This is a great book from someone who was around for years in the Padres organization, Mr. Bob Chandler. I miss his presence with the Padres….to bad him Jerry & Ted aren’t doing the radio currently. This is another one of those “must own” items for Padres fans in my opinion (unless you don’t know how to read….then again you wouldn’t be reading this then). Tons of great stories throughout the years. Although one story I totally debunked on my other blog. It’s OK Bob I’ll let that one slide.
Categories: Bob Chandler · Books · Misc. Members of the Team · My Collection
According to the “Dressed to the Nines” uniform database this hat was used by the Padres for home & away games in 1969 & 1970. In 1971 they used it at home only. And lastly in 1972 they used it on away games and rotated it with another hat on home games. Here’s the kicker with this hat. I originally bought this hat style back around ‘96 or so. I wore it like crazy and the thing eventually was trashed. I then began looking for a new one to no avail. But then about 2 years ago I found a site that started selling this hat. I wasn’t sure if the color was off in the picture or not but it sure looked like the SD was orange instead of yellow so I called to verify and was told that it is indeed yellow and the picture came out wrong. I purchased the thing and when I received it it was as orange as can be and I promptly returned it. Please tell me why MLB continues to sell this thing as a “1969-1973″ hat? First of all the Padres didn’t even wear the hat in 1973. Second from ‘69-’72 the hat was brown and YELLOW (see numerous examples from baseball cards through the years above). The Padres even wore brown and YELLOW hats on ‘69 throwback night earlier this year. Back when they gave out ‘69 throwback hats for a stadium giveaway it was brown and YELLOW. So why do the Padres (I’ve seen it in the Padre store) & MLB continue to sell this rubbish? Anyways now that the rant is over back to the hat pictured. I finally found a real brown and YELLOW hat on ebay a year or so ago in my size and swooped it up. I was a happy camper once again.
Categories: Clothing · Hats · My Collection
Here we have a couple Padres California Lotto 2 dollar scratch offs. They were released in 2007 along with ones for the Dodgers, Giants, A’s & Angels (all the California teams). It was kind of tricky getting these because instead of having just the Padres on a roll they had all the teams on it. Meaning if I didn’t come in at the right time I could have been stuck with a Giants one or even worse a Dodgers one. So basically I would just go in and ask what ticket was showing each day at my local 7-11 and if it was the Padres I’d snatch it up. Of course after striking out my first few times I finally got a Padres one and I actually won a free ticket so I had to turn it in. Eventually I got these 2 losers though so I could add it to my collection.
Categories: Lotto · My Collection
2003 was a pretty good year for stadium giveaways. There were a couple great retro bobbleheads given out, they had the ‘84 replica caps, the Tony Gwynn Russian Nesting Dolls and they even had an Elvis night. Here is another one of the cool giveaways that year. It’s a mini replica of Qualcomm Stadium that holds the ticket to the final Padre game ever at Qualcomm Stadium (/Jack Murphy Stadium/San Diego Stadium). As you entered the stadium instead of ripping the ticket like they normally did they punched it with a “Final Game at Qualcomm Stadium I was there” stamp. It was quite an event that I will remember forever. The game wasn’t so great as the Padres lost to the Rockies 10-8. Jake Peavy pitched OK giving up 3 runs in 6 innings but the bullpen imploded as Jay Witasick, Mike Mathews & Scott Linebrink gave up 7 runs in an inning and a third. Trevor Hoffman did come in to throw a scoreless 9th in a non-save situation. I guess you can say he was “closing out” the Q. He came in to AC/DC’s “Shook Me All Night Long” instead of the usual “Hells Bells” since it wasn’t a save opp. After the game there was a big ceremony as tons of Marines came out and removed home plate so it could be transferred to Petco Park. Mayor Dick Murphy then drove it downtown and when he got there it was played on the big screen for all to see and it was placed in the new home for the Padres. Numerous former Padres were called out on the field in a celebration as well. Tony Gwynn, Ozzie Smith, Dave Winfiled, Randy Jones, Ken Caminiti, Steve Garvey, Mark Grant, Dave Dravecky, Wally Joyner and many others came out with Cami probably getting one of the biggest cheers of the night. Trevor even came out of the bullpen to “Hells Bells” one final time.
Categories: Ballparks · My Collection · San Diego/Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium · Stadium Giveaway
Apparently I had a brain fart and forgot to post yesterday in my week long Gwynn tribute so I will double it up today to finish it off. This is a jumbo Tony Gwynn ‘84 NL Batting Champ card brought to you by Miller Lite. I’m not really sure if this was a giveaway or what. The stats on the back of the card don’t even list his 1984 stats nor does the bio about him mention anything about the 1984 season. So it’s possible this was a rush job by Miller Lite to capitalize on him winning the batting championship and was released during the ‘84 post season. But that’s just my guess. I hope you enjoyed Gwynn Fest ‘09!!
Categories: Baseball Cards · My Collection · Players · Tony Gwynn
Here we have a Tony Gwynn Wheaties box to commemorate his induction into the baseball Hall of Fame back in 2007. It was his first time ever gracing the box and it was a “tremendous honor” to him. I kept an eye out for this one at my local grocery stores and finally swooped in a bought a couple when I finally found them. On the back of the box it has a brief bio on Tony and mentions how he was taking part in the Wheaties Fit to Win Challenge. He apparently lost 17 pounds doing it too.
Categories: Cereal Box · My Collection · Players · Tony Gwynn
The Tony Gwynn bobbleheads continue with this SDSU bobblehead. It was sold at Chevrons in San Diego County back in 2002 to celebrate Tony taking over as head coach for the Aztecs. It was sold for somewhere around 5 bucks with some of the proceeds going to the SDSU baseball team if I recall correctly.
Categories: Bobble Heads · My Collection · Players · Tony Gwynn
Ah yes the Russian Nesting Dolls. I remember hearing that “these are the new wave of the future, goodbye bobbleheads”. Yet after the flurry of Babooshkah giveaways in the 2003 & 2004 seasons, that saw the likes of George Brett, Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds, Ichiro & the very cool Oakland A’s one of Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Tim Hudson & Ramon Hernandez, to name a few, there haven’t been any that I know of. I thought they were actually pretty cool though. The face actually looks like Tony (unlike some other promotions) and the different unis through the years are a nice touch. The game itself featured Ollie Perez striking out 11 batters and walking only 1 but still got the loss. Jaret Wright, Luther Hackman, Joe Roa, Mike Mathews & Scott Linebrink also pitched in this game. What significance does this have? None really I just thought it was funny that Wright, Hackman, Roa & Mathews all pitched in the same game for us. No wonder why this team lost 98 games that year. The Padres lost to the Reds 9-5. This has a COA of #29718 of 41000.
Categories: Figurine · My Collection · Players · Stadium Giveaway · Tony Gwynn
This is a Tony Gwynn 1984 Padres home jersey. It is the only jersey with a name & number on the back that I own and what better person to get than Mr. Padre himself. This should be filed under “must own” for all Padre fans. Nuff said.
Categories: 1984 NL Champs · Clothing · Jerseys · My Collection · Players · Tony Gwynn
Item #2 in my week long Gwynn fest is a bobblehead that was given away at a minor league game in 2007. Being that the Walla Walla Padres don’t exist anymore the closest thing is now the (Single A Mariners) Everett AquaSox apparently. I personally see a couple things wrong with them claiming allegiance to Tony Gwynn just days before he was about to be enshrined in Cooperstown.
1. Just because your city is 4-5 hours away from his former team doesn’t make it OK to make a bobblehead of him
2. Everett has been home to both the Giants (in the division) & Mariners (the current AL “rival”)
3. Gwynn played a total of 42 games for Walla Walla….not exactly a lot of games
4. I thought that the uniforms were more brown instead of reddish colored?
Anyways now that I have got that off my chest this is still a pretty cool item. I had many Gwynn bobbleheads yet none in a minor league uni.
Categories: Bobble Heads · Minor Leagues · My Collection · Players · Stadium Giveaway · Tony Gwynn · Walla Walla Padres
