San Diego Padres

The Padres adopted their name from the Pacific Coast League team that arrived in San Diego in 1936. That minor league franchise won the PCL title in 1937, led by 18-year-old Ted Williams, the future Hall-of-Famer who was a native of San Diego. The team's name, Spanish for "fathers", refers to the Spanish Franciscan friars who founded San Diego in 1769.

In 1969, the Padres joined the ranks of Major League Baseball as one of four new expansion teams, along with the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals), the Kansas City Royals, and the Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers). Their original owner was C. Arnholt Smith, a prominent San Diego businessman and former owner of the PCL Padres whose interests included banking, tuna fishing, hotels, real estate and an airline. Despite initial excitement, the guidance of longtime baseball executives, Eddie Leishman and Buzzie Bavasi as well as a new playing field, the team struggled; the Padres finished in last place in each of its first six seasons in the NL West, losing 100 games or more four times. One of the few bright spots on the team during the early years was first baseman and slugger Nate Colbert, an expansion draftee from the Houston Astros and still the Padres' career leader in home runs.

The team's fortunes gradually improved as they won five National League West titles and reached the World Series twice, in 1984 and in 1998, but lost both times. The Padres' main draw during the 1980s and 1990s was Tony Gwynn, who won eight league batting titles. They moved into their current stadium, Petco Park, in 2004.

As of 2020, the Padres are the only team in MLB yet to throw a no-hitter. On September 5, 1997, Andy Ashby took a no-hitter into the 9th inning, which is as close as the team has come to achieving this feat.

On August 20, 2020, the Padres became the first team in MLB history to hit a grand slam in four consecutive games.

Their first logo in 1969 depicted a friar swinging a bat with Padres written at the top while standing in a sun-like figure with San Diego Padres on the exterior of it. The "Swinging Friar" has popped up on the uniform on and off ever since. Although the "Swinging Friar" is no longer used as the primary logo, it remains as the mascot of the team and is now utilized as an alternate logo and on the uniform sleeve.

Brown and gold were the Padres' original colors. The team's first uniforms featured a cream base for the home uniforms and a tan base for the road uniforms. Brown letters with gold trim adorned the uniforms, which featured the team name in front of both designs. A second tan uniform, this time with the city name, was used as a road alternate before becoming the primary in 1971. Caps were all-brown with the gold "SD", though the team later broke out an alternate gold cap with a brown brim and "SD" lettering.

Randy Jones in 1978

Switching from flannel to polyester in 1972, the Padres radically changed their uniforms. The team wore all-gold uniforms and pants regardless of road or home games, with the only difference being the road uniform emblazoned with the city name and the home uniform with the team name. The Padres also broke out a new brown cap, complete with a gold front panel and a brown "SD", which would remain for the next several years.

In 1974, the Padres returned to wearing traditional uniforms. The home design now had a script "Padres" lettering in front, with the road design keeping much of the original aesthetic. Chest numbers were also added. In 1976, the Padres ditched the buttons in favor of pullovers for their home uniform.[7] In addition, they went with a brown uniform top for road games, featuring gold sleeves and gold letters.

The brown uniforms served as a template for the Padres' next uniform set beginning in 1978. The home uniforms now featured brown sleeves and gold letters, and a gold alternate with brown sleeves and letters was also released. The full team name, which was written in a more futuristic font, was emblazoned in front while the swinging friar logo was added to the left sleeve. However, this set only lasted for that season, as the Padres tweaked its design the next season. The updated design removed the swinging friar logo while returning to the team name/city name dynamic for home and road games respectively. The gold uniforms were also retired.

In 1980, the Padres added orange to the palette. The team's next uniform set removed the contrasting colored sleeves and chest numbers, and orange was added to the letters and striping of the home uniforms and trim and striping of the road uniforms. The caps were also updated to feature orange trim on the "SD" and within the gold panel. In 1984, the Padres added the initials "RAK" on the left sleeve in honor of Ray Kroc.[8][9]

In 1985, the Padres switched to using a script-like logo in which Padres was written sloped up. That would later become a script logo for the Padres. The team's colors were changed to brown and orange and remained this way through the 1990 season. In 1989, the Padres took the scripted Padres logo and put it in a gray ring that read "San Diego Baseball Club" with a striped center.

That same year, the Padres returned to wearing traditional buttoned uniforms. The home uniforms featured the script "Padres" in front while the road uniforms had the "SD" emblazoned on the left chest. Brown letters with orange trim and brown pinstripes adorned both uniforms. The "RAK" initials remained until 1986. An all-brown cap with the orange "SD" was used with the uniform.

In 1991, the Padres logo was updated. The color of the ring was changed to silver, and the Padres script was changed from brown to blue. The logo only lasted one year, as the Padres changed their logo for the third time in three years, again by switching colors of the ring. The logo became a white ring with fewer stripes in the center and a darker blue Padres script with orange shadows. In 1991, the team's colors were also changed, to a combination of orange and navy blue.

The home uniform kept the pinstripes but were changed to navy blue, which was also implemented on the letters. The road uniforms eliminated the pinstripes and added the city name in navy blue block letters with white trim and orange drop shadows. A navy cap with the "S" in white and "D" in orange was used with the uniform. The team logo was added on the left sleeve in 1996.

The Padres unveiled a navy blue alternate uniform in 1997, featuring the team name in front written in navy blue with orange drop shadows. Other features included orange numbers at the back and white piping along the chest, neck and sleeves. White chest numbers were added in 1999. Initially, the swinging friar logo was added to the left sleeve, but was removed after the 1998 season in favor of the team's primary logo which lasted until the 2000 season.

The following year, the Padres began wearing an alternate home white uniform which bore the same features as the primary home uniform minus the pinstripes and orange trim. Navy blue piping was also added. An alternate navy cap with the white "SD" was used with the uniform. This uniform became the primary in 2001, after which the pinstriped uniforms were retired following that season.

The logo was completely changed when the team changed stadiums between the 2003 and 2004 seasons, with the new logo looking similar to home plate with San Diego written in sand font at the top right corner and the Padres new script written completely across the center. Waves finished the bottom of the plate. Navy remained but a sandy beige replaced orange as a secondary color. The team's colors were also changed, to navy blue and sand brown. In 2009, the San Diego was removed from the top right corner of the logo.

For the next seven seasons the Padres were the only team in Major League Baseball that did not have a grey jersey. On the road, the team wore sand uniforms with the city name in front. The home design featured the updated "Padres" script in navy with sand drop shadows. Both uniforms featured the primary logo on the left sleeve. The alternate blue uniform featured the same "Padres" script in sand, and the swinging friar logo was added to the left sleeve. The Padres continued to wear their primary navy cap at home, while on the road they went with a second navy cap with "SD" in sand.

In 2011, the Padres' road uniform was changed to a grey base, and the navy and sand caps were used exclusively with the navy alternates. After the season, the alternate navy cap was retired.

For the 2012 season, the Padres unveiled a new primary logo, featuring the cap logo inside a navy blue circle with the words "San Diego Padres Baseball Club" adorning the outer circle. The "swinging friar" logo was recolored navy blue and white and was added to the left sleeve of the home uniform. Another secondary logo features the Padres script carried over from the previous year's primary logo below the depiction of Petco Park in sand and above the year of the team's first season (EST. 1969); this design was added to the team's road and navy alternates. While the home uniforms kept the sand trim, the road and navy alternates did not. In addition, the "SD" replaced "Padres" in front of the navy alternates, and the city name wordmark on the road uniforms was updated. All uniforms also added piping around the chest, neck and sleeves.[10]

In the 2016 season, the Padres wore a navy blue and gold color scheme, similar to the one used on the 2016 All-Star Game logo. The home uniform was patterned similarly to the alternate navy uniforms, with gold trim accenting the piping and letters. An alternate navy cap with the "S" in white and "D" in gold was also used with the uniform.[11] To coincide with the change, the Padres added a new brown and gold alternate uniform to be worn mostly during Friday home games, along with an updated gold-paneled brown cap.

For the 2017 season, the Padres revealed a new color scheme and new jerseys for the second straight year. The gold was scrapped from the home uniform and the team reverted to a navy blue-and-white combo. The word Padres returned to the front of the home uniform, but with a new script, while the script on the road uniform reverted to the San Diego wordmark style it used from 2004 to 2011. Both uniforms also added the "SD" logo on the left sleeve. The navy blue alternates remained intact minus the left sleeve patch.[12][13][14] Despite this major change, the brown and gold alternate uniform from the previous set was retained, with the addition of the "SD" on the left sleeve.

The club announced in January 2019 that the original brown and gold colors would return for the 2020 season.[15] The new uniform designs featuring the brown and gold colors were officially unveiled on November 9.[1] The team featured brown and gold on each of the three unveiled jerseys, including the return of pinstripes to the Padre home jersey for the first time since 2001 and a sand-colored road jersey (with pinstripes for good measure) for the first time since 2010. Alternate non-pinstriped sand pants are paired with the brown alternate jersey. The shade of the sand color is noticeably darker than the sand-colored road jerseys worn from 2004 to 2010. An all-brown cap with "SD" in gold was also released. With the uniform change, the Padres are once again the only MLB team without a grey jersey. During the pandemic-shortened season, the Padres were highly successful, going 37-23 and qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2006, winning the best of 3 Wild Card Series against the St. Louis Cardinals before being swept in the NLDS against the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

The following elected members of the Baseball Hall of Fame played and/or managed for the Padres.

Numbers retired by the Padres displayed in Ring of Honor above the press box at Petco Park during the 2016 season

The Padres have retired six numbers. Five were in honor of Padre players and one was Jackie Robinson's number 42, which was retired by all of Major League Baseball.[28] The retired numbers are displayed on the upper deck facade behind home plate.

† Number retired by Major League Baseball

The Padres also have a "star on the wall" in honor of broadcaster Jerry Coleman, in reference to his trademark phrase "Oh Doctor! You can hang a star on that baby!" Nearby the initials of the late owner Ray Kroc are also displayed. Both the star and the initials are painted in gold on the front of the pressbox down the right field line accompanied by the name of the person in white. Kroc was honored in 1984, Coleman in 2001.

The following 14 people have been inducted into the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame since it was founded in 1999.[31]

Key

Year	Year inducted
Bold	Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
	Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Padre
Bold	Recipient of the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award

San Diego Padres Hall of Fame
No.	Player	Position	Tenure	Inducted
—	Buzzie Bavasi	Team President	1969–1977	2001
21	Ken Caminiti	3B	1995–1998	2016
17	Nate Colbert	1B	1969–1974	1999
2	Jerry Coleman	Manager Announcer	1980 1972-1979, 1981–2013	2001
19	Tony Gwynn	RF	1982–2001	2002
51	Trevor Hoffman	P	1993–2008	2014
35	Randy Jones	P	1973–1980	1999
—	Ray Kroc	Owner	1974–1984	1999
15	Jack McKeon	GM/Manager	1980–1990	2017
9, 09	Benito Santiago	C	1986–1992	2015
—	Kevin Towers	GM	1995–2009	2018
1	Garry Templeton	SS	1982–1991	2015
23	Dick Williams	Manager	1982–1985	2009
19	Ted Williams	LF	1936–1937 (PCL)	2016
31	Dave Winfield	RF	1973–1980	2000

Gwynn, Winfield, Fingers, Gossage, Randy Jones, and Graig Nettles (3B, 1984–1987) are members of the San Diego Hall of Champions, which is open to athletes native to the San Diego area (such as Nettles) as well as to those who played for San Diego teams (such as Gwynn).