Top 5 San Diego Padres
It's baseball playoff time, so it's as good a time as any to continue with my crusade to list every team in baseball. I figured I'd try and do a list for all of the playoff teams (I've already listed the St. Louis Cardinals and the now-eliminated Boston Red Sox), but I'll probably lose interest in teams once they're eliminated from the playoffs and don't plan on cramming them all in this weekend. So I'll start with the Padres, the team most likely to be eliminated next (currently down 2-0 to the Cardinals). The Pads are the worst team to qualify for the postseason this year (and, perhaps, ever), but at least they finished above .500 (just barely). They really don't have much history, which made this list a little difficult to put together. This isn't exactly a legendary five. They were founded in 1969, joining the Montréal Expos in National League expansion. Since then, they've lost a lot of games, and won a few. They've won two National League pennants, in 1984 and 1998, but were quickly eliminated in both World Series visits. Their only other playoff appearances came in 1996 and now. Other than that, lots of last place finishes. Oh yeah, and the ugliest uniforms in baseball history. But I'm sure there's lots of Padres fans here in the community, so this isn't just a waste of my time, right? Right?
5. Randy Jones- The best starting pitcher in franchise history, Jones worked the mound for the Pads from 1973 to 1980. He won the NL Cy Young Award in 1976, had the lowest ERA in the league in 1975 (2.24), and won 20+ games in 1975-76 (the two all-star years in his career). But, I gotta be honest with you, until I looked it up for this list, I'd never heard of him. He's number two on the Padres all-time wins list (92), fourth in ERA (3.30), and first in Games Started (253), Complete Games (71), and Innings Pitched (1766.0). His number 35 has been retired by the organization.
4. Garry Templeton- An offensive shortstop for the Padres in an era when the position was primarily manned by defensive specialists, Templeton is the best shortstop in franchise history. Unfortunately for San Diego, they acquired Templeton from St. Louis in 1982 for perhaps the greatest shortstop in the history of game, Ozzie Smith. Oops. So, Templeton is primarily remembered as being on the wrong half of a bad trade. Still, he put up some good numbers for the Padres, winning the Silver Slugger Award in 1980 and 1984, making the 1985 All-Star team (playing behind Ozzie, of course), and playing on their 1984 pennant winner. He ranks third on the club's all-time list for Total Bases (1531), and second on their games played list (1286), At Bats (4512), Hits (1135), and Doubles (195).
3. Trevor Hoffman- One of the best closers in the history of the game, Hoffman has played 12.5 out of his 13 years in the Majors with San Diego, all out of the bullpen. The four-time all-star is currently ranked second in major league history in saves (434 with the Padres, 2 with the Florida Marlins), and unlike the man he's chasing, Lee Smith, Hoffman has maintained a high level of excellence since he won the closer job in San Diego, a rarity for a position that usually sees guys run hot for a few years, then quickly fall off. He'll be an interesting case for the Hall of Fame voters when he becomes eligible, as they've yet to enshrine a full-time closer (Dennis Eckersley was an All-Star starter before becoming a closer). He led the NL in saves in 1998 with 52, earning himself the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award. Hoffman has appeared in more games than any other San Diego pitcher in their history (727), is third all-time in team strikeouts (889), and is their all-time leader in ERA (2.73), along with, of course, team saves.
2. Dave Winfield- Winny was drafted by the Padres in 1973 as a pitching and hitting star for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, and went directly to the Padres, having never played a game in the minor leagues. San Diego was lucky to get him, since he was also drafted by the NFL's Minnesota Vikings (despite not playing college football), the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, and the ABA's Utah Stars. I guess the NHL wasn't interested. In his 8 seasons with the Padres (from 1973 to 1980), Winfield was a 4 time all-star (from 1977-1980), winning Gold Gloves in 1979 and 1980, and led the NL in RBIs in 1979 with 118, before moving on to the New York Yankees and his infamous battles with Satan, er, George Steinbrenner. Winfield ranks second on the club's all-time list for Runs Batted In (626), Total Bases (1853), and Runs Scored (599), third in Games Played (1286), At Bats (3997), Walks (463), Hits (1134), Doubles (179), Triples (39), and Home Runs (154). His number 31 is retired by the club, and in 2001 he became the first (and, so far, only) player to be inducted in the Hall of Fame as a Padre (mostly to piss off Steinbrenner).
1. Tony Gwynn- Who else could be number one but Mr. Padre? A good rule for me to follow is if a guy's nickname is "Mr. (name of team)", then he's number one. I know that'll be the case if I ever get around to listing the Cubs. San Diego's favourite son starred for San Diego State University, which led to him getting drafted not only by the Padres, for whom he would play his entire 20 year career from 1982 to 2001, but also the NBA's San Diego Clippers. After retiring, he went on to coach baseball at his alma mater, in a stadium named after him. So, he's pretty much the most significant figure not only the history of the club, but probably in the city's history. A 15 time all-star (1984-1987, 1989-1999), 5 time Gold Glove outfielder, 7 time Silver Slugger, and 8 time NL Batting Champion (a record he shares with Honus Wagner), Gwynn hit over .300 in every season of his career except his first, and was robbed at a shot at .400 in the strike-shortened 1994 season when he hit .394. One of the greatest hitters to ever play the game, his .338 career batting average ranks fifteenth all-time, the best career average for a player since Ted Williams average of .344, who retired in 1960. Gwynn leads the Padres in almost every offensive statistic the club has beside Home Runs (where he ranks fourth), On Base Percentage (second), and Slugging Percentage (sixth). A member of the 3000 hit club (he finished with 3141 hits), Gwynn's number 19 was retired by the Padres, and he will almost certainly be a first ballot Hall of Famer when eligible in 2007. Oh yeah, he's also one of my favourite players ever.
Honourable Mentions: Nate Colbert, Phil Nevin, Ryan Klesko, Benito Santiago, Steve Garvey