My letter to Padres ownership

Sent this in last week:

   First I want to say how much I appreciate the efforts of the new ownership in trying to connect with the fans, especially the season ticket holders. From day one, it has been clear that Jeff Moorad and his front office team understand the importance of acknowledging the Padres most loyal fans and taking steps to insure their continued support. Reaching out to the Padres fan community has clearly been a priority, and I have been impressed with the steps taken in that direction.

   That being said, I received something in the mail yesterday from the Padres organization that, to put it mildly, set me off. It was a letter from Jeff to the season ticket holders, talking about the accomplishments of this past season, and it included a highlight DVD.

   I got this letter and DVD in the mail on the day the San Francisco Giants won the World Series.

   We now live in a world where the San Francisco Giants are World Series champions. This is not just infuriating, it is downright embarrassing, and the leadership of the organization I live and die for is telling me I should think a season in which we missed the playoffs was “magical”. At the risk of sounding over dramatic, this makes me sick.

   It is time to start thinking like a major league franchise. Success means championships, it does NOT mean not finishing last. I am fully aware of what the prognosticators had laid out for us before the season. And yes, we blew those predictions out of the water. But we cannot hang our hat on that. We need to look at who was making those predictions, and what they really knew about the makeup of our team. Anyone who knew the team, who watched us finish out the 2009 season the way we did, then only get stronger in the off season, knew we weren’t going to finish dead last, more than 20 games out like the experts predicted. That isn’t the standard we should measure our season by, because those people didn’t know what they were talking about in the first place. Those expectations were ludicrous to begin with, so exceeding them shouldn’t be the source of pride that it apparently is inside our organization.

   When it comes to the end of August, and our team is 27 games over .500 and has a 6.5 game lead in the division, we need to re-assess our notion of expectations. At this point we have played 5 months of championship caliber baseball, so the expectation should be to follow through on that with a postseason run. And based on that, this season was a failure.

   That is not to say there weren’t positives to be taken away from this season. Jeff is absolutely right in everything he says about the team in his letter; about their never say die mentality, their grit, their determination, their hustle, their heart, and their team first attitude. These are wonderful qualities that an organization should rightfully be proud of, but the yardstick for success cannot end with these. There must be follow through to ratify the respect and pride we take in our team for exhibiting these traits that mark not only not good baseball players, but great human beings. All of that heart and hustle we trumpet so loudly did not carry us through to the playoffs, so I take great exception to receiving a letter from management talking about “accomplishments”, “memories”, and “highlights” from a “magical” season, which culminated in another team who isn’t the Padres winning the World Series. I am not blind to the excitement this season provided, but we CAN do better. We MUST believe that.

   The Boston Red Sox failed to make the playoffs this year. In response, Red Sox ownership posted an open letter to fans on the team’s official website lamenting that fact and promising to do better. They acknowledged their obligation to hold the team accountable for a commitment to winning. The Padres miss the playoffs, and our owners send out a highlight DVD and call it a “magical” season. See the difference in mentality there? In what kind of world does missing the playoffs make for a magical season? And including a highlight DVD so I can relive the memories of yet another failed campaign is just salt in the wound. This is exactly the kind of thinking that has held us back for 40 years. We can’t be happy with just being competitive. We can’t be happy with just being the Little Engine That Could of major league baseball. We need to hold ourselves accountable to improve on 40+ years of ringless baseball. Championships start with a championship mentality, and when I get a letter from the owner of the Padres telling me how “magical” a failed season was, it sends the message that we lack that mentality.

   I was at the first playoff game played in San Diego in 1984. I drove hours from out of town to watch my team play in the 1998 playoffs. I shook Tony Gwynn’s hand at his last game, closed down Qualcomm Stadium, opened Petco Park, watched Trevor Hoffman make history, and have been to every playoff game played in our downtown stadium. All three of them. All losses. I have a brick in Palm Court Plaza. My name and my mother’s name will be in the foundation of Petco Park for as long as that structure remains standing, and I take pride in all of this. You will not find a more loyal and committed fan than me. I DESERVE BETTER. I deserve to have the ownership of my beloved franchise hold the team to the same standards I do. To the rest of the baseball world, we are an afterthought.  But we only legitimize that perception by celebrating failure. Simply being competitive and making national baseball pundits mention our name more often does not constitute real success. Championships do that, and we are now the only baseball team in California that has yet to bring a trophy home. This is unacceptable to me.

   On a day when a HATED division rival won the World Series, I got a letter from Padres ownership talking about a magical season. I beg to differ. Watching that celebration, that trophy presentation, THAT IS HOW A MAGICAL SEASON ENDS. Please make that happen in San Diego. I have faith in you. I deserve to have my faith rewarded.

Padres fan since ‘72

Padres fan for life