Baseball in San Diego; From the Padres to PETCO
by Bill Swank

Reviewed by David Marasco

I recently picked up a copy of Baseball in San Diego; From the Padres to PETCO by Bill Swank. It's a collection of pictures from San Diego baseball history. As an amateur baseball photographer and a former resident of San Diego, I found the concept of this book appealing. As I inspected the front cover, I was a bit disappointed in the picture of Ted Williams. Quite frankly, if this had been one of mine, I would have hit delete on my trusty digital. The shutter speed is far too slow, and there is quite a bit of motion blur. My initial reaction was that there had to be a better photo of The Kid for the cover. But a quick read of the back cover reveals why this choice was made - it was the first color action photo of Williams, and it had been buried in a cigar box until 1999. This in turn reveals the strength of this book; it is more than just a collection of photos, through well-researched captions it serves as a scrapbook for San Diego baseball history.

The first sections of the book deal with the old PCL Padres, who in turn were the relocated Hollywood Stars. An amusing team photo from 1936 in fact shows some players still wearing their old Hollywood uniforms. It's easy to forget the level of talent that passed through the PCL in those days. Sure, most know that Ted Williams went from the streets of San Diego to the Padres as a youth, but over the years the San Diego fans saw the likes of Minnie Minoso, Al Rosen, Luke Easter, Mudcat Grant, Earl Averill, Pete Rose, Tommy Harper and Tony Perez. Those were the fruits of being in the Cleveland and then Cincinnati farms systems. The picture of a young Pete Rose is a blast. For fans of the old minor league Padres, the photos of stars before they hit The Show doubtlessly bring back great memories. Mamie VanDoren makes a cameo appearance for fans of a certain era.

The sense of history is well supported by the text that goes along with the photos. This book serves as a companion for another that covers baseball in San Diego prior to the arrival of the PCL Padres. No question that between the two books San Diego fans will get a good firm grasp on the city's vibrant sports history. While there are small errors, such as a pair of repetitive segments on page 53, they do not detract from the overall high quality of the work.

Because players like Ozzie Smith and Dave Winfield left the team early, the franchise can lay claim to only one true superstar - Tony Gwynn. In the section on the disastrous Roseanne season, the Clark/Pagliarulo vs. Gwynn bad blood was discussed. The incident where a Tony Gwynn doll was found in the dugout dangling from a noose was not. The public's reaction to the feud was summed up as "There are certain rules in San Diego. Do not be disrespectful toward the American flag. Do not be disrespectful toward Tony Gwynn". Well, I don't mean to disrespect either the Flag or Gwynn (although I might have done so this season by snapping this photo during the National Anthem - he gave me the evil eye for doing this), but do we really need a picture of Gwynn wearing a Santa hat while holding a football? Yes, that's on page 106. Perhaps a photo from Gwynn's college days as an Aztec could have tied in local college baseball. While later in his career Gwynn got some ribbing for being a "well-rounded" athlete, not only did he set the SDSU record for assists, but was drafted by both the Clippers and the Padres when he came out of college. This answers the trivia question "who was drafted from college by two teams in two sports in the same day, all three in the same city?"

While the quality of most of the photography is amazing for either its technical merit (Stewart safe at home on page 17 leaps to mind) or historical significance (Williams on the front cover), the selection in the later years seems a bit uneven. Take, for example, Prodigal Son Ken Caminiti. Page 108 features a horrible photo, his facial features are hidden and a histogram would show that the picture is far too contrasty. It's hard to believe that with the hundreds if not thousands of Caminiti photos out there that this one would make the cut. The other two Caminiti pictures are more to the spirit of the rest of the book. The picture of him in front of the cooling fan in Monterrey, Mexico allows for the telling of the story of his hitting a pair of homers despite a bad case of dehydration, and the photo on page 118 captures well the frustration of yet another dismantling of the Padres franchise. Given his stature as a Padre, it's hard to believe that there are only two photos of Steve Garvey, although the book does get credit for printing his taco comments. I suspect that the sources that Swank used for his earlier photos did not have the more modern players, and that explains the wider variety in quality. Some of this may also be prejudice; we are more willing to accept a less than perfect photo from 60 years ago because the photographers of the day didn't have access to modern equipment, however, given the number of cameramen at a modern game and the advances in both lighting and cameras, it's harder to accept a flawed product.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It should do quite well in its intended market - residents of San Diego and Padres fans. The overall quality is high, and whatever small defects the book has are not fatal in any way. The book may also be of interest to baseball historians, sports photographers and people interested in the old PCL.