On a day off, I thought I'd report about my humble beginnings as a Padres fan in the 1970s, which was one of my first lessons in humility.
While I was a kid attending Berry Elementary School in the South Bay area in the mid 70s, only a couple of miles from the border, it dawned on us kids that there was actually bigger sport in town than our Little League games. Actual Major League Baseball, where grown men get paid to play a boy's game. Wow! Okay, so the name (Padres) sounded kind of weird and one that needed to be explained to me, but heck. We had a team...allegedly. It wasn't like people were camping out overnight to buy tickets at Jack Murphy. And what the hell was a Jack Murphy anyway?
My older brother was the shrewd one and went with the Dodgers outright. Sutton, Garvey, Cey, Lopez, Baker...they made sure that their feet were on the Padres' throats for as long as my big brother's foot was on mine. They were merciless. Their goal was to win the pennant each year. Our goal was to win 70 games and sell 70 tickets. Like I said, humble beginnings.
My hero? Dave Winfield. I have loved the man all of my life. Dave Winfield at 6'7" not only resembled a superhero, but played like one with numerous superpowers. What couldn't Winfield do? Try me, I dare you. Power, average, speed, defense...in addition, the man carried himself with class, despite playing for a perennial loser. I remember my brother buying a pack of Topps Cards in '77...with a Dave Winfield card! My brother's friend bought that card from him for a buck fifty, and we all thought he was the richest kid on the block. Winfield, meanwhile, continued playing his heart out for us until he left for free agency in 1980. I'm sure nobody in San Diego saw that coming.
Jack Murphy Stadium was much too big at first, the way Petco Park was. I never went to a game as a kid because the stadium in Mission Valley was about 10 miles from my home, and we couldn't afford any tickets. Back in the 70s, you might have bought a ticket to see other teams play. Remember the Pittsburgh Lumber Company? The Big Red Machine? Lord, guys like Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench would absolutely feast on our pitching.
Another guy we had in the 70s was a guy named Randy Jones. Perhaps you've heard of him. He was Mr. Cy Young in 1976, I believe. The problem was, he also pitched over 300 innings and eventually left SD by 1980. He was fun while it lasted. Remember Ozzie Smith? Billy Almond? Mike Ivey? Gene Tenace? Bob Owchinko? Only the incorrigible die hards do.
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