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| 1973 "Mustard Men" of San Diego |
5 years removed from expansion, the Friars showed little to no signs of improvement. Unlike the lovable Amazin's in NY or the Pilots in Seattle the Padres had no unique storyline to endear them to the fans both local and national. Finishing dead last in attendance in the NL emphasized that this franchise was a rudderless ship barely afloat. In fact there were even rumblings that the franchise might be moving to Washington. Manager Don Zimmer was able to get the team to out-perform it's "Pythagorean" by 3 games, but that still couldn't prevent them from losing over 100. The Padres started off the season by grabbing 2 of 3 from their SoCal rivals (the Dodgers) and then it all went downhill from there. By the end of April they were 10 games back and it just got progressively worse. The lone bright spot that gave fans hope for the future occurred on Tuesday June 19th in a 7-3 loss to the Astros. That was the day that 21 year old 3 sport star Dave Winfield made his major league debut. Winfield, the only man drafted in the first round by 3 sports (Baseball/Football/Basketball) went 1-4 that day. More importantly he provided some glimmer of hope for Padre fans that the franchise was now moving in the right direction.
Hitting: Nate Colbert (.270-22-80) was most of the offense as he had been since the Padres stole him from the Astros in the 1969 expansion draft. Second year man Dave Roberts (not the pitcher), hit .286 with 21 long balls as the team's third baseman. John Grubb (.311) was the only regular to hit over .300, but he was not well suited defensively as a centerfielder.
Pitching: Bill Greif (10-17, 3.21) was the ace of the staff. Obviously when pitching for a team that was dead last in run production the team's ace is bound to have a sub .500 record. 23 year old Randy Jones (7-6, 3.16) made his major league debut on June 16th. 24 year old Mike Caldwell (5-14, 3.74) had 10 saves, but was much better suited to be in the rotation than the pen.
As part of the project to create a card for every player, who participated in 1973 I created 15 new cards
Backup catcher Bob Davis hit .091 in very limited action (5 games in total. Davis would spend all of 1974 in the minors before making the big club in '75. In 5 years in SD he would hit .205 in 366 AB's spanning 166 total games. He would also spend 2 years in Toronto and a brief stint with the Halos in '81. Probably the highlight of his professional career would be his time in AAA where he won the PCL championship as a member of the famous 1970's Hawaiian Islanders teams.
34 year old Bob Miller's best days were behind him. His mid 60's glory years with the championship Dodgers teams were just a faded memory and probably the main reason he was brought to San Diego. Miller was lucky to have been picked up off of the waiver wire by the Tigers on June 22nd, so he could get a shot at playing meaningful games. Miller would play on 3 different teams during the '73 season (SD/DET/NYM).
Sadly Dave passed away this year (2017). Dave was a great human being and a wonderful teacher of the game. He appeared on my show (Mark & Marc in the Midday) a few months before he passed. Even more tragic is the fact that the MLBPA sold him and other pre-1980 players down the river by not including them in the pension fund. Shameful.
In 1973 Dave .197 in 230+ AB's. He was the team's primary utility infielder. He was a pure grinder. In his second year in the "biggs" as a 22 year old he hit a career high 5 homers. Dave played 4 seasons in the majors. All with the Padres. He too was an integral part of those Hawaiian championship teams. He was also a teammate of the great Sadahara Oh in Japan. After baseball he devoted his life to working with kids and helping them achieve their baseball dreams. He is sorely missed by all. RIP Dave.
What can I say about the great Dave Winfield that you already don't know? A 3 sport star, who could have excelled professional in any of the 3, Dave chose baseball and we are all lucky that he did. It wasn't easy finding a photo from his first year (1973) to create this card. Even Dave has trouble making the "mustards" look cool! From day one everyone knew he would be a star. Cooperstown came a calling in 2001 and nobody was shocked that he went in as a Padre, since he was the franchises first true superstar and super gentleman.
After hitting in the low .200's in 1971 Mason spent most of his remaining professional years in the minors. In '73 he played in just 8 games and went hitless for the Padres. He spent most of his time playing in AAA for the great Hawaiian teams.
San Diego was the first of 4 stops in Zim's managerial career. The hard nosed former Boy of Summer came to San Diego with purpose of bringing the Padres closer to respectability. After losing 102 games he was let go by the team after 2 last place finishes. Truthfully no one could have won with this team, but as we all know managers are hired to be fired.
In 107 AB's Dwain Anderson hit just .121. His time in San Diego was so forgettable that I couldn't even find a picture of him in mustard. Instead I decided to follow Topps' lead and do my own version of airbrushing. As you can see it's just as awful as their 1970's airbrushing, LOL! Hopefully I can come across a good photo and update this one. In addition to having only a .203 career batting average, he holds the post-1920 non-pitcher season record for at-bats without an extra base hit, with 124 in 1973.
Frank's whole major league career consisted of 18 relief appearances with the '73 Padres. Snook accredited himself well with an 0-2, 3.62, 1sv record. He would spend two more seasons in the minors before calling it a day. Snook is the pride of Somerville, New Jersey.
Grubb hit .311 for the Padres in '73 and finished 6th in the ROY voting. There was no sophomore jinx in 1974 as he made his first (and only) All-Star team. After the '76 season he was dealt along with Fred Kendall to Cleveland for George Hendrick and Hector Torres. In 5 solid seasons in San Diego he hit .386. His career would span 17 seasons. He was a key member of the 1984 World Champion Detroit Tigers as their 4th OF'er and lefty DH.
1973 would be Pat's 9th and final year in the big leagues. It must have been tough for him going from Cincy, as Johnny Bench's backup, to San Diego where he backed up Fred Kendall. Corrales hit .208 in limited action in 1973. He spent the full '74 campaign in Hawaii (not really a punishment). 1975 saw him embark on his managerial career in AA Alexandria. He would eventually spend parts of 11 seasons manning the bench for 4 major league franchises.
23 year old Randy Jones finished with a winning record (7-6, 3.16) for a 102 loss team. Very impressive. Big things were expected for him the following season, but the reality of being a early 70's Padre set in and he lost over 20 games (8-22, 4.45). Jones learned well from his adversity and put together back to back 20 win season in '75 and '76, where he won the NL Cy Young Award. After throwing 300+ innings in '76 Jones was never quite the same as a hurler and became a sub .500 pitcher the rest of his career,which ended after a disappointing 1982 with the Mets.
Morales hit a disappointing .164 as the Padres primary second base man (90 games). A woeful 1974 season where he hit .197 ensured that his career was finished. Best known for some decent seasons as a White Sox Morales hung it up at the age of 30.
After a decent (7-9, 4.25) 1st major league campaign as the Padres swingman in 1973, Trodeson bottomed out (1-1, 8.78) in 1974 and never again played major league ball. His minor league numbers in 1974 and 75 were nothing to write home about either. At the age of 25 his career was over.
The 30 year old Romo spent 8 seasons bouncing around the majors as a competent bullpen man. In 2 seasons in SD he saved 16 games and had a 4.08 ERA. In an eight-season career, Romo posted a 32–33 record with a 3.36 ERA, 52 saves, and 416 strikeouts in 335 games pitched. In Mexico, he had a 182–106 record in 16 seasons, and holds the career record for best ERA with at least 2,000 innings pitched at 2.49. He also holds a number of Mexican Pacific League records. He is a member of the Mexican Baseball League's HOF.
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