While McKeon had previously told Herzog that Smith was untouchable in any trade, the Padres were now so angry at Smith's agent Gottlieb that McKeon was willing to deal.

It was then that Padres manager Dick Williams informed Herzog that a no-trade clause had been included in Smith's 1981 contract.

What was not publicly known during the regular season and playoffs was that Smith had torn his rotator cuff after suffering an impingement in his right shoulder during the July 11 – 14 homestand against the Padres.

Jonathan Sánchez, who had been ridiculed in August when he failed to make good a boast that the Giants would sweep the Padres, led the September charge with a 3 – 1 record and 1. 17 ERA, and took the win in the clincher.

He had been chosen in the drafts during the year before by both the Padres and the San Diego Clippers pro basketball team in the NBA Draft.

In the 1984 World Series, the Padres faced the powerful Detroit Tigers, who steamrolled through the regular season with 104 victories ( and had started out with a 35 – 5 record, the best ever through the first 40 games ).

After the Padres won the pennant in 1984, they had some tough times.

Between 1989 and 1990, friction dominated the Padres ' clubhouse as Tony Gwynn had constant shouting matches with slugger Jack Clark.

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 ).

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 NLCS, the Padres faced the Atlanta Braves, who had won the National League East with an astonishing 106 – 56 record.

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.

In the game played that day, Rickey Henderson, who in the meantime had rejoined the Padres, collected his 3, 000th major-league base hit, a double.

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.

On Sunday, April 1, 2007, Major League Baseball's 2007 Opening Night, the Padres announced that they had agreed to terms on a four-year contract with 1B Adrian Gonzalez, keeping him in San Diego until 2010 with a club option for 2011.

Prior to this contract agreement the Padres had offered to renew Gonzalez's contract during the offseason at $ 380, 500, only $ 500 over the league minimum for the 2007 season.

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.

Though he had offers from the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees while he was still in high school, his mother thought he was too young to leave home, so he signed up with the local minor league club, the San Diego Padres.

He signed with the San Diego Padres in the offseason, where he had another respectable year in 1996, again finishing in the top ten in the National League ( NL ) in walks, OBP, steals and runs.

The PCL has had a long tradition on the West Coast, with teams with evocative names such as the Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels, Mission Reds ( representing San Francisco's Mission District ), Oakland Oaks, Portland Beavers, Sacramento Solons, Salt Lake Bees, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Seals, Seattle Rainiers, Spokane Indians, Vernon Tigers ( later the Tacoma Tigers ), Vancouver Canadians, and the Hawaii Islanders.

Either manager in the 1984 Series would have been the first to win in both leagues, since San Diego Padres ( NL ) manager Dick Williams had previously won the series with the Oakland Athletics ( AL ) in 1972 and 1973.

The affiliation only lasted one season, and in 1971, the Padres and California Angels swapped their Triple-A affiliates in Salt Lake City and Hawaii ( where they had a short, but historic run of PCL dominance ).

When the San Diego Padres announced that PETCO ( which is based in San Diego ) had obtained naming rights to PETCO Park, PETA was unable to persuade them to terminate the agreement.

After the ceremony, the Diamondbacks won the game against the San Diego Padres 6 – 5 after a walk-off home run by Chris Young, who also led the game off with a home run in the Bottom of the First Inning.

The Padres led the NL West for 148 days in 2010.

MLB approved Moore's $ 800 million sale of the Padres to a group led by beer distributor Ron Fowler that included four heirs to the O ’ Malley family — who owned the Dodgers for five decades — and professional golfer and San Diego native Phil Mickelson.

In the Padres home opener in 1987, Marvell Wynne, Gwynn, and John Kruk hit back-to-back-to-back homers to start the game for San Diego, the first time an MLB team had led off a game with three consecutive home runs.

Rain delays led to the suspension of the Padres ' game with the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 2011.

The Cubs led that game in the seventh inning, but the underdog Padres scored four runs and won a trip to the World Series.

The Tigers led the American League Eastern Division season from start to finish, then defeated the Kansas City Royals in the 1984 American League Championship Series, before winning the 1984 World Series against the San Diego Padres.

The Padres set a franchise record for victories with 92 in 1984, being led by two veterans, first baseman Steve Garvey and third baseman Graig Nettles.

Atlanta sent Greg Maddux to the hill and he led 1 – 0 after four innings, but the Padres tagged him for two runs in the fifth with Steve Finley and Ken Caminiti driving in runs.

Javy López led off with a home run, followed by an Andruw Jones single that ended the night for Padres starter Joey Hamilton.

Hoffman did not get into any save situations as the Padres never led through any of the 27 innings in the series.

In 1998, he led the Padres to their first National League pennant in 14 years, where they lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Bochy led the 1998 Padres to the World Series where they were swept in 4 games by the New York Yankees.

In, the Padres ' inaugural season, and his first full season in the big leagues, Colbert hit 24 homers, which led the club in home runs, and drove in 66 runs while batting. 255.

Though a losing season, this was a 26-game improvement over 2004, and sufficient for second place in a woefully weak NL West, five games behind the San Diego Padres.

After the Padres ' defeat at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers on September 29, the Diamondbacks secured both the NL West title and home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.

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.

Despite initial excitement, the guidance of longtime baseball executives, Eddie Leishman and Buzzie Bavasi as well as a new playing field, the team struggled ; the Padres finished in last place in each of its first six seasons in the NL West, losing 100 games or more four times.

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.

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.

The Padres finished the 2004 season with an 87 – 75 record, good enough for 3rd in the NL West.

The 2005 Padres featured bright spots, however, including ace pitcher Jake Peavy, the NL strikeout leader, and closer Trevor Hoffman, who claimed his 400th save.

The Padres started April 2006 with a 9 – 15 record and were stuck in the cellar of the NL West.

The Padres ended the regular season in an 89 – 73 tie for the NL wild card with the Colorado Rockies.

Many preseason predictions picked the Padres in 2010 to finish the season in last place in the NL West.

The Padres won the first NL pennant in its team history, defeating the Cubs in the National League Championship Series before losing the World Series to the Detroit Tigers.

Eckersley performed poorly in his sole start for the Cubs in their NL Championship Series with the San Diego Padres.

Despite having a mediocre season until August, Lowe was exceptional in September 2010, with a 5 – 0 record, a 1. 77 ERA, 29 strikeouts while walking only three batters, which helped the Braves secure a playoff berth as the NL Wild Card, being one game ahead of the second place Padres at the end of the regular season.

In 1984, Gossage clinched another title, earning the save in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series and sending the Padres to their first World Series ; after San Diego had scored four runs in the seventh inning to take a 6-3 lead against the Chicago Cubs, Gossage pitched the final two innings, getting Keith Moreland to hit into a force play for the final out.

In Game 2 of the NL Championship Series, Smith recorded two outs for the save to give Chicago a 2 – 0 lead in the best-of-five series against the San Diego Padres, putting them one win away from the World Series.

His injury problems would continue to mar his success from that point forward, with his best post-Cardinals year being in San Diego, where he would help the Padres capture the NL West division title.