We’ve seen alot of things over the decades in the history of Padres baseball.

Bad seasons, bad owners.

Great owners and philanthropists

World Series games

The emergence of the Padres-Dodgers rivalry.

All things Tony Gwynn-Ken Caminetti-Trevor Hoffman and more.

From Hall of Famers to Has Beens, crackpots to cool guys.

Phonies to Philanthropists.

We now prepare for the next step, the welcoming of the new ownership group, led by Jose E-Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones.

They buy into maybe the hottest market in baseball, a mid size market with a big time budget, huge revenue streams, record attendance and TV ratings.  They paid a steep price but they are buying into the overall big future of the game, regardless of what 2027 (work stoppage) might bring.

They also bring a track record of success in not just sports investment, but investment into the communities they move into.

A look back at the out-of-town scoreboard, of how Padres baseball, thru its ownership, got here:

C-ARNHOLDT SMITH (’69)…Owned the original PCL-San Diego Padres owner and was awarded the expansion team.  Not very good. Not very well run.  Smith, heavily affiliated with Richard Nixon and politics, eventually wound up going to prison on fraud charges.  He tried to move the team to Washington, DC before he was moved out.

RAY-JOAN KROC (’74)…He saved the team. invested heavily into free agents, gave us ‘Trader Jack McKeon’ and some great personalities on the roster.  But he was not a baseball man-but more of a fan, which led to some volatile exchanges with the team, fans, media.  His wife became caretaker upon his passing and did so much for the community.

TOM WERNER (’90)..Known for his ‘Firesales’…Way in over his head even if he came from Hollywood…Tom and the Terrible 15 was what the local ownership group was called…Stung after they bought team, they were hit with a big bill for ownership’s share of money owed to the Union as part of the Jack Morris collusion settlement…Strip mined roster, in essence then run out of town, along with Rose Ann Barr-home plate anthem..A disaster.

JOHN MOORES (’94)..The genius who rebuilt the team with his business acumen…brought us the bold brilliance of Larry Lucchino, which begat World Series games and then the arrival of Petco Park…Should never be forgotten.

RON FOWLER (’12)..As Moores stepped away, Fowler stepped in to stabilize the franchise economics as the game changed.

PETER SEIDLER (‘2020)…Can you say St. Peter…Took a mid market team, spent big time money on payroll…Here came his “Wheeler Dealer-GM-AJ Preller…Gave us the philosophy ‘I will invest in this team-we will win-and the community will invest in us’…and it worked.  Petco Park is a destination place.  Added in the creative juice of Team President Erik Gruepner’s game day packages, just this side of Bill Veeck, and it’s more than a game now in this town.  The Padres own the sports dollar market..own the emotion of the community…If the Padres ever win a World Series in this era, I hope the rings they give out will have the inscription “PS”..a fitting tribute to Peter Seidler’s legacy…Great businessman, greater person.

So here we are with the introductory press conference on Monday of Team Feliciano.  An interesting time to be a Friar Fan.  An interesting road the Padres franchise has walked down since 1969.

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