressive career as a player where he was an All-Star, Bob Skinner never actually played for the Padres at any point. However, he did manage the PCL team for two seasons (1967-1968), during their time as the AAA affiliate of the Phillies. He was later hired as the hitting coach/third base coach for the MLB Padres, where he stayed from 1970 to 1973, and joined the team again for the 1977 season.

Skinner actually has one win under his belt as a manager for the Padres, where I assume he filled in on an interim basis or during a suspension.

Jim Snyder

Jim Snyder served as the bench coach for the MLB Padres from 1991 to 1992, serving under both Greg Riddoch and Jim Riggleman. But long before Snyder came to San Diego to coach the MLB team, he played for the PCL team in 1960, during their time as an affiliate of the White Sox. Unfortunately, that’s really all I have on him worth mentioning.

Padres Pics #3.

Posted on July 8, 2015 by duaneharris19

SNYDER.

Duke Snider was an announcer for the Padres from their inaugural season of 1969 until 1971. This photo captures the former Dodgers great in a Padres uniform during the team’s first spring training in Yuma, Arizona. As a huge fan of baseball history, I like this photo a lot…even though I’m aware of how weird and wrong it is. With that said, I’d LOVE to own that jacket.

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GARVEY.

Tony Gwynn, Goose Gossage and Steve Garvey all represented the Padres in the 1984 All-Star Game. Gwynn and Garvey were both starters and had a hit apiece, while Gossage closed the game with a save. This photo from the second inning captures Garvey successfully picking off Chet Lemon of the Tigers.

You can watch the game HERE. Gwynn leads off for the National League and his first at-bat starts at around 17:05, his second at-bat is at 49:55 and unfortunately, I believe his third at-bat (where gets a hit) is cut off. Garvey putting the tag on Lemon is at 37:00 and Goose enters the game at 1:52:23.
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JACK MURPHY STADIUM.

If I get down on the Padres and their lack of success, I can always look at this photo of Jack Murphy Stadium and be reminded that the team has been to the Fall Classic before. While I obviously miss the team being in the postseason, I feel like this photo makes me miss Jack Murphy just as much. Yeah it kinda turned into a dump, but I loved baseball there.

Padres Pics #2.

Posted on June 25, 2015 by duaneharris19

GWYNN.
In what is one of the greatest moments in San Diego sports history, Steve Garvey hit a two run walk-off home run against Cubs closer Lee Smith in Game Four of the 1984 NLCS. I recently came across this photo of Tony Gwynn ecstatically rounding third base while Smith exits the field. Needless to say, I was delighted as I had never seen it before. Image Source: Chicago Tribune
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WINFIELD.
The 1978 All-Star Game was held at Jack Murphy Stadium and both Rollie Fingers and Dave Winfield represented the Friars. During Winfield’s time in the big leagues, his foundation ran the “Winfield Pavilion Program,” where’d he provide tickets to young baseball fans. During the 1978 Midsummer Classic, he ran into a bit of a speedbump in regards to this:

In 1978, Dave planned to bring 500 kids to the All-Star Game in San Diego. In a radio interview the day before, he inadvertently invited “all the kids of San Diego” to attend. Over 10,000 showed up — and Winfield brought them all into batting practice. It was the first open All-Star batting practice.

This has to be a logistical nightmare for Winfield and the Padres to deal with, but still, it’s a very cool story. Text Source: Winfield Foundation
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GASTON.

Cito Gaston of the Padres slides into home during a spring training game against the Brewers. Based on the yellow uniform that Gaston is wearing and that Ellie Rodriguez is catching for Milwaukee, this photo had to be taken in 1972 or 1973. Image Source: Getty Images

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