With all the young players on the Padres roster I was thinking about which Padre had the most time with the club. Then I started wondering who were the Padre veterans since the beginning of the Major League franchise in 1969.
So at any given time in the clubs history, I'm looking for the guy who had the most years of service with the Padres.
There's probably an easy way to do this but instead I spent a few hours searching through Baseball-Reference.com and just checking manually.
I'm trying to go by time on the Major League roster, but when I couldn't tell I went by draft date.
Maybe this is all wrong. Should Nate Colbert be on this list? Fred Kendall was drafted before him, but I don't think Fred was on the Major League Roster until the end of the season.
Somebody check this for me.
| Name | Most Veteran Padre Years | Years with the Padres | # Years with Padres | Comments |
| Ollie Brown | 1969-1972 | 1969-1972 | 4 | October 14, 1968: Drafted by the San Diego Padres from the San Francisco Giants as the 1st pick in the 1968 expansion draft. |
| Fred Kendall | 1972-1976 | 1969-1976 and 1979-1980 | 10 | October 14, 1968: Drafted by the San Diego Padres from the Cincinnati Reds as the 14th pick in the 1968 expansion draft. |
| Dave Winfield | 1977-1981 | 1973-1981 | 8 | June 5, 1973: Drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1973 amateur draft. |
| Gene Richards | 1981-1983 | 1977-1983 | 7 | Drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1975 amateur draft (January). |
| Luis Salazar | 1984 | 1980-1984, 1989 | 7 | August 5, 1980: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Rick Lancellotti to the San Diego Padres |
| Terry Kennedy | 1984-1986 | 1981-1986 | 6 | The San Diego Padres sent Bob Geren (December 10, 1980) |
| Eric Show | 1987-1990 | 1981-1990 | 10 | Debut: September 2, 1981 |
| Tony Gwynn | 1991-2001 | 1982-2001 | 20 | June 8, 1981: Drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 3rd round of the 1981 amateur draft. Player signed June 16, 1981. |
| Trevor Hoffman | 2002-2008 | 1993-2008 | 16 | June 24, 1993 |
| Jake Peavy | 2008-2009 | 2001-2009 | 8 | June 2, 1999: Drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 15th round of the 1999 amateur draft. Player signed June 9, 1999. |
| Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez | 2009-2010 | 2006-2010 | 4 | January 6, 2006 |