Not enough focus on Friars fun facts formerly? Well, what follows is further fodder for Friday.
I hear you; it’s time for me to f-off already.
The first free agent signee in San Diego Padres history? Fittingly, Johnny Podres. General Manager Buzzie Bavasi, having first signed the left-hander to a Brooklyn Dodgers contract in 1951, made 36 year old Podres a Padre on March 21, 1969.
Check out this list of big leaguers drafted but not signed by San Diego, down through the years: Alan Benes, Dennis Cook, Chad Cordero, Marty Cordova, Warren Cromartie, Doug DeCinces, Troy Glaus, Todd Helton, Al Holland, Bob Milacki, Al Osuna, Harold Reynolds, Lenn Sakata and Bump Wills.
It took Cordova eight years to finally stick, and win an American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1995, so you can’t fault the Pads one bit for that one. And credit where credit is due. The Padres read the proverbial crystal baseball perfectly in passing on Ed Vande Berg in 1978, which, one can argue, pretty much gives them carte blanche for three decades. The club starts from scratch next year.
Remember, glove conquers all.
— HOWARD COLE