1984, ’98 TEAMS MOSTLY BUILT VIA TRADES
World Series squads caught imagination of city and its fans
The Padres’ 1984 and 1998 World Series teams represent the two most special clubs in franchise history.
Time will tell if the 2020 team joins them.
In 1984, San Diego was swept up in the excitement that comes with accomplishing something that’s never been done — in this case winning the NL West, the NLCS (coming back from an 0-2 deficit with three thrilling home victories over the Cubs) and advancing to the World Series (before losing to the Tigers in five games).
In 1998, the city was taken on another joyful ride, with playoff victories over the Braves and Astros that shook the stadium to its foundation, delivered the NL pennant and another Series appearance (where they were swept by the Yankees).
All that was riding on that season was the franchise’s future.
Two weeks after the 1998 season ended, voters went to the polls. Among the considerations on the ballot was Proposition C, which proposed a downtown ballpark for the Padres. Reaching the World Series proved an effective campaign strategy: Prop C passed with an overwhelming 59.6 percent of the vote.
The only way to surpass the accomplishments of those two teams would be to actually win the World Series.
One drawback of both 1984 and 1998 is that neither season led to sustained success.
The 2020 team could be different. With a young nucleus, key players under team control and several highly regarded prospects on the way, the franchise could be set up to do what the ’84 and ’98 teams were unable to accomplish. As always, time will tell.
On Tuesday the Uniontribune detailed how the 2020 team was put together. Here’s how both World Series teams were built:
1984 — The first time
Who knew that a trade with the Pirates for third baseman Luis Salazar late in the 1980 season would provide the first piece of a championship puzzle (even if he did bat only .241 with 17 RBIS in a backup role in 1984)?
Or that right-handed reliever Greg Harris, acquired in a deadline trade with the Expos in 1984, would represent the last piece (although his most notable effort was a two-inning NLCS appearance against the Cubs in which he allowed seven runs)?
In between, the farm system produced like never before or since, GM Jack Mckeon earned his nickname as “Trader Jack” and a pair of free agents paid big dividends for feisty manager Dick Williams.
Baseball America once regarded the Padres as having the worst draft history in the major leagues.
That may still be the case, although the 1978 draft delivered two members of the 1984 starting rotation — Eric Show and Andy Hawkins — as well as reliever Floyd Chiffer and infielder Tim Flannery, who would become something of a franchise folk hero.
Another starter, Mark Thurmond, was selected in the 1979 draft.
In 1981, Kevin Mcreynolds and Tony Gwynn were taken in the first and third rounds, respectively. They were blooming stars three years later, when Mcreynolds shared the team lead with 20 homers and Gwynn hit .351 to win the first of his eight batting titles.
Mckeon made a pair of blockbuster trades with the St. Louis Cardinals in backto-back seasons that brought catcher Terry Kennedy and shortstop Garry Templeton. The GM also utilized the Rule 5 Draft in 1980 to grab speedy outfielder Alan Wiggins from the Dodgers. He was converted to second base before the 1984 season, becoming a pesky leadoff hitter who was third in the NL with 70 stolen bases.
There were three notable pickups of players who had been released by other clubs, catcher Bruce Bochy, outfielder Bobby Brown and utilityman Kurt Bevacqua, whose most memorable moment was a three-run World Series homer in Game 2 against Detroit — still the Padres’ only win in a World Series.
Mckeon trades also brought a pair of pitchers for the starting rotation — Ed Whitson and Tim Lollar — as well as the bullpen — lefthanders Craig Lefferts and Dave Dravecky.
Signing Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey coming into the 1983 season provided some long-sought respectability.
The Garv hit 20 home runs during the 1984 season. That doesn’t include the most famous HR in franchise history — the gamewinning blast off Cubs closer Lee Smith in Game 4 of the NLCS.
The other key free agent signing was former Yankees closer Goose Gossage, who saved 25 games, won 10 others and brought a snarling presence to the backend of the bullpen. Gossage was joined late in spring training by another Yankees World Series veteran when Mckeon traded for third baseman Graig Nettles, the pride of San Diego High and San Diego State.
With so much young, homegrown talent, this should have been a team that contended through the remainder of the decade. It wasn’t.
The 1985 team did finish above .500, going 83-79, but that was only good for third place in the NL West.
Williams was let go just before spring training in 1986, making an awkward exit that was more common than not with Padres skippers back in the day.
By 1987, Gwynn, Templeton and left fielder Carmelo Martinez were the only remaining players in the starting lineup.
Show, still the Padres’ alltime wins leader with 100 victories, Hawkins and Whitson were mainstays in the rotation for several more seasons, but, other than a second-place finish in 1989 when the team went 89-73, there wasn’t much to show for it.
1998 — Push for Petco
Gwynn was the only player on both the 1984 and 1998 teams.
He wasn’t the only link to the 1984 team, however. Bochy, a backup catcher in ’84, was in his fourth season as Padres manager.
Gwynn also wasn’t the only player on the team produced by the Padres farm system. Almost, though. He was joined by starting pitcher Joey Hamilton, a first-round choice in 1991 who went 13-13 for the ’98 club.
Nor was the ’98 team notable for free agent acquisitions. Catcher Carlos Hernandez, who batted .262 with nine homers and 52 RBIS, was the most productive of a group that also included left-hander Mark Langston and catcher Greg Myers.
Let’s add an asterisk here because, while outfielder Greg Vaughn technically resigned with the team as a free agent before the 1998 season, Vaughn had come to the club in 1996 in a trade with the Brewers.
How important was retaining Vaughn for the ’98 campaign? All he did was drive in a team-high 117 runs, most of them coming from a franchise-record 50 homers.
So it was trades that accounted for an overwhelming number of players — 21 — on the roster.
The biggest came during the 1994 baseball strike, when the Padres and Astros swapped 12 players. Key acquisitions for San Diego were third baseman Ken Caminiti, the 1996 NL MVP, and center fielder Steve Finley.
Wally Joyner’s “Wally World” years with the Angels were well behind him, but he was still a run producer, a significant defensive upgrade at first base and solid clubhouse presence when he was acquired from the Royals before the 1996 season.
Shortstop Chris Gomez and second baseman Quilvio Veras were steady, if unspectacular, middle infielders who rounded out the starting lineup after coming over in trades the previous two seasons.
Right-hander Andy Ashby had developed into a leader on the mound, where he won 17 games in ’98, since coming from Colorado midway through the 1993 season.
But the statement move that made everyone stop and take notice was when right-hander Kevin Brown was acquired from the Marlins
two months before spring training.
Brown gave the Padres the ace they desperately needed to reach the top, going 18-7 with a 2.38 ERA and 257 strikeouts in 257 innings.
Right-hander Dan Miceli was among the most significant bullpen pieces, winning 10 games in relief.
And, of course, there was closer Trevor Hoffman, who was second in the NL Cy Young Award voting after leading the majors in saves (53, a club record) with a 1.48 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 73 innings.
Booed in his first appearance following a 1993 trade with the Marlins, Hoffman rebounded nicely in a Hall of Fame career that included 16 seasons in a San Diego uniform. He spent another decade with the Padres after that 1998 season, easily making him the last man standing in San Diego.
Midseason acquisitions were hit (catcher/first baseman Jim Leyritz from Boston) and miss (left-handed reliever Randy Myers from Toronto) and somewhere in between (outfielder/first baseman John Vander Wal from Colorado).
Put it all together, though, and it made for a special season.
Just months later, it was a distant memory. The 1999 team went 74-88 and finished fourth in the NL West, beginning a stretch of five straight losing seasons before going 87-75 in 2004 when the Padres moved into Petco Park.
The ’99 downturn wasn’t surprising considering the heart of the batting order — Finley, Caminiti and Vaughn — was gone, along with Brown, their hired gun on the mound.
Brown inked a record $105 million free agent contract with the Dodgers in the offseason.
Caminiti returned to Houston as a free agent. Vaughn was traded to Cincinnati before the 1999 season.
Finley, who was also a free agent, attended an electionnight rally at a downtown hotel to celebrate the passage of Prop C, which paved the way (after surviving 19 lawsuits) to build Petco Park.
Fans encouraged Finley to stay when he stepped to the podium to say a few words.
“Four more years! Four more years!” the crowd chanted.
Six weeks later, Finley did sign for four years — with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
kirk.kenney@sduniontribune.com
Construction zones
1984
Draft (8): RHP Andy Hawkins (1st round, 1978), Floyd Chiffer (5th round, 1978), INF Tim Flannery (6th round, 1978), RHP Eric Show (18th round, 1978), LHP Mark Thurmond (5th round, 1979), OF Kevin Mcreynolds (1st round, 1981), OF Tony Gwynn (3rd round, 1981), RHP Greg Booker (10th round, 1981). Free agents (2): 1B Steve Garvey (December 1982, from Dodgers); RHP Goose Gossage (January 1984 from Yankees).
Waivers (3): INF Kurt Bevacqua (April 1982, from Pirates), C Bruce Bochy (February 1983, from Mets) OF Bobby Brown (April, 1983, from Mariners). Trades (13): 3B Luis Salazar (August 1980, from Pirates), C Terry Kennedy (December 1980, from Cardinals), LHP Tim Lollar (March 1981, from Yankees), LHP Dave Dravecky (April 1981, from Pirates), Luis Deleon (December 1981, from Cardinals), RHP Ed Whitson (November 1982, from Indians), SS Garry Templeton (December 1981, from Cardinals), OF Carmelo Martinez (December 1983, from Cubs), LHP Sid Monge (May 1983, from Phillies), LHP Craig Lefferts (December 1983, from Cubs), Champ Summers (December 1983, from Giants) 3B Graig Nettles (March 1984, from Yankees), Greg Harris (July 1984, from Expos).
Rule 5 draft (2): Alan Wiggins (1980, from Dodgers), INF Mario Ramirez (1980, from Mets).
1998
Draft (2): OF Tony Gwynn (3rd round, 1981), RHP Joey Hamilton (1st round, 1991). Free agents (3): C Carlos Hernandez (December 1996, from Dodgers), C Greg Myers (November 1997, from Braves), LHP Mark Langston (January 1998, from Angeles). Trades (21): Archi Cianfrocco (June 1993, from Expos), RHP Trevor Hoffman (June 1993, from Marlins), RHP Andy Ashby (July 1993, from Rockies), 3B Ken Caminiti (December 1994, from Astros), OF Steve Finley (December 1994, from Astros), OF Greg Vaughn (July 1996, from Brewers/re-signed as free agent in December 1996), 1B Wally Joyner (December 1995, from Royals), SS Chris Gomez (June 1996, from Tigers), LHP Sterling Hitchcock (December 1996, from Mariners), 2B Quilvio Veras (December 1996, from Marlins), OF Ruben Rivera (April 1997, from Yankees), INF Mark Sweeney (June 1997, from Cardinals), RHP Brian Boehringer (November 1997, from Blue Jays), INF Andy Sheets (November 1997, from Rays), RHP Dan Miceli (November 1997, from Tigers), RHP Donne Wall (November 1997, from Tigers), RHP Kevin Brown (December 1997, from Marlins), RHP Scott Sanders (May 1998, from Tigers), C/1B Jim Leyritz (June 1998, from Red Sox), LHP Randy Myers (August 1998, from Blue Jays), OF/1B John Vander Wal (August 1998, from Rockies).