Padres notes: Lights out

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09/27/2003 11:52 PM ET
Padres notes: Lights out
By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres are a team that will give the shirt off their back -- literally.

After Saturday's 10-2 loss to the Rockies, the Padres lined up across the infield and handed their jerseys to fans in the Shirts Off Their Backs promotion. The fans were selected through a raffle and all proceeds benefit the Padres Foundation for Children.

Saturday was also the final night of baseball at Qualcomm Stadium and following the jersey giveaway, a special turn-out-the-lights ceremony took place at second base with Rich "Goose" Gossage presiding over the final power down.

With a countdown, PA announcers Bruce Binkowski and John DeMott called out the seconds and with a flash of fireworks, the lights went dark for the last time after a Padres game -- Q date: 21:59:00: Sept. 27, 2003.

"We've had to battle those lights for a long time but that is the last time we will see them," Bochy said.

But in a darkened stadium, Saturday night's ceremony had merely begun.

Each of the former Padres in attendance was announced and cheered by the appreciative crowd. Taking their bows were some originals like Ollie Brown and Ed Spiezio, 70s stars like Gene Richards and former manager Roger Craig. Members of the NL championship 1984 squad like Garry Templeton and Kevin McReynolds were greeted warmly. Current stars Ryan Klesko, Phil Nevin and Mark Kotsay also got standing O's

With that stage set, the Padres All-Time Team was announced. Trotting down the baseline under a burst of sparks was the manager Bruce Bochy, first baseman Steve Garvey, shortstop Ozzie Smith, third baseman and 1996 NL MVP Ken Caminiti, outfielder Dave Winfield, pitcher Randy Jones, closer Trevor Hoffman and, of course, outfielder Tony Gwynn.

Catcher Benito Santiago, second baseman Roberto Alomar and outfielder Steve Finley were not in attendance but delivered messages on the large video screen.

The Padres will play their final game at the Q on Sunday with special closing ceremonies to follow.

The first team: It all started 35 years ago.

The year was 1969 and the team was the San Diego Padres, an expansion franchise in the National League.

The Padres were part of group, comprised of four ball clubs, which brought the first divisional split in Major League Baseball.

The American and National Leagues were equal sets of 10 teams in 1968 but when the Padres and the Montreal Expos entered the NL, and the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots entered the AL, each league was split into a western and an eastern division.

While the Pilots left for Milwaukee in 1970 and the Expos will probably leave Montreal in the near future, the Padres will remain in town. But they'll be playing in a new ballpark when their next season opens as they head downtown for their new venue, PETCO Park.

Taking the opportunity to reflect on the past, the Padres have chosen the final weekend series with the Rockies, the last three Major League Baseball games to be played at Qualcomm Stadium, to bring back some of the old players including those from the All-Time Team.

But it all started with the expansion club of '69 and on Saturday, three members from that squad were on the field as the former players gathered to be honored.

" I always like coming back to San Diego," Spiezio said, who batted .234 and was the starting third baseman for the Padres that season.

A five-year veteran, Spiezio would play three more seasons in the big leagues and hit a career-high .285 in 1970 but like Brown, Chris Cannizzaro et al, Spiezio will forever be linked to a Padres club that lost 110 games, still a franchise record.

"It was fun playing every day," Spiezio said. "The only part of it was it was tough to win because we made mistakes. Young players make mistakes. They make managers pull their hair out."

Brown was the club's first pick when baseball held the expansion draft on October 14, 1968. A 25-year old outfielder, Brown had spent the previous four years with the San Francisco Giants.

"I looked it as an opportunity for guys to be in the big leagues and to play," Brown said. "I thought it was good for baseball to bring in more players. The ones who came into baseball in the expansion draft were given the opportunity to show their ability and to show they were Major Leaguers."

Brown led the club in 1969 with a .269 batting average and also belted 20 homers, which was second behind Nate Colbert's 24.

Like Spiezio, Brown had his best year in 1970 when he hit .292 with 23 homers and 89 RBIs as the club improved its total in the win column by 11 games. But that first club experienced more than its share of growing pains.

"We scored a lot of runs, we were just kind of inconsistent pitching-wise," Brown said. "You know guys pitching on an expansion club."

Al Santorini and Joe Niekro shared the club lead with eight wins in 1969 while a 21-year old Clay Kirby lost 20 games but they opened the year by sweeping the Astros.

"We won the first three and we thought we were going to win the pennant," Cannizzaro said, who was the club's first catcher.

At 31, Cannizzaro was the veteran of the ballclub and one who had suffered through losing campaigns before as a member of the 1962 Mets. But Cannizzaro and Brown both felt there was nothing great to learn from losing a lot of games: the key was getting to play.

"We just wanted to play," Brown said. "Once we got down deep in the season and we knew we didn't have a chance. We just enjoyed the last month of being the spoiler. So we went into every game with teams that were in contention and tried to beat 'em to spoil their season."

Klesko feelin' fine: Ryan Klesko is recovering from surgery to his right shoulder and says it is going well.

"I'm really happy with the way it's turning out," Klesko said. "I'm feeling pretty good."

Klesko still has not been cleared for weight training but has begun to do strengthening exercises. He says he still feels a little soreness in the joint in the morning but can move his arm freely.

If his rehab continues to go as planned, Klesko will be ready to resume full training in November.

Coming up: The Padres will play their last game at the Q in their regular season finale on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. PT with RHP Jake Peavy going for San Diego against LHP Darren Oliver for Colorado.

Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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The Padres chose the last three Major League Baseball games to be played at Qualcomm Stadium to bring back some of the old players. (Tim Tadder/AP)

[GaryMrMets]

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09/28/2003 5:09 PM ET
Notes: Saying farewell in style
Former players take field for one last time at the Q
By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- There was no question for whom the bell tolled; it tolled for the Q.

The Padres closed down Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday, and though they didn't call it quits with a win, they said farewell in style.

The Padres trotted out some former players for one last time on the field with each taking his position on the diamond following the Padres last game in the stadium, a 10-8 loss to the Rockies.

The most poignant of which was Phil Nevin and Gary Matthews Jr. escorting Michael Darr, the seven-year-old son of the late Mike Darr. The Padres outfielder was killed in a car crash on February 15, 2002 just prior to the opening of Spring Training.

"He's getting so big; I remember when he was just a little baby," Matthews said of Michael. "It was great to see him. I see so much of Mike in him. To have him come out to right field was special."

After the current Padres joined the old-timers, Trevor Hoffman got one last call from the bullpen. The chime sounded on the loudspeakers and with "Hell's Bells" playing for the last time over an assembly of Padres, Hoffman took his familiar route to the mound.

"It was special," Hoffman said. "I caught myself a couple of times looking up at all the people from my perspective on the mound for the last time. I'll remember my last day here at Qualcomm."

With everyone gathered on the field, PA announcer Bruce Binkowski then called the name of the greatest Padre one last time at the Q and Tony Gwynn ran to the mound to throw the last pitch.

Handed the honor of receiving the ball was a former part-time catcher for the ballclub but also the winningest manager in franchise history, Bruce Bochy.

"I had chills with Tony out there throwing the last pitch and realized that it's over here," Bochy said of the strike. "We'll move on but when I caught that ball, you realize, we're done here and I'll forever remember Tony throwing that ball to me."

The Padres will be moving to PETCO Park for the 2004 season, opening against the Giants on April 8. To help make the transition, the Padres dug up home plate and with a military and police escort, transferred it from the Q to PETCO.

Minutes later, live on the video screen, the bright red Marine Hummer pulled into PETCO and the plate was handed over to the grounds crew.

With that last task accomplished it was time to say good-bye and the final countdown ensued with most of the 60,988 still in attendance joining in.

Though the Padres are looking forward to their new ballpark, this past weekend created time for reflection.

"When you're in this game a long time, you build friendships and camaraderie," Bochy said. "It was great this past weekend, trading stories with some of the old players."

And so, it was adieu to the Q.

Loretta shines: After 2,774 regular season games at Qualcomm Stadium, the Padres took the field for the last time in the only ballpark they've known as a franchise in the National League on Sunday.

A number of players have distinguished themselves on a ballclub that has been to a pair of World Series and won three divisional titles, but otherwise been an afterthought throughout its 35-year history.

Gaylord Perry, Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith, Rollie Fingers, Gwynn and Hoffman have all utilized their considerable baseball talents and put them in play as members of the Padres.

While the Padres will post one of their 10-worst records in the history of the franchise, one player on this season's team put together a banner year for the ballclub and personal high for the eight-year veteran.

Mark Loretta signed as a free agent with the Padres last December as an affordable upgrade at second base. What he became in 2003 was nothing short of the team's best player.

"I was able to play every day," Loretta said of the biggest plus on his season. "I had some ups and downs but I felt I was fairly consistent this year. I really enjoyed playing second base."

Loretta entered Sunday's game with the Rockies batting .315, which is just a tick lower than his career high of .316 that he posted with the Brewers in 1998. But the 32-year-old did post career highs with 12 homers and 71 RBIs all while posting the best fielding percentage in the NL among second baseman who played at least 100 games.

With the Padres set to move into their new ballpark next season, and with the full intention of making some noise in the NL West, Loretta is intrigued to be part of a lineup that should be one of the more productive in the league in 2003.

"I think our lineup is very solid. We've never really had it all together with (Ryan) Klesko and the other guys who have been hurt this year," Loretta said. "Kevin (Towers) is going to do some things with the pitching and probably bring in another starter. I think it's a big offseason in the front office in terms of stuff like that."

Loretta acknowledged the team's slow start and the struggles of the pitching staff that helped to contribute to a ballclub that was on a 100-loss pace for most of the season. But he, like most on the team, sees progress more than lack thereof and believes the Padres are not that far off from contending.

"Tweaking the roster is all that is needed; I don't think we need an overhaul," Loretta said. "Sometimes when teams have a season like this, you think you need to overhaul the whole deal. I think all they really need to do is fine-tune it."

Crowds: The Padres surpassed the two-million mark in attendance for the eighth straight year and ninth time in the history of the franchise. Eleven other Major League teams have had eight straight years of two-million plus crowds.

All in the family: Brian Runge was behind the plate for Sunday's Q finale. Runge is a member of the only three-generation family of umpires. Brian's father Paul and his grandfather Ed were also big-league umps.

On this date: Gwynn won his eighth and final NL batting title on September 28, 1997. Gwynn finished the year with a .372 average, 17 homers, 119 RBIs and a club-record 220 hits.

Skipper says: "Tony is the best player I ever played with and managed," Bochy said of Gwynn. "We're talking about one of the greatest hitters of all time."

Coming up: Opening Day 2004 at PETCO Park when the Padres face the Giants on April 8.

Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Trevor Hoffman (left), joined by former Padres players, wants the volume turned up. (Lenny Ignelzi/AP)

[GaryMrMets]

Quittin Time At The Q'

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09/22/2003 9:00 AM ET
Good times at the Q
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- It may not have the aura of Yankee Stadium or the Green Monster of Fenway Park. It might not be nestled into the north side of Chicago like Wrigley Field or had the chilling winds of a place like Candlestick Park.

But Qualcomm Stadium, that cylindrical concrete slab in the middle of Mission Valley, still has its own personality. The Padres close their 35th and final season at the thrice-expanded ballpark on Sunday and after a weekend of fanfare will move downtown to PETCO Park next year.

"There's nothing romantic about the design of the facility itself," said Dick Freeman, the club president who has been with the Padres in some capacity in all but six seasons since 1981. "It's just the memories."

And there are many. The Padres won the 1984 National League pennant there and a 1998 NL Division Series. There were two All-Star Games -- 1978 and 1992. And two losing efforts in the World Series -- 1984 against the Tigers and 1998, a series the Yankees wrapped up on San Diego turf in four games.

The guy in the Famous Chicken outfit hatched his act here when the team on the field was just a supporting cast. There was the night in 1984 when he played Indiana Chicken and rode a horse across the field during a no-hit effort by the Cardinals' Ricky Horton. The horse came to a halt and decided to fertilize left field. Horton didn't get the no-hitter and the Chicken was banished, forced to buy tickets and perform in the stands.

Playing baseball at the Q was almost as much of a guarantee as playing inside a dome. There have only been 15 rainouts in the stadium built on the bed of the San Diego River, one since 1983. The rainouts were so few and far between that the grounds crew didn't even know how to roll out the tarp, causing the second game of a long forgotten twi-night doubleheader against the Dodgers late in the 1982 season to be swamped out.

The head of the crew couldn't even open the cage behind the plate to get out the shovel and dirt to spot the soaked infield. He didn't have the key. The Padres drilled the grounds crew in tarp work after that, but there were only two more rainouts, one the next season and the other in 1998.

But what happened immediately after the 1984 pennant-clincher had to be the most unique moment. In a burst of enthusiasm not matched anywhere since, the Padres charged off the field in mass through the caverns deep within the stadium and into the parking lot. Once there, they celebrated with the ebullient fans, who had urged them with every ounce of their collective will to defeat the Chicago Cubs.

"I've never seen anything like it before and with security concerns the way they are these days, we'll probably never see it again," said Tim Flannery, long one of the fan favorites from that era's team. "That was crazy. Wasn't it?"

As crazy as the new owner of the team, the guy who saved baseball in San Diego, taking the public address microphone on Opening Night of the 1974 home season and chastising his losing team in public.

"This is the stupidest baseball I've ever seen," said Ray Kroc, who died just before the 1984 season and never got to see his team play what might have been the smartest baseball he had ever seen. The players wore his RAK patch on their sleeves all that season, right up until the final out of a losing effort in the World Series at Detroit's Tiger Stadium.

The neighborhood surrounding the old yard on Michigan and Trumbell Avenues was lit up in flames like a war zone afterwards and two buses carrying the Padres had to be escorted to the freeway by a cordon of mounted police. Home safe and sound the next night, 35,000 showed up at what was then San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium to thank that the team despite the World Series loss in five games.

For anyone who was there, they had really witnessed baseball and the town coming of age. The Padres, those expansion Padres, were suddenly winners and San Diego was growing from its military roots into a sunny, sensational burg.

Oh sure, the Padres would win again in 1998, but it was those five games in seven days -- four Padres victories, including three in the playoffs to upset the Cubs and a Game 2 victory in the World Series (the only one in club history) -- that put San Diego on the baseball map.

Mark that date: Oct. 10, 1984, Padres 5, Tigers 3. Kurt Bevacqua hit a home run and blew kisses to the fans and his then young wife as he danced across home plate.

It seemed so effortless then, didn't it? Like the fans could conjure up victory every spring. Everyone has a favorite moment from that week.

How about Oct. 7, 1984, the day the Padres defeated the Cubs to win their first of two NL pennants?

"The best one was the day we won the playoffs," said Jack McKeon, the Padres general manager back then and the Florida Marlins manager today. "We were down in the game and I'll never forget being in the box with (then president) Ballard (Smith) and he said it didn't look too good. And I said, 'Don't worry about it, if we score a run here we can make it interesting.'"

The Padres did just that when Cubs starter and now Padres broadcaster Rick Sutcliffe tired in the early autumn afternoon heat and blew a 3-0 lead. The Padres scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and four times in the seventh to win the game, 6-3. The big play in the seventh was a grounder Flannery hit between the legs of first baseman Leon Durham for the gaff that choked the Cubs best chance of reaching the World Series since 1945. They still haven't been there.

"I didn't even see the ball go through Durham's legs. I just heard the crowd roar as I barreled with my head down into first base," Flannery said.

How about Oct. 6, 1984, the night Steve Garvey was so sick he barely made it off a trainer's table to go 4-for-5 with five RBIs and the game-winning homer? Tony Gwynn had opened the ninth inning with a single against closer Lee Smith and the score tied at 5.

Garvey, who had eight home runs all that season, powered one out over the inner fence in right center to win the game, 7-5. They put a plaque up there on the wall just to commemorate the shot heard 'round San Diego County.

"To me, that was the most electric moment here, Garvey's homer in Game 4," said Gwynn, who won his first of eight batting titles that season with a .351 average. "You have to really look at the tape to see what everyone else was doing because everybody was so fixated on Steve Garvey."

Standing amid the din of all the excitement, Garvey was interviewed afterward on the field for a national television audience by Tim McCarver, who congratulated him for the spectacular performance.

Looking straight into the camera and thus into the eyes of millions, Garvey answered with his own debonair flair.

"It was my pleasure," said Garvey, who was ultimately named MVP of the series.

Now, Garvey calls the homer, "arguably the biggest in San Diego baseball history."

Who could argue? There's never been another one like it.

Not even the solo Jim Leyritz homer in the bottom of the seventh inning that won Game 3 of the 1998 NL Division Series, 2-1, over Houston on Oct. 3, 1998. Not even the Wally Joyner two-run homer the next night that wrapped up that division series in four games.

There were big homers hit that postseason at the Q, although the Padres did not hit all of them.

In Game 3 of the World Series, it was Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius, who hit a pair of homers to erase an early, 3-0, Padres lead in a game they wound up losing, 5-4. The next night, Brosius had a run-scoring single in a 3-0, Game 4 Yankees' win and was awarded the series MVP.

Despite the loss, John Moores, the team's fourth owner and head of the club since the 1995 season, said that the 1998 World Series was his top moment at the Q.

"It was a very emotional week for me," he said. "I did a lot of crying."

Certainly, you take your thrills where you can get them. The Padres have only had 11 seasons in their history playing .500 ball or better -- none before 1978 and none after 1998 -- and have only made the playoffs three times. They are a spiffy 1-8 in World Series games.

To be sure, opposing players have made their mark in San Diego. Willie Mays hit his 600th career homer at the end of the 1969 season, the Padres first. Eight years later Lou Brock stole the 892nd base of his career here, tying what was then Ty Cobb's all-time record. On Sept. 28, 1988, the Dodgers' Orel Hershiser broke Don Drysdale's record by throwing his 59th consecutive scoreless inning against the Padres.

As a budding super star, Ken Griffey, Jr. became the youngest player ever named an All-Star Game MVP as the American League won the 1992 All-Star Game, 13-6. Griffey went 3-for-3 with a homer, double, two runs scored and two RBIs.

It was the game that featured three Padres in the NL starting lineup -- Gwynn, Benito Santiago and Fred McGriff -- and two more in reserve -- Gary Sheffield and Tony Fernandez.

Perhaps to illustrate the futility of Padres history, the two All-Star teams also included seven former Padres, including Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith, the Brothers Alomar, Joe Carter and John Kruk.

[GaryMrMets]

In the 1978 All-Star Game, Garvey, then playing for the Dodgers, went 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs and was named MVP of the NL's 7-3 win.

Oddly, no Padre ever pitched a no-hitter or hit for the cycle in the stadium, and for that matter, no Padre has done it on the road either. John Olerud, of the Seattle Mariners, and Greg Colubrunn of the Arizona Diamondbacks hit for the only two cycles -- a single, double, triple and homer in one game. Doc Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates, A.J. Burnett of the Florida Marlins and Bud Smith of the Cardinals, threw the only no-hitters.

In his biography, Ellis, adding insult to injury, claimed he had taken LSD the day in 1970 he no-hit the Padres, 2-0.

But four Hall of Famers played portions of their career here: Ozzie Smith, Gaylord Perry, Rollie Fingers and Dave Winfield, who is the only one inducted in Cooperstown wearing his Padres cap.

Three Padres pitchers won the NL's Cy Young Award -- Perry, Randy Jones and Mark Davis. Aside from Gwynn's batting heroics, Sheffield also won the 1992 NL batting title as a Padre. Also that year, McGriff was the only Padre to ever lead the NL in home runs. In 1979, Winfield became the only Padre to lead the NL in RBIs. And in 1996, Ken Caminiti became the only Padre to be named MVP of the NL.

Rickey Henderson, in his second tour with the Padres, broke Cobb's record by scoring his 2,246th run here. He also is the only player to get his 3,000th hit at Qualcomm -- a first-inning bloop double -- on Oct. 7, 2001, the final day of that season, Gwynn's last game after 20 seasons, all with the Padres.

Gwynn's 3,000th hit came in Montreal during the 1999 season. He had 3,141 in all, his last one -- a single -- coming in a pinch-hit appearance against the Rockies at Qualcomm on Oct. 6, 2001. The next day, he pinch hit in the ninth inning and grounded out to end his career.

"It's probably my best memory of this place," Gwynn said. "I got a standing ovation for making an out. There was the ceremony, then walking around in the outfield shaking hands, giving hugs and crying. It was an emotional day."

The multi-purpose stadium was built for $27 million and opened in 1968 for the Chargers, then of the American Football League. The first baseball game was an exhibition clash between the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians.

It's named changed several times, from San Diego Stadium, to Jack Murphy Stadium, to San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium to Qualcomm Stadium. It was alternately named after a sportswriter and high tech telecom company that bought the naming rights in 1997 for $18 million in cold cash. The field is still named after Murphy, a columnist for the old San Diego Union, who was instrumental in bringing pro sports to what has become known as "America's Finest City."

Its capacity grew with each expansion from about 50,000 to nearly 70,000, so the city could accommodate the National Football League as it bid for the Super Bowl. The stadium hosted three, including Tampa Bay's victory over Oakland this past January.

The last expansion cost $78 million, more then three times the original construction cost. In comparison, the tab on PETCO Park, with all its bells and whistles, is in excess of $450 million.

But everything costs more than it did in 1969, when the Padres rolled out an Opening Day lineup that included Downtown Ollie Brown, Ed Spiezio and Chris Cannizzaro, a catcher who also played for the 1962 Mets team that lost a record 120 games.

Freeman, then an Ensign in the Navy, recalls sitting in the stands behind home plate in the upper deck and watching a bevy of games during that 52-110 season, the Padres' worst of the 35. They won only 28 of their 81 home games that year.

"We sat above the press box and the tickets cost 50 cents," said Freeman, who returned as team president this season after six years as chief operating officer of the Pirates. "I can't help but thinking that 35 years later I'll be there Sunday for the last game watching it from the president's box."

Gwynn, Garvey, Winfield, and so many others will also be back again Sunday. It may not be the end for one of baseball's true hallowed grounds, but expect the final Padres game at the Q to be an emotional day, too.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Qualcomm Stadium was home to the San Diego Padres from 1969 - 2003. (Fred Greaves/AP)

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Ray Kroc, owner of the Padres, stands next to his ivy curtain covering the center-field fence at San Diego Stadium, April 12, 1979. (AP Photo)

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Catcher Terry Kennedy leaps into the arms of closer Rich "Goose" Gossage after the Padres win the NLCS, Oct. 7, 1984. (AP photo)

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Ken Griffey Jr. accepts the MVP trophy after leading the American League to victory in the 1992 All-Star Game. (Lenny Ignelzi/AP)

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Rickey Henderson is mobbed by teammates after collecting his 3,000th hit, Oct. 7, 2001. (Denis Poroy/AP)

[GaryMrMets]

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09/22/2003 9:00 AM ET
They played here?
A few players who have called San Diego home
By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

Consider the following players.

Willie McCovey, Glenn Beckert, Willie Davis, Walt Hriniak, Joe Niekro, Pat Dobson and Johnny Podres.

What do all of those players have in common?
A. They were all drafted by the Seattle Pilots
B. Their best sport was really golf
C. They each hit a home run in their first at-bat
D. They all played for the San Diego Padres

The answer, for those who have been paying attention for the past 35 years, is D.

Fans of the Padres recently voted for the franchise's all-time team and it is led, of course, by Tony Gwynn. The eight-time NL batting champion is joined by a pair of Hall-of-Famers in Ozzie Smith and Dave Winfield, along with standouts such as Trevor Hoffman, Kevin Brown and Steve Garvey.

While not one player in the earlier proposed lineup made the Padres' all-time team, each of those players made a mark in baseball in one way or another.

McCovey is probably recalled by many as a one-time member of the Padres but it's not in San Diego where the Hall-of-Fame first baseman has a body of water named after him.

Big Mac came to the Padres in 1974, the year they would have played in Washington D.C. had Ray Kroc not purchased the team from C. Arnholt Smith and kept them in San Diego. But the Padres stayed and McCovey was the club's lone attraction. A 22-year old Winfield was in his second year and Randy Jones lost 22 games but it was McCovey's 22 homers that led the club.

The '74 Padres lost 102 games as Bill Greif, Dan Spillner and Dave Freisleben led the staff with nine wins a piece in John McNamara's first year as manager. It was the same year that Ted Giannoulas had a fitting for a chicken suit in one of the greatest career moves in history but that was for radio station KGB and the Chicken's fame was still unrealized.

McCovey would also play the 1975 season in San Diego before leaving mid-way through 1976 for the Oakland A's and then finishing his career back in San Francisco.

Also on that '74 team with McCovey was Beckert, who was a member of four straight National League All-Star teams from 1969-72 while playing with the Cubs. Beckert was at the end of his career when he joined the Padres in 1974 and played in just 64 games that year and just nine in the next before calling it quits.

Another player near the end of his career who spent some time in Mission Valley was Davis, who played one season for the Padres. The two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove center fielder for the Dodgers played 128 games in center for the Padres in 1976, showing his skills, at 36, with a .992 fielding percentage.

More famous for his second and third careers in baseball was a part-time infielder/outfielder for the '76 Padres. His name? Bobby Valentine.

Playing in just 15 games for the Padres that year, Valentine would become a big-league manager for Texas and then the Mets, winning 1,117 games over 15 seasons before becoming a broadcaster with ESPN.

Dick Selma started the very first game for the Padres NL franchise, a 2-1 win over the Astros. But Selma won just two games in 1969 and did not lead the club. That distinction would go to Joe Niekro and Al Santorini, who each won eight games. Joe Niekro, the younger brother of Hall-of-Fame knuckleballer Phil, was in just his third year as a big-league pitcher and came to the Padres early in the season from the Cubs.

Joe Niekro would log over 200 innings for the Padres but move on to the Tigers in 1970 His career would last until 1988 and encompass 221 career wins.

Two other names pop out from that '69 Padres club: Podres and Hriniak.

Podres was named the World Series MVP in 1955 as the Brooklyn Dodgers finally came out on top over the Yankees in the postseason. Podres pitched two complete games in that series, including a 2-0 shutout in the decisive seventh game at Yankee Stadium.

When the Dodgers moved west to Los Angeles, Podres went along for the ride and appeared in two more series, posting a career mark of 4-1 and a 2.11 ERA in the Fall Classic. Podres would play just one season for the Padres, the last of his 15-year career, going 5-6.

Hriniak's career was much shorter and 1969 would also be his last, as a player. The bench player appeared in 31 games for the Padres that season, 19 of those behind the plate. Hriniak would go on to become a successful hitting coach, carrying on the swing principles of Charlie Lau.

Dobson, who would also return to the Padres as the pitching coach in 1988, was the team's first ace. The right-hander would make his mark as one of Baltimore's four 20-game winners along with Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally in 1971. For the Padres in 1970, though, Dobson led the staff with 14 wins.

Some other pitchers to take the hill for the Padres included Mickey Lolich (1978-79), Rick Wise (1980-82), Atlee Hammaker (1990-91), Larry Anderson (1991-92), Pedro Martinez and Maddux.

OK, the Pedro Martinez who pitched for the Padres is not the three-time Cy Young winner and the Maddux is actually Greg's brother Mike, but the names jump off the screen.

Some of the players who patrolled the outfield in San Diego were Matty Alou (1974), Fred Lynn (1990) and Joe Carter (1990). In the infield there was Mike Hargrove (1979) and Doug Rader (1976-77). Todd Hundley's pop Randy spent the 1975 Padres campaign at catcher.

They are names that don't make the all-time team, but names that make up the history of a franchise.

Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/images/2003/09/18/ivloUCrz.jpg
Right-hander Dick Selma pitched a complete game for the Padres' first win in 1969. (AP)

[GaryMrMets]

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/sd/news/sd_news.jsp?ymd=20030920&content_id=535502&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp

09/20/2003 2:18 AM ET
The 35 uniQue moments at the Q
By any name, San Diego's stadium had its big days
By John Schlegel / MLB.com

As the Padres say goodbye to their Mission Valley home after 35 years, three team ownership changes, a couple of stadium name changes, two World Series, two All-Star Games and an unfortunate singing incident, there's plenty that makes the Q unique.

It's not just that Tony Gwynn played every home game of his Hall of Fame career there, though that's a major part of it. It's not just that this 1969 expansion franchise is moving to a new home at PETCO Park while the other in Montreal is in location limbo.

It's just that a lifetime of baseball moments took place in the Padres' years at San Diego Stadium/Jack Murphy Stadium/Qualcomm Stadium. Some great, some not-so-great, some just kind of weird.

Here are 35 unique moments in the history of the Q, in chronological order:

1. Batter up, San Diego
When the first Major League game was played at San Diego Stadium, the Padres didn't win ... or lose. It was just an exhibition between the Giants and Indians on April 5, 1968 -- one year before San Diego would become a Major League town after being a fixture in the Pacific Coast League since 1936.

2. Starting off with a bang
Third baseman Ed Spiezio provided the first hit, homer, run and RBI in Padres history with a game-tying solo shot in the sixth inning of a 2-1 victory over Houston in the Padres' first Major League game. His son Scott topped that with a three-run shot in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series for the Angels.

3. What's up, Dock?
The first bit of baseball history at San Diego Stadium took place on June 12, 1970, when Pittsburgh's Dock Ellis twirled a no-hitter while walking eight batters, hitting another and, as he admitted later, enjoying all the pretty colors. Ellis said he pitched that game under the influence of, well, let's just say Timothy Leary's favorite three letters.

4. A Mays-jor milestone
In one of what would be several Major League milestones hit at the stadium, Willie Mays became only the second member of the 600 home run club when he belts one out in San Diego. His godson, Barry Bonds, would enjoy the place as well, hitting 39 homers there.

5. No-no, then "Oh, no!"
On July 21, 1970, Clay Kirby had a no-hitter going through eight against the Astros. But with the Padres down 1-0, skipper Preston Gomez lifted him for pinch-hitter Cito Gaston, who struck out. Jack Baldschun gave it up in the ninth for a 3-0 loss. Despite the logic of trying to win the game, the interruption of an ongoing no-hitter might have had karmic consequences for years to come: The Padres still don't have a no-hitter. Coincidence? You decide.

6. Feeling a little fenced in
After going for 38 homers in 1970, Nate Colbert matched his career high in 1972 after getting a Major League-record five in one doubleheader in Atlanta that summer. One can only imagine how many Colbert might have hit either year if not for his home stadium's configuration -- a 17-foot wall that was 330 down the lines, 370 in the gaps and 420 in center.

7. Call him the McSavior
The boxes were literally packed in the Padres' offices at San Diego Stadium. Some trading cards already had Padres players under the heading: Washington, National League. On Jan. 25, 1974, Ray Kroc -- the man who built McDonald's -- saved baseball for San Diego, purchasing the club from C. Arnholt Smith and intercepting the Washington move. It turned out to be the biggest save in Padres history.

8. We have an announcement ...
On April 9, 1974, in his first home opener as owner of the Padres, Kroc grabbed the public-address microphone after the eighth inning, when the Padres had blown a bases-loaded opportunity and were down 9-2 to the Astros. "I have good news and bad news," Kroc said. "We drew more people for our home opener than the Dodgers did for theirs. The bad news is I suffer with you. I've never seen such stupid ballplaying in my life." Right then, a streaker hit the field. "Get that man out of here. Arrest him," Kroc said over the microphone. You can't make this stuff up.

9. Keeping up with Jones
Lefty Randy Jones won his 20th game of the season on Aug. 27, 1976, en route to the Cy Young Award -- the first of three won by Padres pitchers. He reached the 20-win plateau for the second straight season with a six-hit shutout against Montreal before 21,301 at San Diego Stadium -- in a typically rapid-fire 1 hour, 38 minutes.

10. Stealing a record
The next in line for Major League records set in San Diego, Lou Brock broke Ty Cobb's all-time career steals record with No. 893 on July 19, 1977. This would not be the last time history would surpass Cobb on this field.

11. The Wizard
Ozzie Smith gained Hall of Fame status and won World Series rings in St. Louis, but he became a star in San Diego. The 13-time Gold Glove winner's play on April 20, 1978, was magic. He dived to his left for a sharp grounder up the middle, and when the ball hit a pebble he managed to barehand it, gather himself and throw out Jeff Burroughs at first.

12. A hometown All-Star
It was July 11, 1978, and Dave Winfield was the mayor for the day of the city hosting the All-Star Game, the pinnacle of his remarkable eight seasons in San Diego. Twenty-three years and another six teams later, he became the first player to enter the National Baseball Hall of Fame wearing a Padres cap.

13. Another San Diego Cy
Another player who played for a lot of teams but shined for the Padres was Gaylord Perry, who at home on Sept. 21, 1978, became the second 20-game winner and eventually became the second Cy Young winner for the Padres, joining Jones in both categories.

14. The start of something special
On July 19, 1982, an outfielder from just up I-8 at San Diego State took his first crack at big league pitching. He hit a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat, made a couple of outs and then doubled off Philadelphia's Sid Monge in the eighth for his first Major League hit. He added a single for what would be the first of many 2-for-4 days at the plate. Thus began Tony Gwynn's career.

15. Another start of something special
On April 3, 1984, the Padres wore "RAK" on the sleeve of their uniforms in honor of Ray Kroc, who died that January. With a 5-1 defeat of Pittsburgh before 44,543 fans at Jack Murphy Stadium, the Padres claimed their first victory of what would be the team's first championship season.

16. Some victory party
The Padres walked off the field winners Sept. 20 after beating the Giants before a Thursday afternoon crowd of 15,766 at The Murph. They'd return 24 hours later as National League West champions, met by a crowd of 46,137. In between, the team was at Goose Gossage's house listening on the radio as the Astros were eliminated by the Dodgers. Dogpile in the living room!

17. Pep rally, San Diego style
After being walloped by the Cubs at Wrigley Field in the first two games of the five-game National League Championship Series, the Padres were sitting on the bus from the San Diego airport to the stadium, absolutely shellshocked. What they saw when they got to the stadium shocked them back to life. There were more than 5,000 fans there cheering them as they arrived, and the pep rally that ensued would have repercussions for days.

18. The homer
The second it happened, it was clearly the biggest moment in San Diego sports history. It might have that distinction to this day. When Steve Garvey extended those Popeye arms and muscled a two-run homer the other way to right-center field to win Game 4 of the NLCS, San Diego was planted squarely on the baseball map for the first time.

19. Holy roller
The Cubs and future Padres broadcaster Rick Sutcliffe took control at the beginning of Game 5 of the NLCS and seemed like they might be on their way to the World Series. But then the ball rolled through Leon Durham's legs at first, the Padres scored the tying run and went on to a four-run eighth. After the 6-3 victory, the Padres -- the Cub-Busters -- were dancing and celebrating on the turf at The Murph and out into the parking lot on their way to the Fall Classic.

20. Kiss it goodbye
The Padres won just one World Series game against the steamrolling '84 Detroit Tigers, but it definitely qualified as a memorable moment at the stadium. Kurt Bevacqua, a utility player, hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning of Game 2 and made his own Kodak moment by blowing kisses to his wife in the crowd while rounding the bases. The blast led to a 5-3 victory, but it would be the Padres' lone World Series highlight as Detroit rolled in five games.

[GaryMrMets]

21. Easy as 1-2-3
The 1987 home opener started off in historic fashion. The Padres became the first team in baseball history to start off a game with back-to-back-to-back homers when Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk pulled the trick on April 13 vs. Roger Mason and the Giants. Eh, so much for the great start -- the Padres lost that game, 13-6.

22. Benito rules
In 1987, a Padres rookie changed the way we look at catchers a little bit. A lanky 19-year-old with a rocket arm, Benito Santiago burst onto the scene with a spectacular season to earn National League Rookie of the Year honors. On Oct. 4, he went 2-for-2 at home to finish the season with a 34-game hitting streak -- the longest by a rookie or a catcher to this day.

23. A third Cy
Mark Davis was hands-down the best closer in the National League in 1989. It turned out he was the best pitcher, period. With 44 saves and a 1.84 ERA, Davis became the third Padres pitcher to win the Cy Young Award.

24. The fat lady sings
It was between games of a July 25, 1990, doubleheader, not the time you hear "The Star-Spangled Banner" normally anyhow. But here was Roseanne Barr, Hollywood associate of Padres owner Tom Werner, singing it like it had never been sung before. By the end of her rendition, the patriotic crowd in about the biggest Navy town in the country was booing, and it was national news. The worst part is she actually managed to make crotch-grabbing and spitting on a baseball field seem disgusting somehow.

25. Four Tops play The Murph
The Padres hosted their second All-Star Game in 1992, and hometown players abounded on the National League squad. The so-called Four Tops -- Tony Fernandez, Gwynn, Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff, who made up the top four spots in the Padres' lineup -- were there, and so was catcher Benito Santiago. This Midsummer Classic was an American League rout, with a Seattle youngster named Ken Griffey Jr. making one of his first big splashes.

26. The New Padres debut
Despite the sport being on hold the winter of '95 with the labor stoppage that left Gwynn's 1994 average stuck forevermore at .394, John Moores bought the Padres and brought in longtime Orioles executive Larry Lucchino to run the club. When play resumed, the "New Padres" took the field on April 26, 1995. They got off to a rough start, losing 10-2 to the Astros, but the Padres wound up the most improved team in baseball in '95.

27. Snickers hangover
Ken Caminiti had just created a legend in Monterrey, Mexico, where he fell victim to dehydration, but took two IVs of fluid and a Snickers bar to get off the clubhouse floor and hit two homers against the Mets. The bases were loaded in the first inning of the home game in San Diego the next day, on Aug. 18, and Caminiti responded with a grand slam -- one of many memorable moments from his 1996 National League MVP season.

28. One and done
The highlight games of the '96 season were played up Interstate 5 at Dodger Stadium, where the Padres swept the final series to claim the NL West title. In its lone playoff game in the NL Division Series, The Murph rocked when Ken Caminiti hit a game-tying homer in the eighth but fell silent when Brian Jordan hit a two-run shot in the ninth for a 7-5 Cardinals victory.

29. Another big opening
In the '97 home opener, the Padres did that back-to-back-to-back thing again, this time in an 11-run sixth against the Mets. Chris Gomez, Rickey Henderson and Quilvio Veras came through with the homer trifecta on April 1.

30. Clinching party
Buoyed by the offseason acquisition of Kevin Brown, the Padres rolled through the NL West in 1998, clinching the title at home on Sept. 12. They turned a 7-0 deficit into an 8-7 lead. With AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" beckoning him, Trevor Hoffman's 49th save set off a wild, champagne-soaked victory lap around the field.

31. Hitch 'em up
Sterling Hitchcock won the battle of lefties against Randy Johnson in the NL Division Series clincher for the Padres, who shared the celebration with their fans in San Diego. It was the Padres' big home postseason moment of '98. They'd lose two of three at home in the NLCS before going to Atlanta to claim Game 6 and the pennant.

32. Damn Yankees
Well, this World Series experience in San Diego wasn't any better than the first, only this time it was the Yankees dancing on the field after Game 4. But the energy of the towel-waving crowd before each game was intense and sounded a bit like being inside an F-14 engine. The crowd stayed for an emotional curtain call for the Padres after the Game 4 loss.

33. Rickey's milestones
Rickey Henderson set career Major League marks in walks and runs and reached the 3,000-hit plateau -- all at the Q in 2001. After walking past Babe Ruth and three days before hitting 3K, Henderson scored his 2,246th career run to eclipse Ty Cobb's record on Oct. 4-- sliding in safe after a home run trot, much to the delight of his younger teammates.

34. T's last hurrah
The last of his 3,141 hits came the day before, but Tony Gwynn's last bow came after his last home game on Oct. 7. San Diego hasn't known and may never know a deeper relationship with an athlete.

35. The Q's last hurrah
On Sept. 28, 2003, the last hit, run, pitch and catch of Major League Baseball at Qualcomm Stadium will be recorded -- and will be followed next April by the first hit, run, pitch and catch of San Diego's next era at PETCO Park.

John Schlegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/images/2003/09/22/ofmuExOa.jpg
Padres outfielder Dave Winfield was mayor of San Diego for the day, July 11, 1978. (AP photo)

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/sd/photo/ballpark/krocAP-275x235.jpg
Ray Kroc -- the man who built McDonald's -- kept the Padres in San Diego. (AP photo)

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/sd/photo/ballpark/gwynn1988-GI-275x235.jpg
Tony Gwynn retired with 3,141 hits -- all with San Diego. (Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/sd/photo/ballpark/davis1993-GI-275x235.jpg
Padres reliever Mark Davis won the Cy Young Award in 1989. (Gary Newkirk/Allsport)

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/sd/photo/ballpark/hoffman100498-AP-275x235.jpg
Trevor Hoffman gets a hug and a champagne shower after beating the Astros in the National League Championship Series, Oct. 4, 1998. (Lenny Ignelzi/AP)

[GaryMrMets]

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/sd/ticketing/say_goodbye.jsp

Say Goodbye To The "Q"
September 26-28

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You won't want to miss the Padres final weekend at the Q September 26 - 28 when the Padres celebrate Promotions, People and the Past. Tony Gwynn, Mr. Padre, will be the honorary chairman for "Say Goodbye to the Q Weekend" and will be the host for all the festivities that are planned for this memorable weekend. Plus, see your Padres take on the Colorado Rockies for a three game series.

Here's a rundown of all the events for each day of "Say Goodbye to the Q Weekend".

Friday, September 26th @ 7:05 p.m.

The return of the Famous San Diego Chicken for his final Qualcomm appearance.

All fans in attendance will take home their very own collectible Famous San Diego Chicken Bobble Head Doll.

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Padres Collector Pin Puzzle #8 presented by Coca-Cola (first 25,000 fans)

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Coca-Cola Family Night - Bring a label from any 2-liter Coca-Cola product to any Padres Store location or the Padres Advance Ticket Window at Qualcomm Stadium, Gate C and get 4 Club Grandstand or View Level Tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 Cokes and a Padres Magazine for only $35!

After the game, fans can enjoy the final Padres fireworks extravaganza ever at The Q.

Saturday, September 27th @ 7:05 p.m.

Saturday night will celebrate special people in Padres history. The Padres All-Time Team, selected by the fans, will be joined by returning alumni and significant figures in club history.

All fans in attendance will receive a PETCO Park Baseball Hat presented by PETCO and Hill's Science Diet.

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Again this year fans will have the opportunity to win a jersey of a player's back. Tickets for the Fourth annual "Shirts Off Their Back" fundraiser will be on sale at QUALCOMM Stadium beginning Sept. 22 continuing through Sept. 27.

After the game, a "Lights Out" ceremony will conclude the final night of Padres baseball at The Q.

Sunday, September 28th @ 2:00 p.m.

The final Padres game at the Q.

All fans in attendance will receive a commemorative Qualcomm Stadium Ticket Holder, presented by Sycuan.

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It's also the last day to purchase a personalized brick that will become a permanent part of PETCO Park.

Exciting post-game ceremonies with plenty of surprises will close out the team's historical run in Mission Valley.

[GaryMrMets]

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/sd/ballpark/qodlineups.jsp

San Diego Padres Opening Day lineups, 1969 - 2003

1969
SS Rafael Robles 2B Roberto Pena CF Tony Gonzalez RF Ollie Brown
1B Bill Davis LF Larry Stahl 3B Ed Spiezio C Chris Cannizzaro
P Dick Selma

1970
SS Tommy Dean 3B Val Kelly RF Ollie Brown 1B Nate Colbert
CF Clarence Gaston LF Jerry Morales 2B Dave Campbell C Chris Cannizzaro
P Pat Dobson

1971
2B Dave Campbell LF Larry Stahl CF Clarence Gaston 1B Nate Colbert
RF Ollie Brown 3B Ed Spiezio C Chris Cannizzaro SS Tommy Dean
P Tom Phoebus

1972
SS Enzo Hernandez 2B Derrel Thomas LF Leron Lee 1B Nate Colbert
RF Larry Stahl CF Jerry Morales C Bob Barton 3B Dave Campbell
P Clay Kirby

1973
SS Enzo Hernandez CF John Grubb LF Leron Lee 1B Nate Colbert
RF Clarence Gaston 3B Dave Hilton 2B Dave Roberts C Bob Davis
P Clay Kirby

1974
RF Bobby Tolan 2B Glenn Beckert CF John Grubb 1B Willie McCovey
LF Nate Colbert C Fred Kendall 3B Dave Hilton SS Enzo Hernandez
P Bill Greif

1975
LF Bobby Tolan 2B Tito Fuentes RF Dave Winfield 1B Willie McCovey
CF John Grubb 3B Glenn Beckert C Randy Hundley SS Enzo Hernandez
P Randy Jones

1976
LF John Grubb 2B Tito Fuentes CF Willie Davis RF Dave Winfield
1B Mike Ivie 3B Doug Rader SS Hector Torres C Bob Davis
P Randy Jones

1977
LF Gene Richards 2B Mike Champion RF Dave Winfield CF George Hendrick
C Gene Tenace 1B Mike Ivie 3B Doug Rader SS Bill Almon
P Randy Jones

1978
1B Gene Richards 2B Derrel Thomas LF Oscar Gamble RF Dave Winfield
CF George Hendrick C Gene Tenace 3B Bill Almon SS Ozzie Smith
P Gaylord Perry

1979
CF Gene Richards SS Ozzie Smith 1B Mike Hargrove RF Dave Winfield
LF Jerry Turner 3B Barry Evans C Gene Tenace 2B Fernando Gonzalez
P Gaylord Perry

1980
SS Ozzie Smith 2B Dave Cash LF Gene Richards RF Dave Winfield
CF Jerry Mumphrey 1B Gene Tenace C Bill Fahey 3B Aurelio Rodriguez
P Randy Jones

1981
LF Gene Richards SS Ozzie Smith CF Rupert Jones 3B Luis Salazar
1B Randy Bass RF Dave Edwards C Terry Kennedy 2B Juan Bonilla
P John Curtis

1982
LF Gene Richards 2B Juan Bonilla SS Garry Templeton CF Rupert Jones
RF Sixto Lezcano C Terry Kennedy 3B Luis Salazar 1B Broderick Perkins
P Juan Eichelberger

1983
LF Gene Richards 2B Juan Bonilla 1B Steve Garvey C Terry Kennedy
RF Sixto Lezcano CF Rupert Jones SS Garry Templeton 3B Luis Salazar
P Tim Lollar

1984
2B Alan Wiggins RF Tony Gwynn 3B Graig Nettles 1B Steve Garvey
C Terry Kennedy LF Carmelo Martinez CF Kevin McReynolds SS Garry Templeton
P Eric Show

1985
LF Jerry Davis 2B Mario Ramirez RF Tony Gwynn 1B Steve Garvey
CF Kevin McReynolds C Terry Kennedy 3B Jerry Royster SS Garry Templeton
P LaMarr Hoyt

1986
2B Bip Roberts RF Tony Gwynn CF Kevin McReynolds 1B Steve Garvey
LF Carmelo Martinez SS Garry Templeton C Terry Kennedy 3B Jerry Royster
P Eric Show

1987
CF Marvell Wynne SS Garry Templeton RF Tony Gwynn LF Carmelo Martinez
3B Kevin Mitchell 1B Steve Garvey C Benito Santiago 2B Joey Cora
P Eric Show

1988
CF Stan Jefferson RF Tony Gwynn LF Keith Moreland 1B John Kruk
2B Randy Ready C Benito Santiago 3B Chris Brown SS Garry Templeton
P Ed Whitson

1989
2B Roberto Alomar 3B Tim Flannery CF Tony Gwynn 1B Jack Clark
LF Carmelo Martinez RF John Kruk C Benito Santiago SS Garry Templeton
P Eric Show

1990
3B Bip Roberts 2B Roberto Alomar RF Tony Gwynn 1B Jack Clark
CF Joe Carter LF Fred Lynn C Benito Santiago SS Garry Templeton
P Bruce Hurst

1991
2B Bip Roberts SS Tony Fernandez RF Tony Gwynn 1B Fred McGriff
C Benito Santiago LF Jack Clark 3B Jim Presley CF Shawn Abner
P Ed Whitson

1992
SS Tony Fernandez RF Tony Gwynn 3B Gary Sheffield 1B Fred McGriff
C Benito Santiago LF Jack Clark CF Darrin Jackson 2B Kurt Stillwell
P Bruce Hurst

1993
RF Tony Gwynn 2B Jeff Gardner 3B Gary Sheffield 1B Fred McGriff
LF Phil Plantier CF Derek Bell C Dave Walters SS Craig Shipley
P Andy Benes

1994
2B Bip Roberts SS Ricky Gutierrez RF Tony Gwynn LF Phil Plantier
CF Derek Bell 3B Archi Cianfrocco 1B Dave Staton C Brad Ausmus
P Andy Benes

1995
LF Bip Roberts CF Steve Finley RF Tony Gwynn 1B Eddie Williams
3B Ken Caminiti SS Andujar Cedeno 2B Jody Reed C Brad Ausmus
P Andy Benes

1996
LF Rickey Henderson CF Steve Finley RF Tony Gwynn 3B Ken Caminiti
1B Wally Joyner C Brad Ausmus SS Andujar Cedeno 2B Jody Reed
P Andy Ashby

1997
2B Quilvio Veras RF Tony Gwynn CF Steve Finley 3B Ken Caminiti
LF Greg Vaughn 1B Wally Joyner C John Flaherty SS Chris Gomez
P Joey Hamilton

1998
2B Quilvio Veras CF Steve Finley RF Tony Gwynn 3B Ken Caminiti
LF Greg Vaughn 1B Wally Joyner C Carlos Hernandez SS Chris Gomez
P Kevin Brown

1999
2B Quilvio Veras LF Reggie Sanders RF Tony Gwynn 1B Wally Joyner
C Greg Myers 3B George Arias CF Ruben Rivera SS Chris Gomez
P Andy Ashby

2000
LF Al Martin SS Damian Jackson RF Tony Gwynn 3B Phil Nevin
1B Ryan Klesko 2B Bret Boone CF Ruben Rivera C Carlos Hernandez
P Sterling Hitchcock

2001
2B Damian Jackson CF Mark Kotsay 1B Ryan Klesko 3B Phil Nevin
RF Tony Gwynn LF Mike Darr C Wiki Gonzalez SS Chris Gomez
P Woody Williams


2002
2B D'Angelo Jimenez CF Mark Kotsay LF Ron Gant 1B Phil Nevin
RF Bubba Trammell SS Deivi Cruz C Wiki Gonzalez 3B Ramon Vazquez
P Kevin Jarvis

2003
SS Ramon Vazquez 2B Mark Loretta CF Mark Kotsay 1B Ryan Klesko
LF Rondell White 3B Sean Burroughs RF Xavier Nady C Gary Bennett
P Brian Lawrence

[GaryMrMets]

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/sd/news/sd_news.jsp?ymd=20030922&content_id=536200&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp

09/22/2003 9:00 AM ET
Fall Classic memories at the Q
By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- While the San Diego Padres are not a franchise steeped in the tradition of say the Yankees, Dodgers or even the Twins, they do have history.

A history that also has a measure of success, and that measure is the World Series.

The Padres have been to a pair of World Series, a neat 14 years apart, first in 1984 and then in 1998. While coming away losers in both, reaching the Fall Classic by winning the National League pennant stands as the top achievements for the team in its 35 seasons in Mission Valley.

In 1984, the Padres faced the Detroit Tigers and in 1998, the Padres drew the New York Yankees. At first glance, one could recognize that the Padres would lose out from the perspective of tradition, but when it came down to in between the lines, they faced a more immediate problem.

They played the teams that essentially they could not beat.

"Both clubs had unbelievable years," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said of the Tigers and Yankees. "They both went wire-to-wire and right through the playoffs. I think both years we just ran into the best team in baseball."

In getting to their first World Series in 1984, the Padres fought through a five-game NLCS with the Chicago Cubs, winning three straight after being down 0-2. Propelling the Padres to their first NL flag was a thrilling Game 4, which saw Steve Garvey nail down his NLCS MVP award with a 4-for-5, five RBI performance.

Garvey would hit a walk-off, two-run homer in that penultimate game, deflating the Cubs and the Padres advanced the following day with a come-from-behind 6-3 win.

Bochy, who would later become the most successful manager in Padres history, was a backup catcher on the 1984 squad, playing in just 37 games and contributing a .228 batting average with four homers and 15 RBIs. He would not appear in the NLCS but would get his one shot in the series against the Tigers.

"In the World Series we ran into the hottest team in baseball in the Detroit Tigers who had just a phenomenal year," Bochy said of a squad that jumped out to a 35-5 mark by May 24. "We played them tough the first couple of games at our place and got a split there."

The first two games were indeed close. In Game 1, the Padres jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the first inning in the first World Series game played at then Jack Murphy Stadium. But Larry Herndon's two-run homer in the top of the fifth off Padres starter Mark Thurmond was the difference in the 3-2 loss.

In Game 2, the Padres got even and gained their only win in the series and the franchise's only World Series win to date. At that time, the designated hitter rule alternated years as opposed to alternating between NL and AL parks as it does now.

Little-used Kurt Bevacqua came up big with a three-run homer in the second game, celebrating by blowing kisses to the hometown crowd. Bevacqua, who hit just .200 during the season, hit .412 for the series with two homers and two doubles.

It was one of the few things that went well for the Padres against the Tigers.

"We knew they would be tough in Detroit, which they were," Bochy said. "I remember our starting pitching really struggling and that was the difference there."

While the scores from Tiger Stadium -- 5-2, 4-2 and 8-4 -- seem to reflect reasonably close games, the Padres were never really in any of them. Upon another statistical review, that of the starters' ERA, a clearer picture emerges. Thurmond and Eric Show posted ERAs of 10.12, Tim Lollar had a 21.60 and Ed Whitson logged a 40.50.

But with the Tigers well on their way to their first World Series title since a seven-game defeat of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1968, the part-time player got a life-long dream.

"That was a great experience because I was just a role player," Bochy said of his lone World Series at-bat. "I was hoping to get in there at some point. (Padres manager) Dick Williams let me pinch-hit in the fifth game there off (Willie) Hernandez. That's what you dream of, getting into a World Series. That's a moment I'll never forget."

For all-time, Bochy's batting average in the classic will stand at a perfect 1.000 with his eighth-inning single in that decisive fifth game.

Bochy would take over as the Padres skipper in 1995, winning a divisional title in 1996 and then the pennant in 1998. But waiting for him in the World Series were the Yankees, winners of 23 titles.

"'98 was similar in the respect that the Yankees had an unbelievable year," Bochy said of the Yankees that won 114 games during the regular season. "But we did too. It was a lot tougher to get to a series in '98 than in '84 because in '84 you only had to beat one club. We had to get through Houston; we had to get through Atlanta. We did that and we got to the World Series."

Like 1984, the Padres were expected to bow out of the playoffs in '98, first to the Astros and then to the Braves. Like 1984, the Padres faced insurmountable odds in the World Series, facing a superior baseball team. Unlike 1984, the Padres would not win a game.

But in a case of could have/should have, the first game, and perhaps the entire series, hung in the balance of one call.

"I just think the first game in that series was the turning point," Bochy said. "We had the lead and Kevin Brown was sick and couldn't go anymore. The bullpen gave it up there and it just seemed like it swung the momentum. We were playing so well at the time."

Brown was feeling ill prior to his Game 1 start. In the NLCS, Brown had started one game, winning a 3-0 shutout of the Braves, and had also drawn a relief appearance in the fifth game. But aside from pitching on five day's rest in the World Series, Brown ran out of gas in what would become the fateful seventh.

After Donne Wall relieved Brown, Mark Langston came in to face Tino Martinez with the bases loaded. On a two-out, 2-2 count, Langston threw what appeared to many to be strike three but Martinez took the pitch at the knees and the count went full.

"It's such a fine line between winning and losing, a call here or there," Bochy said. "That call goes our way and obviously it's a different ballgame. I'll always see that pitch, myself."

Martinez drove the next ball deep into Yankees lore for a grand slam, turning a three-run deficit into a one-run advantage and they never looked back.

"There is nothing you can do about it now but boy, at the time, it was such a crucial call of the series and it could have been the turning point," Bochy said.

The Yankees waltzed to victory in the second game, taking an early 6-0 lead before winning 9-3 and headed to San Diego thinking sweep.

Again the Padres played tough, reaching the eighth inning with a one-run advantage. With two on, Bochy elected to bring in Trevor Hoffman to pitch to eventual series MVP Scott Brosius.

"You can't afford to lose any more games and Hoffy came in the eighth there and Brosius hit the home run," Bochy said of the three-run shot that sent the series to its inevitable end. "Brosius killed us. We actually did a pretty good job on their big guys but that day Brosius killed us and he killed us in that series."

The Yankees third baseman hit .471 with two homers and eight RBIs over the four games

"Again if we could have won that game, momentum could have swung a little bit," Bochy said. "We just had a tough time getting him out."

Both the 1984 and 1998 squads share the distinction of being the only Padres teams to reach the World Series. While feeling that they were close, Bochy gives the edge to the '98 team.

"I think the '98 club was a little bit better. We had more power. We had a front-line starter in Kevin Brown," Bochy said. "But there were some similarities between the teams. They were two teams where everybody played such a big part to get there. Neither team had one guy that 'did it.'

"In 1998, obviously Brown had a big year but we had (Ken) Caminiti, (Steve) Finley, (Wally) Joyner, Greg Vaughn, Tony Gwynn. The '84 team was similar in that way, we had Garvey, Gwynn, and Alan Wiggins. Both clubs were similar in they both got contributions throughout that lineup. The clear parallels are that they were both solid lineups."

Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Sterling Hitchcock tips his hat to the crowd at Qualcomm in Game 3 of the 1998 World Series. (Eric Draper/AP)

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Bruce Bochy watches the Padres prepare for Game 3 of the World Series at Qualcomm Stadium, Oct. 19, 1998. (Todd Warshaw/Allsport)

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09/22/2003 9:00 AM ET
Fans pick all-time team at the Q
By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- It's a time to say farewell but also a time to give some props.

With a little help from their friends, the Padres put together an all-time team that encompasses the beginning and the end of their time in Mission Valley.

In recognition of the team's 35th and final season at Qualcomm Stadium, fans were allowed to vote in a season-long campaign to help name the all-time team. Tony Gwynn led all ballots and will always be remembered as the Q's starting right fielder.

Joining Gwynn with top honors is Trevor Hoffman, who received the most votes for Padres pitchers and was second overall.

Current Padres manager Bruce Bochy was named the top manager in a landslide over the Padres' other World Series skipper, Dick Williams. Rounding out the top five for Padres managers were Jack McKeon, John McNamara and the club's first pilot Preston Gomez.

"Whenever you receive an honor like this or manager of the year, so many people are involved, coaches and upper management," Bochy said. "To be selected by the fans means a lot. I know it means I've been here a long time but to be recognized by the fans is special."

Gwynn netted 33,511 votes in being named to the club's all-time outfield. Hall-of-Famer Dave Winfield and Steve Finley would also patrol the starting outfield for this Padres fantasy squad. Rickey Henderson would ride the bench as the fourth outfielder while current center fielder Mark Kotsay finished fifth in the voting for outfielders.

"I appreciate being remembered, honored," Winfield said of being named to the all-time Padres team. "This is where I started. I did a lot; I accomplished a lot. I never knew it was only going to be about a third of my career but I did a lot of good stuff and appreciated the opportunity. I got to play there and do my thing and learn."

Going around the horn are Steve Garvey at first, Roberto Alomar at second, Ken Caminiti at third base and Ozzie Smith at shortstop. Benito Santiago was named the Padres' all-time catcher.

"I'm honored to have been a part of that time," Garvey said. "I'm flattered that those moments had such an effect on people."

Hoffman garnered the most votes for pitchers but the Padres all-time leader in saves with 350 (352 total for his Major League career) resides in the bullpen. Securing the most votes for starters was Randy Jones, who hauled down 23,195 votes -- good for fourth among players behind Gwynn, Hoffman and Winfield.

The left-handed Jones was the club's first Cy Young award (1976) and would be joined in the rotation by Kevin Brown, Gaylord Perry, Andy Ashby and Dave Dravecky. Just 500 votes separated Dravecky from the fans' sixth and seventh choices for pitcher, Eric Show and Sterling Hitchcock.

Hoffman also came away with the largest margin of victory among relievers, getting 77.9 percent of the vote while Rollie Fingers trailed a distant second being named on just 9.5 percent of the ballots. Rich "Goose" Gossage, Mark Davis and Craig Lefferts rounded out the top five Padres relievers.

Two other current Padres placed high in the balloting. Ryan Klesko finished second among first baseman, edging Nate Colbert, Fred McGriff and Wally Joyner. At third, Phil Nevin placed just ahead of Graig Nettles for second place behind Caminiti. Gary Sheffield was fourth among Padres who have played the hot corner.

In the infield, Tim Flannery, Alan Wiggins, Bip Roberts and Quilvio Veras finished behind Alomar at second; and Garry Templeton, Chris Gomez, Tony Fernandez and Enzo Hernandez trailed Smith at short.

Backing up Santiago at catcher would be Terry Kennedy with Carlos Hernandez and Fred Kendall running third and fourth.

Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Tony Gwynn says farewell to the fans at Qualcomm at his retirement ceremony in 2001. (Denis Poroy/AP)

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09/22/2003 9:00 AM ET
Garvey homer puts the Q on map
By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- It was just one swing of the bat, but that one cut secured the Padres' franchise a place on the map

All it took was 15 years.

On Oct. 6, 1984, Steve Garvey put a swing on a Lee Smith high and away fastball and drove it over the short wall in right-center field of Jack Murphy Stadium for a game-winning, two-run homer.

That opposite-field shot set in motion an oppositional outcome.

Up to that point, no one expected the Padres to upset the Cubs in the National League Championship Series. Up to that point, the Cubs had dominated the Padres and had a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-five series. Up to that point, however woeful their history, the Cubs were a franchise with 108 years of tradition while the Padres were known for ugly uniforms.

Up to that point when bat met baseball.

"For me, that is the biggest thing that has happened," Tony Gwynn said, who was on base for Garvey's shot. "That is the biggest one moment in the history of this ballpark as far as baseball is concerned because really that night put this organization on the map."

Without playing its importance beyond a sporting event, Garvey admits it had a profound affect on the people who were listening, watching or witnessing at the time.

"What measures the events that affect your life is how people remember where they were," the man most responsible for the moment said. "Of the 60,000 or so people who said they were there, another 250,000 have said where they were when it happened."

The Padres had won their first NL West divisional title in 1984 after 15 seasons of never finishing higher than fourth. The club advanced to its first postseason and played the NL East-winning Cubs with the first two games of the series at Wrigley Field.

"It was a golden year," Garvey said of that season. "Four or five guys had great years. Tony Gwynn was in his third year. Alan Wiggins was a catalyst. Garry Templeton and Terry Kennedy were coming into their own. And then you had the veterans, Graig Nettles, Goose Gossage and me who kind of brought it together. We had a nice mix of guys. There was no pretentiousness and no personality problems."

As predicted, the Cubs rolled over the Padres in Games 1 and 2, hitting six home runs including five in a 13-0 pasting in the series opener. After taking the second game, 4-2, the series moved on to San Diego.

Even though the Cubs had earned "home-field advantage" that season on the strength of their 96-65 finish, the NLCS would conclude at the Murph. While that may have contributed to the Padres winning the NL flag that year, Garvey's Game 4 clout proved to be the back-breaker for Chicago.

"Coming back on the plane, I said to Tony that we had them right where we wanted them," Garvey recalled. "He looked at me like I was crazy but I went on to tell him that all we needed to do was win the first game, just take it one game at a time."

The Padres took care of their first order of business, avoiding a sweep by taking the third game, 7-1. Starting pitcher Ed Whitson combined with reliever Goose Gossage to keep the Cubs within the park for the first time in the series. Templeton had a two-run double and Kevin McReynolds homered for San Diego.

All of which amounted to a prelude to the greatest game in the history of the Padres and the ballpark they would occupy for the next 19 seasons.

"We battled all night long," Gwynn said of the fourth game. "Garvey got four hits that night, all of them with two out, except for the last one. But each of them tied the game or gave us a lead. It was the biggest thing as it had those big of ramifications for our organization."

Garvey would bat .400 in the five-game series with a double, a homer and eight RBIs, including that 4-for-5 performance in Game 4 when he drove in five runs in the Padres' 7-5 victory.

The Padres clinched the pennant the following day with a 6-3 win, sending the club to its first World Series and preventing the Cubs from appearing in their first Fall Classic in 40 years.

But it all came down to one at-bat. One swing.

"I had not done well against Lee Smith. I had struck out like six of the eight times against him, which was a lot for me because I was a contact hitter," Garvey said. "He started me out with a fastball away and I took it for ball one. He then threw over to first base to check Tony. I was thinking that he wasn't going to fool around so I was anticipating a fastball."

Garvey described what happened next as a moment frozen in time.

"It was a fastball high and away. I'm a low-ball hitter, so when it left the bat I wasn't sure because it was so high. As it started to go I watched Henry Cotto starting to climb the wall and I thought: 'This is going to be the greatest catch ever.' It wasn't until it hit about five feet down on the big wall that I knew it was gone."

Out in the Padres bullpen, a backup catcher watched the arc of the ball that would ultimately carry him to his first World Series. To him, there was no doubt.

"That was as beautiful a sight as I've seen in baseball playing when that ball left the ballpark," said Bruce Bochy, the Padres' manager since 1995. "As soon as he hit it, you knew it was out, too. It was a euphoric feeling because you realize you're going to Game 5 and you could just feel the confidence of the ballclub that we could do this."

As high as he felt rounding the bases and then his greeting at home by his teammates, Garvey said it was literally a 15-minutes-of-fame moment.

"It was loud and everything in the clubhouse but we settled down quickly because we still had one more game to play," Garvey said. "I really think that that is why Nettles and Goose and I were there. Guys with the experience who could keep the younger guys from getting too high."

Garvey won the NLCS MVP for his heroics against the Cubs and would play three more years with the Padres, ending his Major League career at 19 seasons in 1987. In all, the former Padres and Dodgers great hit .338 in 11 postseason appearances with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs, taking NLCS MVP honors in 1978 and winning the NL MVP in 1974.

"I had big moments with the Dodgers," Garvey said. "But that may have been the biggest moment because of the effect it had on so many people at one time."

Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Steve Garvey is carried off the field in triumph after beating the Cubs with a game-winning, walk-off homer in Game 4 of the NLCS, Oct. 6, 1984. (AP)

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Steve Garvey played for the Padres from 1983-1987. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

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09/27/2003 2:50 AM ET
Media members honored at the Q
Old-Timer's night for writers and broadcasters
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- There we all were Friday night, standing along the first-base line, a group of writers, photographers and broadcasters who had covered the Padres during their first 35 years, all of them played in Qualcomm/San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The hair seemed grayer and some of the backs were more bent and bellies more swollen than you remember in your mind's eye. But the crowd of 45,588 listened intently to the pregame introductions before the Padres' 5-0 victory over the Rockies. It was Old-Timer's night for the media.

Saturday night will be the big festivities as the Padres bring back the players on their All-Time Team for the next to the last baseball game at the Q. It will be the last night game followed by a turn out the lights ceremony. Sunday, the curtain will go down for good after the final afternoon game. The next Padres' game in San Diego is tentatively scheduled for April 8 in new PETCO Park.

"To be honest, I'm glad to be saying goodbye and let's get on to the new ballpark," said Bruce Bochy, the backup catcher for the 1984 National League champions, the manager of the 1998 pennant winners and still the manager today. "I'm ready to go."

I am 51 now, but I was in the press box that hazy October Saturday evening in 1984 when Steve Garvey hit the home run that put the Padres into position to beat the Cubs in the playoffs. Among diehard fans, crusted scribes and broadcasters alike, it is considered the greatest baseball moment among many in the old ballpark now turned irreversibly into a football facility.

I covered the Padres for the old San Diego Tribune and was seated next to Tom Cushman, my boss and the lead sports columnist. At once, the moment of elation and the tumult of the crowd led to an immediate letdown. We looked at each other in the same moment of recognition and realized we couldn't write it. The Tribune didn't publish a Sunday newspaper.

Cushman and I were together again Friday night at the Q, probably for the last time. We were honored as part of the stadium's fabric, the guys who told the story in black ink on newsprint to the unwashed masses. Barry Lorge and Wayne Lockwood of the old San Diego Union, Bernie Wilson still of the Associated Press, Steve Dolan, then of the Los Angeles Times, and Bill Weurding of the Tribune, made up the Magnificent Seven.

The Padres introduced us all to the backdrop of a running collage of our clips and mug shots on the video board. The applause was sweet and polite.

Cushman is retired now and working on freelance projects and I work for this august beast known as the Internet. No worry about not publishing Sunday here. We publish 24/7 and if Garvey hit that home run at 2 a.m. today, somebody would be in our bullpen ready to post it on MLB.com.

But on that Saturday night nearly 19 years ago, we had to wait a day to write. And by then, the Padres had completed their unlikely comeback from an 0-2 deficit to defeat the Cubs in the last best-of-five NL Championship Series.

"It was a surreal evening," Cushman said about Garvey's two-run, ninth-inning homer off Lee Smith that gave the Padres a 7-5 victory. "He already had three hits that night and he wasn't that good a hitter anymore. He had a great night and it created an unbelievable situation. Maybe I enjoyed it more because I wasn't working."

That week in 1984 -- five postseason games in seven days -- made San Diego come alive as a baseball town. The Padres won four of them, including a Game 2 win in the World Series over the Tigers, their only World Series win in the team's history.

The week began with the Padres getting whacked by the Cubs in two games at Wrigley Field. They returned from Chicago and rode busses from the airport to retrieve their cars in the stadium parking lot. What awaited them there was a sea of humanity, of undying love and fan affection. The fans willed the Padres to come back in the NLCS, and that they did.

"That's where you have to start, that whole playoff series against the Cubs," said Lorge, then the sports editor and columnist for the Union and now a public relations consultant for the Padres. "In retrospect, everything that happened before and afterwards gets filtered through that moment when we became a baseball town."

The Padres didn't survive Detroit in that World Series. They were 0-5 during that postseason on the road, including three straight losses at Tiger Stadium to lose the series in five games.

Their, 5-3, win on Oct. 10, 1984, was fashioned on a three-run, fifth-inning homer off the bat of Kurt Bevacqua, a journeyman infielder who was the designated hitter in the game. Bevacqua was the guy former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda once said, "couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat."

On this night, he hit it out. Cushman recalled standing at Bevacqua's locker when Dave Dravecky, a left-handed reliever on that team, reached over the hoards and handed him what was supposedly the home run ball.

"Bevacqua turned over the ball in his hand and looked at it," Cushman recalled. "He said, 'God, look at this thing, it's crushed on one side.'"

Like the fate of the old ballpark, the old Tribune is long gone, merged with the old Union in the early 1990s to form one mega paper. Cushman, who still writes an occasional column for the Union-Tribune, seemed to have enjoyed the honor of being remembered by the Padres on Friday night. Ironically, again he wasn't working.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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09/28/2003 3:16 AM ET
Q All-Time Team announced
Former Padres greats bid their final farewells
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres' All-Time Team has two Hall of Famers, another one who's dead certain to make it, a National League Most Valuable Player third baseman, two NL Cy Young Award-winning starters, a Rookie of the Year, the first baseman who played in the most consecutive games ever in the NL and a reliever who has the most saves of anyone in history for the same team.

Saturday night after the final night game at Qualcomm Stadium, 28 former Padres including seven of the 11 on the All-Time Team, lined up across the field and were introduced again to the cheers of 42,479 after the lights were turned out for good in the stadium at 9:59 p.m. PT.

And Sunday, when the last game is complete, they will take their positions wearing their old jersey tops for the last time. For the record, the Padres lost, 10-2, to the Rockies on Saturday night, their 97th loss and 45th home loss of another long season.

Around the horn the All-Time Team goes like this: Steve Garvey at first base, Roberto Alomar at second, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith at short, 1996 NL MVP Ken Caminiti at third, Hall of Famer Dave Winfield in left, Steve Finley in center, eight-time batting champion Tony Gwynn in right, NL Cy Young winners Randy Jones and Gaylord Perry on the mound, Trevor Hoffman coming in from the bullpen and Benito Santiago behind the plate. Bruce Bochy, the manager, has the second longest tenure right now at his position in the Major Leagues.

"For all those guys, it's great," said Gwynn, a certain Hall of Famer in the class of 2007. "Winny and Ozzie head the team. They're both Hall of Famers. They both started here. Hoffy is the best reliever that I ever saw. Alomar, of course I was fortunate enough to play with him early in his career. Steve Finley to me is the most underrated Padre. He did everything.

"Same with Ken Caminiti. They were great teammates. They both played the game hard. I was here when Benito started and he's still playing, doing very well. These guys are deserving."

Save for Gwynn, the other 11 players started or ended their careers somewhere else aside from San Diego. Gwynn played his entire 20 years for the Padres. Currently, Finley is playing for Arizona, Santiago is going to the playoffs for the second consecutive postseason with the Giants and Alomar is with the White Sox.

All three are finishing their respective seasons and were not at the Q on Saturday night, but made video appearances. Perry was also absent in person, but present on video. The seven who were in attendance all walked or ran down the base lines under dueling spotlights and made an emphatic last step on home plate in the darkened stadium.

Returning with the seven All-Time best on Saturday were players from every Padres era. Among them were Ed Spiezio, Chris Cannizzaro, Ollie "Downtown" Brown, Bob Shirley, John D'Acquisto, Gene Richards, Kevin McReynolds, Terry Kennedy, Dave Dravecky, Goose Gossage, Kurt Bevacqua, Garry Templeton, Bip Roberts, Tim Flannery, Archi Cianfrocco and Wally Joyner. Phil Nevin, Ryan Klesko and Mark Kotsay, along with Hoffman, are all on the current team and were also on the field.

Bochy, obviously, was here. So were former managers Preston Gomez, Roger Craig and Dick Williams.

Gomez was the manager of the expansion Padres in 1969. Craig, who later took the Giants into the World Series, managed the first Padres team that played .500 or better in a single season -- 84-78 in 1978. Williams was the manager of the 92-70 Padres that won the 1984 pennant, their first, and never had a team that finished below .500 in his four San Diego seasons -- 1982 to 1985.

Bochy has managed the team since 1995, the longest MLB managerial tenure behind Atlanta's Bobby Cox. Bochy took the Padres into the 1996 playoffs and the 1998 World Series, both losing efforts. His NL pennant winning team in 1998 finished 98-64, the best record of its 35-years playing in Qualcomm/San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Oddly, 1996 and 1998 are Bochy's only winning seasons in his nine-year run as Padres manager. Still, the fans, voting in Padres Magazine and on padres.com, picked Bochy over the irascible Williams.

"I have so much respect for Dick, I learned so much from him," said Bochy, who was the backup catcher on Williams' 1984 NL Champs. "It means a lot to have the fans acknowledge you. The fact that I've been here so long has to have something to do with it."

Smith, Winfield, Alomar and Santiago all came up through the Padres system and all starred elsewhere.

Santiago came up in 1987 and was named the Rookie of the Year for a season he finished on a 32-game hitting streak. He left after seven seasons and signed as a free agent with the Marlins. He is in his 18th season.

Alomar came up in 1988 and played three seasons for the Padres before he was traded to Toronto. He is in his 16th big league season.

Smith came up in 1978 and played his first four of 19 seasons with the Padres, but is much better known for his 15 seasons in St. Louis, where he won the 1982 World Series and still makes his home.

"I don't know how much making the Hall of Fame had to do with it," Smith said about being voted on to the team. "It's amazing because so many of the young fans couldn't have even seen me play here."

Winfield was drafted by the Padres in 1973 and went directly into the Major Leagues. He spent his first eight of 22 seasons in San Diego before signing with the Yankees as a free agent after the 1980 season.

"As an organization at that time we were just trying to make our mark," said Winfield, a vice president and senior advisor for the team and the only player of the four Padres in the Hall of Fame to wear his cap with the interlocking SD. "It was tough. I know for me I was just emerging as a player, learning to play the game."

Gwynn is the cornerstone of the franchise. He is now the head baseball coach at San Diego State and a color commentator for ESPN. His 3,141 hits are by far the most in franchise history. He came up for good in 1983 and retired at the end of the 2001 season.

It's not surprising, then, that Gwynn's introduction brought the loudest ovation as he walked purposely toward home plate and touched it, perhaps for the last time.

"I don't like looking back," Gwynn said. "I loved playing. I loved my time here. But you have to turn the page. Looking back brings sadness sometimes."

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Ozzie Smith (bottom left) Roger Craig (bottom, left of center) and Dick Williams (bottom center) were some of the former Padres who attended the ceremony in San Diego Saturday night. (Ben Platt/MLB.com)