Hey, friends! Baseball is back, and that means it's time to point out how our fellow Padre fans are IDIOTS sometimes- especially our friends at the prosaic Gaslamp Ball, who published this gem decrying Bill Center's number 19 and 20 entries on his list of Top 100 Padres: current owners Peter Seidler and Ron Folwer.
Which, I will be the FIRST to admit.... this might be a little high for the two. But some of the comments the anonymous author of the GLB article makes are incredibly foolish, like this little snippet:
"These two have only known failure since coming to Petco Park. They are peddling the same vision that other executives formulated and they’ve only been following this vision for all of 6 months."
I mean, yeah, the team still hasn't won yet. But this team NEVER wins- we've had 14 winning seasons in a franchise history that spans nearly 50 years! So if we're going to use winning as a benchmark, Seilder and Folwer look like Robert Kraft in comparison to some of their predecessors. A brief history:
Which, I will be the FIRST to admit.... this might be a little high for the two. But some of the comments the anonymous author of the GLB article makes are incredibly foolish, like this little snippet:
"These two have only known failure since coming to Petco Park. They are peddling the same vision that other executives formulated and they’ve only been following this vision for all of 6 months."
I mean, yeah, the team still hasn't won yet. But this team NEVER wins- we've had 14 winning seasons in a franchise history that spans nearly 50 years! So if we're going to use winning as a benchmark, Seilder and Folwer look like Robert Kraft in comparison to some of their predecessors. A brief history:
- Jeff Moorad embarrassed the organization by failing to get the required number votes from the other owners of the league, and promptly resigned as CEO in disgrace.
- John Moores milked the city for millions in tax dollars towards PETCO Park under the promise of building a team that could contend for a World Series, and then proceeded to promptly cut the team's payroll to under 40 million dollars. Moores eventually attempted to sell the team to the ineffectual Moorad. After that fell through, the former finally sold the team to Seilder and Folwer's investment group for a 300 million dollar profit. (For the record, Moores ranks 16 on Center's list).
- C. Arnholdt Smith, the first Padres owner, who almost sold the team to a group intent on moving the team to Washington after the bank he owned failed. Smith was eventually convicted of embezzlement and tax fraud relating to the sale of the Padres, and was sentenced to federal prison.
- Tom Werner, who gave the green light on the infamous "Fire Sale" of 1993 in an effort to maximize profits, to which Padres season ticket holders responded by filing a class action lawsuit against him. Werner was also responsible for the disgraceful Roseanne Barr national anthem incident:
If Gaslamp Ball is going to rip on the current ownership group, they should at least keep the past ownership history in mind- nothing Folwer or Sielder have done even remotely approach the sheer incompetence or maliciousness of their forerunners- they've actually done some pretty cool things:
- Brought the All Star Game to PETCO Park, which was very well received.
- Opened their pocketbooks spend a record-breaking amount of money on elite international prospects, and to extend Wil Myers and Yangervis Solarte
- BROUGHT BACK THE BROWN* (*okay, the home uniforms still suck. but small victories are better than nothing!!!)
- Made massive improvements to PETCO Park
- Revitalized the Padres Hall of Fame, and actually LISTENED TO THE FANS; as evidenced by their reverse-course on naming it after Bud Sielig
Under Siedler and Folwer, the Padres have made significant investment in the future of the ballclub through upgrades to the fan experience and the minor league system- which, like, no owner has EVER done, so while they might not yet deserve to be number 19 and 20 on Centers list- they definitely belong on it. Shame on you, Gaslamp Ball.
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