Will Venable's place in franchise history

It's a bit difficult to conceptualize what kind of mark Will Venable has left on the Padres franchise. He was with the San Diego club for a long time. He spent 8 years with the big league club and was with the organization for just over 10 years. Only players in franchise history appeared in more games than Venable's 918: Tony Gwynn (2440), Garry Templeton (1286), Dave Winfield (1117), Tim Flannery (972) and Gene Richards (939). Obviously Venable isn't in the same pantheon with Gwynn or Winfield who are superstars in franchise lore. Templeton is a cut above with his extra longevity, all star appearance and Silver Slugger. I think though I can feel comfortable putting him in the same tier with Flannery and Richards.

That of course is quite a different tier than guys who flashed stardom and went on to bigger things like a Robbie Alomar, Ozzie Smith or Gary Sheffield. And it's different than guys who were not with the club as long but were much more productive like a Ken Caminiti, Phil Nevin or Adrian Gonzalez. Or even guys who spent short, but memorable parts of their careers with the Friars like Wally Joyner, Craig Nettles or Mike Cameron.

Instead he's in the mix with the longtime workhorses of the Padres. I would put Eric Show and Bip Roberts in that group as well. Perhaps Craig Lefferts. And it might be a slightly higher tier above workhorse guys with less longevity like Joey Hamilton, Brian Lawrence, Clay Kirby, Carmelo Martinez, Cito Gaston, Johnny Grubb and former teammate Chris Denorfia. All are fairly anonymous names to non-Padres fans, but had a mark on the franchise for those that followed.

Here's where Venable left his marks statistically:

We also always have this play, perhaps the greatest defensive play in Padres history: