San Diego Padres: The First Half Century captures some of the great players to wear a Padres uniform and takes baseball fans through some of the more memorable dates in Padres history. Not just dates that we always read about but the ones that truly tell the story of the franchise. If you’re a longtime Padres fan or baseball fan, you’ll enjoy the wonderful stories put together by SABR on the first 50 years of the Padres franchise.

Includes a foreword by Randy Jones and an Afterword by Major Garrett.

San Diego Padres: The First Half Century is the collaborative work of 51 members of the Society for American Baseball Research. It tells the stories of 25 Padres players—from Ashby to Winfield—several team executives and media members, the ballparks, and even a biography of The San Diego Chicken. You'll There are more than 25 accounts of standout games in franchise history and a few other features as well.

"I’m proud to be in the Padres Hall of Fame and have my number, 35, retired but more proud of the friends I’ve made and people I’ve met with my association with the Padres. Reading these stories has certainly brought many of those memories and I can’t thank SABR enough for writing them."—from the Foreword by Randy Jones

PLAYERS

Andy Ashby Steve Ferenchick

Heath Bell by Geoff Young

Andy Benes by Alan Cohen

Ken Caminiti by Paul Doutrich

Nate Colbert by Gregory H. Wolf

Dave Dravecky by Wayne Strumpfer

Steve Finley by Bill Parker

Tim Flannery by Bob Webster

Cito Gaston by Alfonso L Tusa

Brian Giles by Mark Hodermarsky

Tony Gwynn by Dan D’Addona

Trevor Hoffman by Max Mannis

Randy Jones by Alan Cohen

Terry Kennedy by David E. Skelton

Clay Kirby Charles F. Faber

Ryan Klesko by Joel Rippel

Craig Lefferts by Steve West

Phil Nevin by Joel Rippel

Jake Peavy by Gerard Kwilecki

Gene Richards by Michael See

Benito Santiago by Thomas J. Brown Jr

.Eric Show by John Stahl

Garry Templeton by Nick Waddell

Will Venable by Jay Hurd

Dave Winfield by Doug Skipper

MANAGERS, EXECUTIVES, MEDIA

Bud Black by Nick Waddell

Bruce Bochy by Thomas J. Brown Jr.

Bob Chandler by Tom Larwin

Jack McKeon by Thomas J. Brown Jr.

Eduardo Ortega by Jorge Iber

Elten Schiller by Tom Larwin

Kevin Towers by Mark Souder

Dick Williams by Eric Aron

SPRING TRAINING, STADIA, AND THE CHICKEN

Spring Training in Yuma by Jim Patrick

San Diego Stadium / Jack Murphy Stadium/ Qualcomm Stadium by Curt Smith

Petco Park by Mike Madigan and Dave Nielsen

Ted Giannoulas / The San Diego Chicken by Fred O. Rodgers

NOTABLE GAMES

April 8, 1969: Padres Win Inaugural Game by Gregory Funk

July 21, 1970: Clay Kirby’s Near No-Hitter

June 18, 1972: Arlin One Strike Away from No-hitter

August 1, 1972: Colbert’s Record-Setting Day

June 10, 1974: Padres Overcome Eighth-inning 8-0 Deficit to Win

October 1, 1978: Gaylord Perry Gets 3,000th Career Strikeout and Ozzie Smith Performs his First Pregame Backflip

July 19, 1982: Tony Gwynn’s First Hit

August 12, 1984: A Day at the Brawl Park

October 6, 1984: Another Clutch Moment for Steve Garvey

October 7, 1984: Padres Come from Behind Again to Claim 1984 NLCS

October 10, 1984: Win One for the Friars

October 1, 1989: Gwynn Edges Clark on Last Day for Batting Crown

August 16, 1996: A Mexican Baseball Fiesta

August 18, 1996: The End of La Primera Serie: Padres and Mets

September 29, 1996: Padres Sweep Dodgers for NL West Title

October 14, 1998: Hitchcock Leads Padres to the Fall Classic

and more!