Sometimes They Come Back

The Padres’ trade for Chase Headley got me thinking about the various players before him who spent two separate stints in San Diego. I tried to compile a complete list by perusing (proper usage!) a list of every Padre ever, noting the ones I knew to be applicable, and checking out the ones I wasn’t sure about. I came up with 46 names, with a few others who didn’t quite fit my parameters of two stints with the major league Padres separated by time with at least one other organization. Those stipulations excluded guys like Carlos Baerga, who was traded as a Padres minor leaguer, and Robert Fick, who didn’t make the roster out of Spring Training his second time around. This list doesn’t include Headley, since there’s a good chance he’ll be traded before Opening Day, or Colin Rea, since he has yet to pitch for the Padres since being returned by the Marlins.

Of those 46, there have been six three-timers and one four-timer, noted below.

Andy Ashby

Kurt Bevacqua

Geoff Blum

Doug Brocail

Chris Cannizzaro

Mark Davis

Alan Embree

Todd Erdos

Brian Falkenborg

Justin Germano

Scott Hairston

Rickey Henderson

Sterling Hitchcock

Steve Huntz

Damian Jackson

Fred Kendall

Mark Kotsay

Tom Lampkin

Jason Lane

Craig Lefferts

Keith Lockhart

Gary Matthews, Jr.

Bob Miller

Randy Myers

Xavier Nady

Wil Nieves

Phil Plantier (3x: 1993-’94, ‘95, ‘97)

Dennis Rasmussen

Carlos Reyes

Clayton Richard

Bip Roberts

Luis Salazar (3x: 1980-’84, ‘87, ‘89)

Scott Sanders

Tim Scott

Rudy Seanez (4x: 1993, 2001, ‘05, ‘06)

Ed Sprague

Mark Sweeney (3x: 1997-’98, 2002, ‘05)

Derrel Thomas

Bobby Tolan

Brett Tomko (3x: 2002, ‘07, ‘08)

Jerry Turner

Ed Vosberg

David Wells

Ed Whitson

Eddie Williams (3x: 1990, ‘94-’95, ‘98)

Woody Williams

Ed Sprague is particularly notable because both his stints were in his only year with the team, 2001. He played 53 games with the Padres before being traded to Boston; after 33 games there he was waived, at which time San Diego signed him and got 20 more games out of him.