In January, longtime Padres announcer and real American hero Jerry Coleman passed away at the age of eighty-nine.
Five months later, baseball fans lost another legend... this time the greatest player in San Diego franchise history and my favorite player of all-time: Mr. Tony Gwynn.
And if those two losses weren't bad enough... the San Diego Padres just wrapped up their fourth consecutive losing season and eighth straight season without post season play.
But there's no way I'm going to wrap up the Padres season without mentioning a pair of positives. This year the San Diego Padres organization and their fans celebrate two major anniversaries.
2014 marks the 30th Anniversary of the San Diego Padres first appearance in the World Series.
That might not sound like a big deal to most baseball fans, but the Padres have only been to two World Series... and have never walked away World Champions. So for the time being... it's something to celebrate.
This season Padres fans celebrated another anniversary. This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Ray Kroc's purchase of the team. What's the significance of his purchase? The passionate owner kept the Padres in San Diego.
Yeah... it's been a pretty rough year for San Diego Padres fans. But at least we have some positive memories to hold onto as we push forward and wait until the 2015 season.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
Hey look on the bright side, at least the Padres have a well regarded farm system (although it's mostly just produced mediocre/not great but good players). The Rockies and Giants don't have that.
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of being at the bottom is there's nowhere to go, but up.
DeleteOne man's happy memory from 1984 is another man's sorrow.
ReplyDeleteI'm a total closet Cubs fan. I secretly hope they win whenever they're not playing the A's or Padres.
DeleteHey! I have that record too! Now I just need to get a record player. Love that Coleman auto as well, it's the only auto of Jerry I've got. Would LOVE to get a Gwynn certified auto someday, but that day will probably not come $oon.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that Gwynn was so good to his fans... he signed for almost every product out there. In short... his autographs are affordable. Not sure about right this second... but before he passed away, I was able to buy his autographs for $20 to $30 on a regular basis.
DeleteThat Ray Kroc card is cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I've been trying to build that set and the Kroc kept eluding me. Eventually had to go out and buy a graded copy.
DeleteRight on, Fuji. A nice tribute that gave me, a lifelong Padres fan who misses watching Gwynn play at The Murph as a kid, something to smile about.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it. Us Padres fans need to stick together!
DeleteTony Gwynn was a special player/person and will be sorely missed.Good luck to your squad moving forward,though.
ReplyDeleteTony Gwynn was the main reason I'm a Padres fan today. As for their future... well... the good news is that I don't have high expectations for them, which means I can't be disappointed.
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