1937 San Diego Padres season

The 1937 PCL season ran from April 2 to September 19, 1937. The Padres, led by manager Frank Shellenback, finished third in the PCL with a 97–81 record. The Padres qualified for the PCL's four-team playoffs. They defeated the first-place Sacramento Solons, four games to none, in the opening round, and then defeated the second-place Portland Beavers in the championship series, again by four games to zero.[2]

Ted Williams, age 18 when the season began, played in left field for the 1937 Padres, compiling a .291 batting average with 23 home runs in 138 games.[3] On December 7, 1937, the Padres dealt Williams, described in the next day's The Boston Globe as "a string-bean 19-year-old outfielder from San Diego", to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for cash plus outfielder Dom D'Allessandro and infielder Al Niemiec.[4] In 1999, Williams was ranked as number eight on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, where he was the highest-ranking left fielder.[5]

Catcher George Detore won the 1937 PCL batting crown with a .334 batting average. Five other Padres also finished the 1937 season with batting averages higher than Williams: right fielder Rupe Thompson (.326), second baseman Jimmie Reese (.314), first baseman George McDonald (.312), center fielder Hal Patchett (.306), and outfielder Cedric Durst (.293).[3][6]

San Diego's outfielders also ranked as the league's best defensively. Center fielder Hal Patchett led the PCL (all positions) with a .993 fielding percentage, committing only three errors with 442 putouts and five assists. Right fielder Rupe Thompson led the league's outfielders with 27 assists.[7]

The Padres' pitching staff was led by Tiny Chaplin who appeared in 43 games and compiled a 23–15 win–loss record with a 2.72 earned run average (ERA).[3] Manny Salvo compiled a 19–13 record and led the PCL with 196 strikeouts.

• "The Greatest Minor League: A History of the Pacific Coast League, 1903-1957", by Dennis Snelling (McFarland 2011)