Tag Archives: David Wells

Padres Pics #12.

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HOFFMAN.
On January 24th, Trevor Hoffman finally got elected into the Hall of Fame, so of course, I had to open this post with a photo related to him. There’s not a lot that I can offer about the Padres longtime closer that’s not currently being said about him, but I wanted to offer my own little congrats to my favorite relief pitcher of all time and offer a few thoughts:

  1. Even though 2007 ended in an incredibly bittersweet way (Game 163, ugh!), I still think of that season with fond memories. One of the best moments from that season happened on June 6th, when Trevor registered his 500th career save. I love this photo and if you click on it to bring up a large version, you can pick out faces of a handful of guys that were pretty fun to watch in San Diego, such as Greg Maddux, Chris Young, David Wells, Heath Bell, Mike Cameron, etc. Speaking of Heath Bell, I hope I’m not the only person who hopes he eventually gets the recognition he deserves as Trevor’s successor and just overall being an awesome Padre. I honestly think he should be inducted into the team Hall of Fame at some point.
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  2. While looking at this timeline of Trevor Hoffman’s career, I noticed that Trevor’s first save as a Padre took place on August 6th, 1993. The date rang a bell and then I realized that I attended this game. It was the day that Tony Gwynn got his 2000th career hit during a doubleheader against the Rockies. With that said, Trevor got his save in game #1 and Tony got his hit in game #2. The only memory I have of Trevor that day is him coming out and the bill of his cap being bent down low in an intimidating fashion. It was quite the fitting look for a relief pitcher.
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  3. Something that I’ve always thought is cool is that Trevor had 4 hits during his career, with 2 of them being doubles. Yes, his career average was .118, but the fact that the former shortstop was able to get a pair of extra base hits is pretty awesome. I have searched high and low for video/photos of any of his Padres hits but always come up empty. All I can ever find is this video of his final career at-bat, which came during his time with the Brewers in 2010.

(Image Source: Padres’ FriarWire)

BARTON.

A few days ago, I read that former Padres catcher, Bob Barton recently passed away. To be honest, I can’t say that I knew anything about Barker besides seeing his name on old team rosters. After reading up on him, I discovered that Barton played for the Padres on two different occasions, from 1970-1972, and then again in 1974. In addition, according to Jeff Sanders at the Union-Tribune, Barton was the team player representative in 1972,  which is notable because it was the year of the first player’s strike in MLB history.

Barton spent the majority of his career as a backup catcher but in 1971 he started for the Padres and played in 121 games, where he had quite the season. I pulled this tidbit about his 1971 season from his wiki page:

His best statistical year as a hitter was as a starter for the 1971 Padres; in 121 games, he hit .250 with five home runs and 23 runs batted in along with 17 doubles. On defense, in 1971 he led National League catchers in runners caught stealing (42), percentage of runners caught stealing (51.2%) and errors committed (15) and was second in assists (67).

Even with the 15 errors, that’s an incredibly solid season for a catcher from that era. I tip my cap to you, Bob Barton. May you rest in peace.

WILLIAMS.
Photos of Ted Williams with the Padres are hard to come by and the ones that do exist are usually just him posing for cameras. This photo of the Splendid Splinter taking a pitch is easily my favorite photo of him in the Pacific Coast League. A decent quality photo of in-game action from the 1930s?? This is the stuff gets my nerdy baseball juices flowing!

I’m not sure what year this is from, who the Padres are playing, or where it was taken, but if I HAD to make an educated guess, I’d say it was taken in 1937 at Lane Field against the Portland Beavers. But hey, I’ve been known to be wrong about PCL stuff…

(Image Source: The Kid: Ted Williams in San Diego)

Padres Pics #5.

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GWYNN.Tony Gwynn 1998 World Series Home RunSince the World Series is happening, I’m obligated to start this post with the coolest World Series moment in Padres history. When Tony Gwynn took David Wells deep in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, everything seemed ok in Padres land. It almost seemed like they could make the series competitive. But as we all know, a Mark Langston strike that was called a ball and a Tino Martinez grand slam later and the dynamic of the series was quickly changed. The Padres were not a better team than the Yankees and I certainly don’t think they could’ve won the series; but that should not of been a sweep by the Yankees. Oh well.

Related to the image above, I still have a handful of buttons left if anyone wants one. Just shoot me an EMAIL with your address and I’ll send a little package in the mail for you in no time!

COLEMAN.Jerry Coleman Padres ManagerI recently came across this photo of Jerry Coleman and was delighted. There seems to be a lack of quality photos that exist from the Colonel’s time as the Padres skipper and this one is great.

In my opinion, I think the organization should retire the #2 Jerry wore in 1980. Hell, they put it on display during his memorial, so everyone associates the number with him anyways. Instead, they let guys like Everth Cabrera and Melvin Upton wear it. You can mark this up as another missed opportunity by ownership to give a proper nod to the team’s history. (Image Source: The Lu Lac Political Letter)

TOLAN.
Bobby Tolan Padres
When most people think of baseball players with afros, they think of Oscar Gamble‘s in the 70s or Coco Crisp‘s from a couple years ago. It turns out that former San Diego outfielder, Bobby Tolan had a great one as well. Tolan had a solid career in the professional baseball, which included 13 years in the big leagues and even a season in Japan.

Tolan had two stints with the Padres (1974-1975, 1979) and after wrapping up his playing career, he became a coach for the Padres from 1980 to 1983. In Padres circles, he’s known for being the hitting coach for the Walla Walla Padres in 1981, and therefore having the honor of being Tony Gwynn’s (and John Kruk‘s) first hitting coach in professional baseball.

Padres Pics #4.

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GWYNN.Tony Gwynn First HitOn 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.
1969 Padres Original Lineup
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.
Jake Peavy vs Alfonso SorianoOn 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.