Padres Quotes #1.

Posted on October 22, 2015 by duaneharris19

One of the more popular segments I do over at 90 Feet of Perfection, is my “Baseball Quotes” posts. I figured, why not do the same thing here on The 5.5 Hole but related to the Padres and San Diego baseball. Enjoy!

“Anything Tony Gwynn Sr. wore, I wanna wear.” – Matt Kemp on the Padres brown uniforms

“Not a chance, you go to hell for wearing that uniform!” – Tim Flannery, when asked if he’d ever take a job with the Dodgers

“My first thought was, ‘Some of these guys have better control than my starting pitchers.’ My second thought was, ‘We’re dead.” – Dick Williams on rock throwing Tiger fans after the 1984 World Series

“Just when you think you got this game licked, the baseball gods will creep up on you and bring you to your knees.” – Mark Grant

“If you don’t pick Tony Gwynn, all of you are fired.” – Jack McKeon, on drafting Gwynn

The Friars of Sports Illustrated.

Posted on September 3, 2015 by duaneharris19

It’s no secret that the Padres go under the radar in regards to national press. While some take issue with this and are quick to call out the “East Coast Bias,” or something else along those lines, I could care less. Even when they do make the postseason, the Padres are generally viewed as “meh.” Which, from an objective stance, I understand due to the history of the organization and the city they represent. With all this said, you have to admit that when the Padres do get recognition by the larger media outlets, it’s usually pretty cool and memorable. The exception to this, of course, was dealing with the deaths of Tony Gwynn and Jerry Coleman last year. I think we can all agree that as Padres, this is media recognition that everyone could have done with out due to the heartbreaking nature of it all.

Sports Illustrated is one of the biggest sports publications out there and years ago, I realized a fair amount of Padres had graced the cover of the iconic magazine. In 2010, I decided to create a post on 90 Feet of Perfection with some of these covers. When I realized it wasn’t appropriate for the site, I deleted the post. Oh yeah, I can’t fail to mention that it also sucked and was incomplete, so yeah it had to go. Well, when I created The 5.5 Hole, I thought it would be cool to do it again and right. So here is (as far as I know), every Padre featured on the cover of SI. I hope you enjoy these gems.

July 12th, 1976.

After coming in second to Tom Seaver in Cy Young voting in 1975, Randy Jones was honored with the prestigious pitching award in 1976. Sports Illustrated took notice of the season he was having and gave him the cover in July. Their headline surely jinxed his chances at 30 games though. Speaking of, Jones ended up finishing with a 22-14 record that season. If the Padres were any good (they finished 5th in the West), Jones would have most likely won 30 games. Even though wins are kind of a lame stat, that would of been a cool accomplishment for Jones and the Padres.

August 27th, 1979

Prior to the 1978 season, the Padres acquired the old spitballer, Gaylord Perry. At 39 years old, he went on to win the Cy Young award and place 8th in MVP voting. The following season, at now 40 year old, he was having another hell of a season, and Sports Illustrated acknowledged this by lumping him in with various other aging baseball stars. Unfortunately, Perry’s time in San Diego didn’t end well though, as he quit the team less than 10 days after this issue came out (another SI jinx?). He threatened to retire if the team didn’t trade him back to the Rangers, which they did in the offseason. I understand that he was sick of losing and was butting heads with management, but that was a douchey move on his part.

April 25th, 1983

The Padres signed former Dodgers star Steve Garvey prior to the 1983 season and with that, he carried over his consecutive games played streak. Sports Illustrated honored Garvey and his streak by giving him the cover in April, however in July Garvey broke his thumb in a home plate collision against the Braves. This lead to the him going on the DL and ended his streak. If you ask me, this sounds like another SI Padres cover jinx.

April 16th, 1984

In what may be my favorite Padres Sports Illustrated cover, former Yankee stars turned Padre stars Goose Gossage and Graig Nettles were featured early on the cover in the 1984 season. I’ve never read the article that accompanied the cover, but would love to check it out sometime. Anything related to the 1984 season fascinates me and I wish I was old enough to of been able to experience it.

April 5th, 1989

If you were a Padres fan in the late 80s/early 90s, Benito Santiago very well could have been your favorite player behind Tony Gwynn. I’m pretty sure he had to be mine at some point due to a being a rookie of the the year, 4 all-star appearances, 4 silver slugger awards and 3 gold gloves. Maybe it had nothing to do with any of the awards though, and it was probably based solely on the fact that he threw guys out from his knees. This blew mind mind as a kid and even more now, due to the fact that I now catch from time to time.

Sports Illustrated took note of San Diego’s rising star and featured him on the cover of the special “1989 Baseball” issue that coincided with the start of the regular season. This is a great shot, but it strikes me odd that Santiago got a cover before Gwynn ever did. Also, I’m pretty sure a photo from the same shoot was used for his 1991 Topps card.

July 28th, 1997

After 16 seasons in the big leagues, Tony Gwynn was finally given a Sports Illustrated cover and boy was it awesome. Anytime you compare someone to Ted Williams, it’s going to garner attention and this cover boldly said, without question that Tony was “The Best Hitter Since Ted Williams.” I own this issue and will never get rid of it.

October 12th, 1998

I wasn’t aware of this cover until a couple years ago, which is is due to the fact that there were 4 different covers made for this issue. Each cover featured a player from the final four teams in the postseason, with Greg Vaughn getting the honor for San Diego. Vaughn was a good choice due to the fact that he hit 50 home runs and ended up placing 4th in the MVP honors. While looking over the MVP voting for 1998, it caught me off guard because there were 4 Padres in the top 20. Man, what a year 1998 was for the Padres…

May 13th, 2002

In 2002, Sports Illustrated was somehow convinced that Trevor Hoffman was the best closer ever and gave him a cover. Hey, I loved Trevor as much as the next guy, but to say he’s the best closer ever is silly, even in 2002, before both his and Mariano Rivera‘s legacies were not entirely solidified yet. I come from the frame of mind where I take modern closers with a grain of salt and think they pale in comparison to those of the past. Still, Hoffman was great and this photo is incredible. Hoffman’s leg kick still blows my mind all these years later.

July 25th, 2007

In 2007, Sports Illustrated published a Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative issue with covers featuring both Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. I’ve never got my hands on the Gwynn issue, but I will one of these days. An article by Tom Verducci entitled “Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr on the Art of Hitting” is something that I need to read.

June 4th, 2012

You can file this under mainstream media coverage of the Padres that we could all do without. As we all know, the Padres were not immune to PED drama, as the late Ken Caminiti was potentially the first MLB player to openly discuss the growing steroid problem in the game. He did so back in a 2002 issue of Sports Illustrated (read HERE) and in 2012, they revisited the issue, which featured a cover with Caminiti in his Padres uniform. I’ve always felt that it’s a haunting image that stays with you after looking at it.

April 1989

And for an honorable mention, I present Tony Gwynn’s cover of Sports Illustrated for Kids. I had a subscription to SI for Kids when I was a little boy but never had his issue, which is weird because I swear I had a subscription for the first year of the publication. It’s too bad I never owned this, as I would have been SO stoked on it. Honestly, I’d still love to read the his article in it.

Rickey Henderson in San Diego.

Posted on August 14, 2015 by duaneharris19

Like most people from my generation, there was something about Rickey Henderson that sparked my imagination. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t try to emulate him as a kid. In little league, I wore his trademark neon green padded Mizuno batting gloves and subscribed to the Rickey frame of mind that “If my uniform doesn’t get dirty, I haven’t done anything in the game.” This is something I still carry with me to this day while playing. I was legitimately excited about Padres baseball from 1996-1997 and again in 2001, solely based on the fact that Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson were both on the team. I think you get the idea, I loved Rickey Henderson and his time he spent playing baseball in San Diego.

On October 4th, 2001, Rickey Henderson hit a home run which put him ahead Ty Cobb to become the all-time runs scored leader. I looked for this video for years and eventually gave up, fortunately though, MLB uploaded it to YouTube about a year and half ago. Needless to say, I was excited when I discovered it. I suggest watching this gem and paying attention to the following things:

Rickey’s slide into home plate. I remember seeing this on ESPN and thinking how fitting it was. The pinnacle of “Rickey being Rickey.”
Jerry Coleman’s enthusiasm after Rickey goes yard is amazing and makes me miss The Colonel even more.
Jack Murphy Stadium with it’s palm trees. I don’t care what anyone says, they were awesome.
The cast of characters that come out to congratulate Rickey brings back some serious memories. The one that got me was Mike Darr. It’s so weird to see him and know that his life would end in a little over 4 months from this day.
Tony Gwynn presenting Rickey with the ceremonial gold base at the end of the video.

October 7th, 2001 was a special day in San Diego sports history due to the fact that Rickey Henderson and Tony Gwynn both wore a Padres uniform for the last time. For Gwynn, it was the last game of his playing career and for Henderson, he got his 3000th career hit. Rickey lead off the game with a double for his landmark hit, which you can watch HERE.

The story goes that Henderson did not want to play that day, as he feared it would be a detraction to the celebration of Gwynn’s last game. Tony wasn’t having this and insisted that Henderson play. Rickey was pulled from the game after scoring in the first inning, but in the bottom of the ninth inning, he re-entered the game as the third base coach, when Tony entered the game as a pinch hitter. Unfortunately he grounded out to the shortstop in his last at-bat, presumably while trying to knock the ball through the 5.5 hole.
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In 2005, at the age of 45, Rickey Henderson played with the San Diego Surf Dawgs, an independent minor league team in the now defunct Golden Baseball League. This was Rickey’s 3rd season in independent ball (he spent parts of the previous two seasons with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League), and it ended up being his last year in professional baseball. I think it’s safe to say that Rickey loved the game and was hanging on purely for the love, as he surely didn’t need the money. Oh yeah, he had a sweet bobblehead while with the Surf Dawgs that I still need to get my hands on. (Image Source: Jed Jacobsohn Photography)
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Dario Veras, Fernando Valenzuela and Rickey Henderson celebrate after beating the Dodgers on the last day of the 1996 season and therefore becoming the National League West champions. For most people, this will always be considered the “Chris Gwynn” game and should rank highly in San Diego’s greatest sports moments.
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October 3rd, 1996. In game six of the 1996 NLDS, Rickey slid head first into home plate in typical Rickey fashion. He was safe on the play, but ultimately it didn’t matter as the Cardinals beat the Padres that day and proceeded to sweep them in three straight games. San Diego were “in” every game and it was a heartbreaker to see them knocked out so quickly. I really loved that 1996 team and I thought they would go farther. Those damn Cardinals…

One of the cooler aspects of this play is that Chris Gwynn scored right before him (on a Tony Gwynn single) and Rickey scored right behind the younger Gwynn on a bad throw. If you look at the Getty Images photo of this, you see Chris on his knees, signaling to Rickey to get down with a slide. It’s definitely a cool photo worth checking out.

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.

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