San Diego Padres Retired Numbers

The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team in Major League Baseball (MLB) based in San Diego, California. The club was founded in 1969 as part of the league's expansion. MLB clubs have retired various uniform numbers, ensuring that those numbers are never worn within the respective clubs in honor of a particular player or manager of note. The Padres no longer issue six numbers that have been retired. The numbers are commemorated at the team's home stadium at Petco Park in a display at the park entrance as well as in the Ring of Honor.

Steve Garvey was the first player to have his number retired by the Padres in 1988. The first baseman had retired during the offseason, and his 6 was being worn by Keith Moreland, who switched to No. 7 after presenting Garvey with a framed Padres No. 6 jersey during a pregame ceremony. Garvey played only five seasons with San Diego, but hit the game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against Lee Smith of the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the 1984 National League Championship Series (NLCS), tying the series before the Padres won the next day. He was named the NLCS Most Valuable Player, and San Diego advanced to their first World Series. In 2016, ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' ranked Garvey's Game 4 homer as the No. 1 moment in San Diego sports history. However, he played 14 of his 19 seasons with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, where he was also more productive, and the retirement of his number by San Diego has been heavily debated.

On April 15, 1997, exactly 50 years after Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line, the No. 42 he wore with the Brooklyn Dodgers was retired throughout major league baseball. Later that year, Randy Jones's No. 35 was retired by the Padres. He was a two-time All-Star in 1975 and 1976, when he was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year a year before becoming the club's first Cy Young Award winner in 1976. On the day his number was retired, the ''Union-Tribune'' wrote that Jones was "the most popular athlete in the history of this city" during the mid-1970s until his career was derailed by a severed nerve in his left arm. His starts at home would spike attendance by the thousands, and the crowd began a tradition on Opening Day in 1976 of greeting him with a pregame ovation.

Dave Winfield was next to have his No. 31 retired in 2001, when he was also inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. His retirement ceremony also celebrated his decision to be the first member of the Hall of Fame to have his plaque depicted with him wearing a Padres cap. Winfield played for six teams in his 22-year career, spending his first eight seasons in San Diego followed by eight with the New York Yankees. In 2004, the Padres retired No. 19 in honor of Tony Gwynn, who is widely considered the greatest Padres player ever. He played his entire 20-year career with San Diego and won an NL-record eight batting titles. The most recent number to be retired was Trevor Hoffman's No. 51 in 2011. He had retired from playing after 2010, when he left the game as MLB's career leader in saves with 601, including 552 with the Padres.

The Padres' retired numbers are displayed at Petco Park at Home Plate Plaza. Fans are allowed to pose for pictures next to the aluminum numbers, which are high, wide, and deep. Originally, the numbers were atop the batter's eye in center field, until they were relocated in 2016. The numbers were not ready for display in time for the park's opening in 2004, but they were unveiled midseason. Also beginning in 2016, the numbers are displayed in the Ring of Honor on the upper deck façade above the press box behind home plate.

Prior to moving to Petco, the team played at Qualcomm Stadium, where the retired numbers were originally displayed on banners hanging from the light towers above the left field stands. However, Garvey's number was commemorated instead on the wall behind the spot in right-center field where his winning home run in the 1984 NLCS cleared the fence, but the number disappeared when the stadium was expanded in 1997 and the location was masked by an overhang. It reappeared in 2002 when all the retired numbers were moved and inscribed on the outfield fence.

Retired numbers

† Number retired by Major League Baseball

See also

*List of Major League Baseball retired numbers

Notes

References

{{San Diego Padres

Retired numbers
Lists of Major League Baseball retired numbers