My Pick For Top Padres Uniform

As we wait for today's doubleheader in Chicago to start, I cast my eye briefly to fashion. I've been following ESPN's four-part series on Padres uniforms through the years. It's a well-written piece with a lot of great photos of sharply-dressed Drinos past and present.

Somewhat surprising to me was that my favorite uniform - and the uni I hope the Padres eventually return to - is the kit (soccer term!) worn in 1975. Willie McCovey models it in the photo above. I like the brown and yellow trim and the lettering of San Diego across the chest. Plus the uniform keeps the classic brown and yellow helmet with the interlocking "SD".

The 1975 uniform narrowly beats the classic brown, yellow, and orange uniform the Padres wore from 1980 to 1984, the halcyon days that saw them draft and develop Tony Gwynn and appear in their first World Series. I love the crisp brown look of the jersey with the sweet brown undershirt and the yellow wristbands worn near the elbow by Garry Templeton in the photo below.

No one should ever say that Garry Templeton lacked style.

Sixto's '82 Season

I think this photo of Sixto Lezcano sums up baseball, and life, in the late 1970s.

But that's a discussion for another day. Today I'd like to talk about Sixto's 1982 season with the San Diego Padres.

Sixto came to the Padres on December 10, 1981, in one of the more fateful trades of baseball's modern era. The St. Louis Cardinals traded Sixto, Garry Templeton and a PTBNL (Luis DeLeon) to the Drinos for Steve Mura, a PTBNL (Al Olmstead) and Ozzie Smith. Ozzie obviously became a Hall of Famer and helped lead the Cardinals to a World Series title, two other World Series appearances, and countless franchising opportunities. Mura, though he'd only pitch three more seasons, started thirty games for the Cardinals' '82 World Series team. Al Olmstead sucked.

On the Padres side of the deal, Templeton, and to a lesser extent, DeLeon, helped the team to the '84 World Series, but Templeton, a pure monster in his first few seasons with St. Louis, never recaptured the All-Star potential he flashed in those early Redbird years. DeLeon pitched well in '82 and '83, less so in '84 and '85, and left to the Orioles as a free agent after the '85 season.

But what of Sixto?

He only played 1 1/2 seasons with the Drinos - shipped off in the middle of '83 ostensibly, I believe, to make room in the outfield for a couple of beasts named Kevin McReynolds and Tony Gwynn - but that one full season was a quietly beastish year that I won't soon forget. (I don't really remember it as it happened - '82 was my first cognizant summer - but it looks pretty beastish in retrospect.)

Playing RF and batting primarily fourth or fifth in the lineup, Sixto put together a solid season for a .500 ballclub. In 470 ABs, he triple slashed at .289/.388/.472, knocking 16 bombs and plating 84 ribeyes. He walked more than he struck out - always a nice little stat to feature - and even tripled 6 times. He crushed lefties to the tune of .326, but could also hit tough right-handers, batting .287 against right-handed starters. At 28 and in his prime, he was, to use Baseball-Reference's Similarity Scores, a lot like Dwight Evans.

Looking at the game logs on Baseball-Reference, I'm particulary enamored of his 4-6, 2 bomb, 4 ribeye game on April 23 against the eventual NL West Champion Braves. Sixto's 3-run bomb in the top of the 12th off Rick Camp provided the margin of victory. (Note: his first bomb of that game was a 4th inning smoker off HOFer Phil Niekro who happened to go 17-4 in '82.) Also worth mentioning is his work in a doubleheader sweep of the Reds on July 31. Sixto went 6-7 over the two games, hitting 3 bombs with 7 ribeyes. They're probably still talking about that in Cincinnati.

Finally, how many joints did Sixto smoke before taking this picture:


What a beast.

A "Beastly" List of Padres Shortstops

Everth,

You've been back from your hamate bone injury for a couple of days now and I like what I'm seeing. You make plays defensively, you play with speed, you step confidently to the plate and you have a general flair for the game that most of the other Padre players just don't have.

It's only been 9 games total so far (24 ABs) but for a guy who never played above A ball before this season, you comport yourself pretty well. I sense good things. All of which prompted me to look ahead a few years and consider how you might one day rank among Padres starting shortstops.

Thus, below is a list of Padres starting shortstops ranked by recognition. What does "ranked by recognition" mean? It means it's not necessarily a skill ranking, but rather a ranking of what order these SS's come to mind when someone says "Give me the name of a Padre shortstop."

Anyway, it'll probably make more sense once I rank them.

Here goes:

1. Garry Templeton ('82-'90): the most recognizable Padre SS
2. Khalil Greene ('04-'08): close to surpassing Templeton, but faded
3. Enzo Hernandez ('71-'72, '74-'76): not good, but defined 1970s-era Padres
4. Ozzie Smith ('78-'81): a Cardinal but people still know his beginning
5. Tony Fernandez ('91-'92): a member of the Four Tops
6. Chris Gomez ('96-'98): quiet member of two playoff teams
7. Bill Almon ('77): former #1 overall pick
9. Ricky Gutierrez ('93-'94): had flashes of goodness
10. Damian Jackson ('99-'00): one of faceless Latinos employed in 2000s
11. Ramon Vazquez ('03): Latino
12. D'Angelo Jimenez ('01): Latino
13. Deivi Cruz ('02): Latino
14. Derrel Thomas ('73): weird spelling of first name
15. Tommy Dean ('69-'70): have no idea who this is

So, Everth, there's the list. As you can see it's not exactly blowing the doors off Cooperstown. In retrospect it may have been nice to keep Ozzie but would the Padres have done much better in the 80s with him on the roster instead of Templeton? Maybe, maybe not. It's not like Templeton was a zero for the Padres. Khalil's downfall is Shakespearean and Tony Fernandez got shipped away before he could make a true mark. Chris Gomez was just steady. Enzo is a punchline and the rest of the guys are pretty forgettable.

Anyway, my point is that you've got a shot to move up this list quickly. As you learn to play the Big League game, I'm thinking you could pass Khalil on this list by 2012; sooner if the Padres win a sneaky Championship in the next few years with you at SS (don't laugh). With your game-changing speed and overall flair (there's that word again) for the game, you've got a shot to become a fan favorite in the Diego. And hopefully, someday soon, synonomous with the term "Padre Shortstop."

Best,
Bevormo

[Update: 9:50 PM EST: It just occurred to me that Damian Jackson might not be Latino. And you know what? He's not. He's from L.A. F. Sorry, Damian.]