As a courtesy to Padres fans born in this century, here’s what it sounds like when your team reaches the World Series.
“The Padres win the pennant, the Padres win the pennant!” shouted the late Jerry Coleman 40 years ago, after the late Alan Wiggins gloved Graig Nettles’ throw to second base in Mission Valley.
Fourteen years later, when Steve Finley gloved a fly ball in Atlanta, Coleman erupted with glee once again.
“The Padres drape the National League flag around their shoulders for 1998!” he said.
Padres fans under age 25 haven’t been so fortunate when it comes to San Diego reaching the World Series. They’re 0-for-a-lifetime.
But perhaps they and all Padres fans, after seeing two of the past three full-season Padres teams make a playoff run, only to fall short of the pennant, have gained a great appreciation for the franchise’s two clubs that did climb to the World Series.
Breathe easy, young folks. I’m not about to wax on about how magnificent the Padres were in 1984 and 1998.
There’s never been more talent in baseball than today. The past wasn’t as golden as it’s often ed.
Also, comparing teams’ achievements across different eras is often folly. Baseball is much different today from decades ago. Postseason machinations have changed, too.
Today, for instance, it’s easier to get a playoff berth, thanks to the expanded field. Additional playoff rounds, though, have made it harder to navigate the postseason.
Keeping with the appreciation theme regarding the ’84 and ’98 Padres, I’ll single out underappreciated contributors to each pennant drive.
Reggie’s homer
If not for Padres scouting executive Reggie Waller deciding to draft 17-year-old Derrek Lee in 1993, general manager Kevin Towers wouldn’t have been able to trade for Florida Marlins ace Kevin Brown entering the 1998 season.
Brown had the most important great season in Padres history, leading the ’98 club to a franchise-best 98 wins. In the playoffs, he outpitched Hall of Famers with each 100-plus-victory team the Padres eliminated.
Minus Brown’s assists, it’s conceivable the Padres never would have received the voter approval and the $300 million in public money that got Petco Park built.
Waller was a Hoover High School graduate – yes, Ted Williams’ alma mater – who was drafted out of San Diego City College and played in the Reds’ system.
Hired by Padres GM Joe McIlvaine, he oversaw the Padres’ drafts in 1992 and 1993.
Waller chose future Hall of Fame first baseman Todd Helton with the second pick of his first draft. But, in part because he was undermined in negotiations by the Tom Werner-led Padres ownership group, the club failed to sign Helton.
A year later, Waller drafted another future All-Star first baseman in Lee with the 14th pick after considering Torii Hunter, Alan Benes and several others. Lee, a Sacramento high school standout at both basketball and baseball, signed for $600,000.
Waller said he and several Padres scouts agreed: Lee was the best choice.
But when a Padres executive ed the team in a number of months, he panned the decision.
“He got all over me for selecting Derek Lee,” Waller said. “He told me that we should have taken Jermaine Allensworth (a Purdue outfielder who went 34th to the Pirates). I responded that I took who I felt was the best player for us.”
Waller and the Padres would part ways, with Waller landing with the Yankees.
Lee became a favorite of a Florida Marlins scout who lived in Pacific Beach, the late Orrin Freeman. He urged his bosses to trade for Lee when Towers came calling for Brown, whom the team was shopping on a one-year deal.
Brown provided the Padres exponential returns on his $4.95 million salary, and Lee did the same on the $600,000 Waller invested in him.
What made the bonanza possible were Padres scouts headed by Waller who accurately projected the 6-foot-5 teen would someday become a very good big-leaguer.
One scout was Don Lyle. Later with the Yankees, Lyle played a pivotal role in their drafting of Aaron Judge, a Fresno State star, who, like Lee, was a very tall, slugging right-handed hitter.
Another pro-Lee Padres scout was Logan White, now an adviser to Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller.
Waller said he was impressed by Lee’s hitting with runners in scoring position, his large frame, his baseball IQ and his two-sport athleticism. He liked that Lee’s father, Leon, had played in Japan; and that Lee’s uncle, Leron, was a former Padres outfielder.
“For me,” Waller said, “Derrek was a baseball player, pure and simple. It was great that it ended up being the right decision.”
Brown and the ’98 Padres didn’t get past the ‘98’Yankees, the winningest of Yankees teams. Doing the Padres one better, Lee and the Marlins won the 2003 World Series against the Yankees. Lee would play through 2011, finishing with 331 home runs, a .281 batting average, three Gold Gloves and a batting title (.335) won with the 2005 Cubs.
Out machine
Goose Gossage was great for the ’84 Padres. With his Yankees pedigree, walrus mustache and strikeout knack, the Hall of Famer gave the franchise a certain flair.
Much less known today is the reliever who often set up Gossage: lefty Craig Lefferts, whose fastballs may not have been faster than Gossage’s best sliders.
Hitters didn’t fear Lefferts as they did Gossage. After all, he struck out only 4.8 hitters per nine innings.
But Lefferts provided heavy horsepower to a journey that netted the franchise’s first NL West title and pennant.
How did Lefferts pitch to a 2.03 ERA, despite getting only 56 strikeouts in 105.2 innings?
“He had a lot of movement on his pitches,” texted Bruce Bochy, a catcher on that team.
Lefferts, who allowed only four home runs, finished ‘84 with an adjusted ERA 69 points better than the league average.
And, in the winner-take-all Game 5 against the Cubs, who got the six outs ahead of Gossage, who induced Jody Davis’ grounder to third baseman Nettles that excited Coleman?
Yep, Lefferts.
Not done there, he tossed six scoreless innings in the World Series. Lefferts, obtained by the Padres in a three-team trade that also brought Carmelo Martinez, would pitch through 1994.
