‘Odd couple’ chronicles Padres’ magical year

One is the 38-yearold South Florida seamhead who, as a kid, read a 100-year history of the World Series again and again during a bout of pneumonia. The other is a 73-year-old, Bronx-born former vendor at Yankee and Shea stadiums who has chronicled every playoff season in Padres history.

The polished, analytical precision belongs to Jesse Agler. The emotion and storytelling bubbles from San Diego sports icon Ted Leitner. A Tony Randall to the other’s Jack Klugman — an odd couple for baseball’s modern age.

The pair bridged gaps through the love of the game, now two peas in the Padres’ historic pandemic pod. They’ll be San Diego’s lone local link to the team during its first playoff appearance since 2006 as TV shifts to national telecasts.

“We complement each other,” said Agler, the transplanted Floridian who on his 11th birthday attended the first game in Marlins franchise history, a 1993 matchup of aging knuckleballer Charlie Hough and the Dodgers. “I’ve learned how to be more emotional, less robotic. I’ve learned how to be a better storyteller, just by sitting next to him, the osmosis of it, hearing him every night for 31⁄2 hours. That will serve me for

decades in my career.

“It’s already paying dividends. He’s made me so much better in so many ways.”

If that sniffs of the somewhat relative “newcomer” who joined the Padres in 2014 kissing up to the entrenched veteran, listen to Leitner.

The mutual admiration society extends across the booths, since COVID-19 precautions plants them in adjoining spaces.

“First of all, he’s brilliant from the standpoint of IQ and just being smart. Oh, God, is he smart,” Leitner said. “I’ve had guys who prepare and research, but he’s at a totally different level. Just one of those young guys who gets it.

“I’ve always felt respect from Jesse. Even though he is that smart, he doesn’t feel like he knows everything. But man, he knows a lot.”

Agler cemented the relationship Sunday against the Mariners, when the Padres prepared to lock up a playoff spot in a contest that lasted 11 innings. The pair switch off throughout games, with one doing play by play before taking over the role of analyst.

This time, with a playoff ticket 14 years in the making about to be punched, Agler insisted his accomplished partner handle the historic call after the Padres built a comfortable three-run lead.

The pair debated the decision throughout the 90-second commercial break leading into the bottom of the inning. Producer and engineer Dave Marcus served as the agreed-upon arbiter seconds before the board light blinked them back to life.

“I basically demanded it,” Agler said. “One, nobrainer decision. It’s got to be his call. I believe his exact words were (in a perfectly punchy Leitner impression), ‘Absolutely not.’ We spent the entire break arguing about it, literally up to the moment we had to come back.

“I said, ‘Ted, I’m going to throw it to you. I’ll take off my headset and walk away if I have to.’ He relented and I could tell almost immediately how much it meant to him and that validated (the decision) on a whole ’nother level for me.

“I know it was special for him. And he nailed the call because, of course he did.”

Leitner gushed about the thoughtfulness — “Nice to know a brilliant young broadcaster has such compassion and class” — in a tweet that has piled up more than 2,400 likes.

“Ted’s tweet was very unexpected, very gracious, very unnecessary and very appreciated,” Agler said.

The pair acknowledge the ramped-up excitement and incentive revolving around a rare playoff trip as Fox Sports San Diego’s Don Orsillo and Mark Grant hand off the TV spotlight.

Leitner handled 1984, when Gwynn and Garvey led the Padres to the franchise’s first World Series. He was there for the return in 1998, along with the last dusty postseason trip in 2006. This lap feels different, he argues.

“This really means more to the city — I didn’t want to philosophize on air, during the (clinching) call — but it does. I mean, pandemic. Hard-working, mom-andpop stores are shuttered. They have relatives who are sick or died (from COVID-19), their football team left after 56 years. I think this one means more to the city than all the others.”

So, Randall and Klugman will travel that unique road together.

“Because our styles are so different, it’s allowed me to fill some gaps and see my blind spots a little more,” Agler said. “That makes it enjoyable to me and, hopefully, to the people who listen. If there were two people like me or two people like Ted, that would be a lot. Two Teds or two Jesses would be a lot. So it’s good in that way.”

The growth and learning extends both directions.

“He has brought me over by showing me analytics,” Leitner said. “Listening to Jesse talk about that, I’ve picked up on exit velocity and those sorts of things.”

The craziness of baseball during a pandemic means the pair could be calling the Padres from Petco Park as teams wrap up or prepare to start American League games on the field below.

San Diego will host an AL playoff “bubble,” while the NL trots off to Texas after Round 1.

“There’s a responsibility, sure,” Agler said. “But I don’t think we’re going to change what we do. We treat every game like it’s all important, because it is. Will it naturally ratchet up because it’s a postseason game? Of course. But for us, it’s ‘Do our jobs.’ ”

Odd couple. Oddest of seasons.

K.C. ALFRED U-T Padres radio broadcasters Jesse Agler (left) and Ted Leitner have called the entire season from booths at Petco Park, including the team’s road games.