“Build it, and they will come.” The now infamous line uttered by James Earl Jones in the equally famous 1989 Field Of Dreams. Padres Owner Peter Seidler has taken those words to heart. If you need any evidence, just look at Last Saturday’s Padres Fan Fest at Petco Park. Which tallied more than 100K attendees. How did that happen? Because of what Seidler and the San Diego Padres have invested in and created.
Whole City Behind Us#PadresFanFest pic.twitter.com/KKiYInJY7k
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) February 5, 2023
Padres And Seidler Push The Envelope
For years the Padres fell into the category of “small market.” That hell hole of a phrase. Small market. The most painful phrase and even larger lie ever told to any sports fan.
So many baseball fans around America have been subjected to the rhetoric that despite their owner being worth over a billion dollars and their team being in a largely populated market, they could not spend money to improve the team.
Fortunately, not just for Padres fans but for all baseball fans, San Diego Padres Owner and Chairman Peter Seidler is doing everything in his power to put this notion to bed.
What Peter Has Done For the Padres
Since 2020 the nephew of famed Los Angeles Dodgers CEO Peter O’Malley has done something that 3/4 of MLB owners refuse to do. Pour his asset and money into making the Padres the best team it possibly can be.
Everyone knows him, green-lighting the signing of such stars as Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, the extensions of Fernando Tatis Jr., and the trade for Juan Soto.
It’s a simple concept, and yet for many owners around the league has set them off and left them in a state of great displeasure.
After the Juan Soto trade, multiple MLB Higher ups made statements saying, “I don’t understand the San Diego Padres Business Model”.
Even just as recent as three weeks ago, Rockies owner Dick Monfort voiced his “doubts” of the Padres. Manfort, who boasts one of the most directionally confused front offices in baseball stated “What the Padres are doing, I don’t 100% agree with” Monfort would continue saying “though I know that our fans probably agree with it. We’ll see how it works out.”
I dare you to find an owner in all of sports with a higher approval rating than the Padres’ Peter Seidler. pic.twitter.com/VAM7MLztRj
— Nick Lee (@NickLee51) February 3, 2023
What a quote. So unbelievable I had to read it five times to believe that it was real. Then I proceed to laugh for another five minutes at its stupidity.
But one that so many baseball fans understand.
Why Fellow MLB Owners Fear It
The reality is that MLB owners don’t like what Seidler and the Padres are doing. Most owners don’t like or want to spend money. They just want to maximize their profit. More so, MLB owners dread a team like the Padres. To have a “smaller market” team spend this much money breaks the norm that so many try to live by. I’m looking at you, Oakland, Cleveland, and Tampa…
By far, their biggest fear is that what Seidler and the San Diego Padres are doing will yield a championship and continued success. Because if it does, it may force the hand of owners around the league. Their ability to hide behind the words small market will be gone. Why? Because every fan in baseball will be able to point to the Padres model and say, “no, it can be done.”
Baseball fans, minus Dodgers, Giants, Diamondbacks, and Rockies Fans, should hope that the Padres model and effort pay off.
A championship to San Diego would have the potential to expose an outward lie told by countless major league owners and leave those same owners with no other choice than to move off their bottom line.
Main photo credits:
Orlando Ramirez – USA Today Sports
Players mentioned:
Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto
