SAN DIEGO PADRES
The San Diego Padres were formed as one of the 4 expansion baseball teams in 1969. While they haven’t yet earned a World Series title, the Padres have had their moments and have come painfully close on multiple occasions. Nevertheless, San Diego remains one of the nation’s finest cities and houses a serene location for America’s favorite pastime. One gets the sense that it will be just a matter of time before the Padres earn their first title!
But back in the early 70s, the Padres were reeling under the challenges that come along with creating a new Major League Baseball squad. While a previous edition of the Padres competed in the Pacific Coast League (and even was the launching pad for Ted Williams), the new big league team would struggle for victories.
During the expansion draft of 1969, the San Diego Padres selected Nate Colbert, a promising slugger from the Houston Astros. Colbert would thrive in San Diego, becoming an All-Star several times and belting in countless home runs. He even hit 5 home runs during a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves!
But the Padres as a whole were terrible during their early years, and even considered a move to Washington D.C. in 1974. In the later part of the decade several San Diego pitchers earned Cy Young awards, despite the club’s ill fortunes. Randy Jones and Gaylord Perry would both bring strong pitching to the team, while Dave Winfield provided supreme hitting abilities until the close of the decade.
In 1984, the team’s fortunes changed, and they reached the playoffs for the first time. Young hitter Tony Gwynn emerged while the rest of the team provided balanced production for the club. In the NLCS, the Padres defeated the Chicago Cubs in a dramatic series in which they came back from 2 games down to win! However, their luck couldn’t carry through the 1984 World Series, and they fell in 5 games to the Detroit Tigers.
The club almost returned to the playoffs the following season but a late collapse would ultimately send them back into the doldrums of the National League. While there were some bright individual spots, including a Cy Young performance from pitcher Mark Davis, the Padres couldn’t get it together and earn another trip to the postseason.
But in the late 90s, their fortune changed for the better again. Led by pitching master Trevor Hoffman, superstar hitter Tony Gwynn, and the ML MVP Ken Caminiti, the Padres reached the playoffs again in 1996. In 1998, the team boasted great years by Kevin Brown and Greg Vaughn, reaching the playoffs again. They made a strong run back to the World Series, but were swept by the New York Yankees.
After several down years, the club moved to their new home of PETCO Park in 2004, where they play to this day. New pitcher Jake Peavy helped the Padres reach the playoffs in 2005, though a weakened team was swept in the NLDS. In 2006, a strong pitching effort gave San Diego their first back-to-back NL West division titles, but the St. Louis Cardinals would again put the side away in the NLDS.
These days, the San Diego Padres remain a fine team though they continue to fail at reaching the postseason. With the rise of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants within their division, the Padres will have a high mountain to climb if they want to get back to another World Series anytime soon!
AAA Sports Memorabilia has a great selection of San Diego Padres autographed memorabilia both online and offline. Collectors go to great lengths to find and acquire collectibles that have significance to them. Autograph collectors are always looking for that unique autograph, a game-used item, or an autographed collectible that depicts a great moment in sports history. Since 2006, AAA Sports Memorabilia has been helping sports collectors in finding these great collectibles. All of our autographed sports memorabilia, including our autographed San Diego Padres collectibles, are guaranteed for life to be authentic or your money back. Our autographed memorabilia is obtained during private sessions with the athletes and a representative is there to watch each signature being applied to the collectible.
Visiting our San Diego Padres autographed sports memorabilia section often is best if you are looking for that next valuable San Diego Padres collectible to add to your collection. We have even more autographed San Diego Padres memorabilia in stock then what is on our website, so if you can’t find that collectible that you really want on our site, please contact us at cs@aaasportsmemorabilia.com to see if we have it in stock.
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