The 1984 Padres adopted Ray Parker, Jr .' s " Ghostbusters " as their theme song ( à la the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates using Sister Sledge's " We Are Family " as their theme song ).

On April 4, 1999, the Rockies made history as they played their Opening Day game against the defending National League champion San Diego Padres at Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico – marking the first time Major League Baseball opened the regular season outside the United States or Canada.

In that season, the Marlins traded their young set-up reliever Trevor Hoffman and two minor-league prospects to the San Diego Padres for third baseman Gary Sheffield.

In the offseason, the Marlins also pulled the plug on their returns from the disastrous Cabrera / Willis trade dealing Andrew Miller to the Red Sox for a minor league prospect and Cameron Maybin to the Padres for a pair of reliever to aid a struggling bullpen from the 2010 season.

They were originally slated to begin play in 1971, but Symington would not accept the prospect of having Kansas City wait three years for another team and pressured MLB to have the Royals and their expansion brethren ( the Pilots and the National League's San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos ) ready for play in 1969.

The Brewers won the first two games of their final homestand of the season to pull within two games of the Cubs, but faced a near impossible task with the club's elimination number down to only three and the wild card leading Padres coming to town.

While Smith was having problems with the Padres ' owners, the St. Louis Cardinals also found themselves unhappy with their shortstop.

But despite the Giants ' great record, the Atlanta Braves — fueled by solid seasons from David Justice, Ron Gant, Deion Sanders and their midseason acquisition of Fred McGriff from the San Diego Padres — came back from a ten-game deficit to the Giants to win the NL West by a single game.

In the 1984 NLCS, the Padres faced the NL East champion Chicago Cubs, who were making their first post-season appearance since 1945 and featured NL Most Valuable Player Ryne Sandberg and Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe.

Also under Werner, the old brown that remained in Padres uniforms since their inception were supplanted by navy blue, a nod to the vintage 1940s PCL franchise colors.

Managed by Bruce Bochy and aided by the talents of players such as Tony Gwynn, Ken Caminiti, Wally Joyner, Steve Finley, pitcher Andy Ashby and premier closer Trevor Hoffman ( 4 – 2, 1. 48 ERA and 53 saves ) – who tied the then-National League record for saves in a single season and finished second in the Cy Young voting that year – the Padres had their best year in history, finishing 98 – 64 and winning the NL West division crown.

In the 1998 World Series the Padres faced the powerhouse New York Yankees, which had steamrolled through the season with a 114 – 48 record and drew acclaim as one their greatest teams of all time.

The Padres opened their 1999 season in Monterrey, Mexico versus the Colorado Rockies.

Happy in their luxurious new home and enjoyable surroundings, the Padres began to win again.

There had been some speculation that the Padres would be the first team in history to win a division and finish below. 500, but their victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 30 gave them their 81st victory.

The 2006 Padres would attribute their success largely to the team's pitching staff.

One key offseason trade between the San Diego Padres ' General Manager, Kevin Towers, and the Texas Rangers ' General Manager, Jon Daniels, would prove to have a dramatic impact on their 2006 season.

2006 also ended up being the last year of Bruce Bochy's tenure as the manager of the Padres, taking the managerial position for their divisional rivals, the San Francisco Giants.

He missed the last week of the regular season in 2007, during which the Padres relinquished their wild card lead, ultimately losing to the eventual N. L.

The San Diego Padres have used six different logos and four different color combinations throughout their history.

The logo only lasted one year, as the Padres changed their logo for the third time in three years, again by switching colors of the ring.

Padres players in their first camouflage uniforms.

Names in bold received the award based primarily on their work as Padres broadcasters.

67 missionaries died at their posts ( two as martyrs: Padres Luís Jayme and Andrés Quintana ), while the remainder returned to Europe due to illness, or upon completing their ten-year service commitment.

About half of the Padres ' player cards printed by Topps that season displayed " Washington National League " as the team name.

In 1992, the Padres lineup featured the " Four Tops ," who as the name implies occupied the top four slots in the Padres batting order most of the time: Tony Fernández, Tony Gwynn, Gary Sheffield, and Fred McGriff.

In 2014, the Tucson Padres of the Pacific Coast League is expected to relocate to El Paso and to take the Diablos name.

Following the 7 – 5 Padres victory, grateful fans thronged against stadium barricades chanting Garvey's name.

After the 1968 PCL season, he folded the team, and transferred the name of the club to his new NL team, the San Diego Padres.

After an intentional walk to Helton, the Padres pitched to utility infielder Jamey Carroll, who then hit a sacrifice fly, allowing Holliday to score from third base.

That win, and the win the next day, by the Brewers kept the Padres from advancing to the playoffs.

Osborne Earl " Ozzie " Smith ( born December 26, 1954 ) is an American former baseball shortstop who played in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals from 1978 to 1996.

He made me feel wanted, which was a feeling I was quickly losing from the Padres.

The most memorable moment of that 1978 season occurred on May 28, 1978, when pinch hitter Mike Ivie, acquired from the San Diego Padres during the offseason for Darrel Thomas, hit a towering grand slam off of Dodgers pitching ace Don Sutton in front of Candlestick Park's highest paid attendance of 58, 545.

One of the few bright spots on the team during the early years was first baseman and slugger Nate Colbert, an expansion draftee from the Houston Astros and still the Padres ' career leader in home runs.

Although the Padres continued to struggle after Colbert's departure via trade to the Detroit Tigers in 1974, they did feature star outfielder Dave Winfield, who came to the Padres in 1973 from the University of Minnesota without having played a single game in the minor leagues.

Winfield took over where Colbert left off, starring in the Padres outfield from 1973 until 1980, when he joined the New York Yankees.

Cub-Busters T-shirts inspired from the movie were popular attire for Padres fans.

His difficulties with the Padres stemmed from a power struggle with team president Ballard Smith and general manager Jack McKeon.

In 1996, under new owner John Moores ( a software tycoon who purchased controlling ownership in the team in 1994 from Tom Werner, who subsequently formed a syndicate that purchased the Boston Red Sox ) and team president Larry Lucchino, and with a team managed by former Padres catcher Bruce Bochy ( a member of the 1984 NL championship squad ), the team won the NL West in an exciting race, sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in the final series of the regular season.

In 1998, Henderson and Valenzuela were gone, but newly acquired ( from the 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins ) pitcher Kevin Brown had a sensational year ( his only one with the Padres ) and outfielder / slugger Greg Vaughn bounced back after a poor 1997 season and hit 50 home runs ( overlooked in that season of the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa race ).

The new stadium also acquired a reputation as a pitchers ' park, with complaints from some of the Padres batters ( the deep center field combined with weather trending towards heavy, foggy air in the evenings made it harder to hit home runs ).

The Padres went on to lose that game, and the one that followed, even though the Milwaukee Brewers had been eliminated from the pennant race and had nothing left to play for.

With a 3 – 0 loss on October 3, the final game of the season, the Padres were officially eliminated from playoff contention and the eventual World Series champion San Francisco Giants won the division.

Adrian Gonzalez would have been in the last year of his contract in 2011, but the Padres were not going to meet Gonzalez ’ s open market value especially with Jeff Moorad ’ s purchase of the Padres from John Moores not completing until around 2013.

Due to the short driving distance and direct highway route ( 170 miles, all on Interstate 8 ), Yuma was very popular with Padres fans, and many fans would travel by car from San Diego for Spring Training games.