Baseball scouts tell me their bosses can't figure out Peter Seidler's math. The riddle: how the Padres can afford such large player payrolls, without losing big money.
The Padres outspent 24 other teams each of the past two seasons. Several clubs trailed them by $100 million. In payroll commitments for 2023, the Padres stand fourth. Even the Dodgers trail them, for now, per Spotrac.com.
If other teams' bosses are professing incomprehension at Padres Economics, they may be acting dumb. It wouldn't do to tell the scouts, "Hey, the business of baseball is awesome. We could afford to juice our payroll, too. We just choose not to."
Whether or not other teams admit it, a World Series title would mean more to the Padres and their fans than it would to most other franchises.
There's only one first time. No point in saying, Stay thirsty, my friend, to a Padres fan.
"I'm financially trained," Seidler told ESPN recently, after approving a $280 million contract to shortstop Xander Bogaerts. "I have a budget in mind up there somewhere, and I think budgets get better when you win world championships."
Seidler has won over the hearts and credit cards of locals.
In turn, they've furthered the team's revenues and ability to invest in more star talent.
The Padres' home attendance of 2.987 million last year placed fifth. Among the bigger-market franchises that didn't keep up was Houston, where the Astros were headed to their third World Series appearance in five years.
The Padres foresee this year's attendance exceeding the franchise-record of 3.016 million set in Petco Park's debut season of 2004.
Spending money to make money isn't a new concept.
Nor is Seidler's call-and-response wholly unique in Padres history.
Delighting local baseball fans five decades ago, Padres owner Ray Kroc said he would ramp up spending, all but waving his checkbook to reporters.
"We'll give 'em hell!" he declared.
The Chicagoan had just bought the franchise in January 1974. He had failed in efforts to buy the Cubs. His opening with the Padres came when legal challenges thwarted the National League's attempts to relocate the club to Washington, D.C. Aware of the beaten-down state of the Padres fan base, he said he hoped attendance would climb to 750,000. It was 611,000 in 1973.
When the turnstiles stopped at San Diego Stadium, the count exceeded 1 million fans.
San Diego, crowed Mayor Pete Wilson, showed it indeed was a major league city.
It wasn't that 100-loss team that thrilled fans. It was Kroc's wealth, a reported $500 million. And his candor.
"A man who won't put his personal worth into something doesn't have any guts," the hamburger mogul said after buying the team for $12 million. "This is going to be an expensive hobby."
Padres broadcaster Bob Chandler could scarcely trust his ears as Kroc, unattended by public relations handlers, spoke at the downtown news conference.
The line Chandler never has forgotten: "After all," Kroc said, "what do I need with more money?"
Kroc's splashy moves for Rollie Fingers and Gene Tenace contributed to the franchise's first winning season in 1978.
Rewarding further investments, stars Steve Garvey and Goose Gossage led the Padres' run to the 1984 World Series under manager Dick Williams, who as a two-time champion likely commanded top dollar when Kroc hired him.
Some of Kroc's moves backfired. Oscar Gamble, for one. He reached base at a good clip (.366) for the '78 Padres but saw his home run total nosedive, from 31 to seven. Kroc had signed him by tripling the offer of his former team, the White Sox.
"At the end of the season," Chandler recalled with a laugh, "Ray couldn't wait to trade Oscar. He said, 'Oscar Gamble was recommended by my attorney. We no longer have Oscar Gamble, and I no longer have that attorney.' "
Kroc's stewardship of day-to-day operations ended on a bombastic note, as one would've expected. By publicly talking about signing other team's stars such as Joe Morgan of the Reds, he broke MLB's tampering policy and incurred a fine. Kroc responded by empowering his son-in-law, Ballard Smith, to run the team, said Chandler.
As a longtime Cubs fan, Kroc could relate to Padres fans. They'd never seen a team finish within 28 games of first place.
Seidler was a young teenager in Los Angeles when Kroc bought the Padres. His grandfather Walter O'Malley owned the Dodgers. Yet Seidler can appreciate the underdog.
Their personalities aren't similar. Seidler is as reserved as Kroc was impetuous. When the Padres stink up a game this year, there's no chance Seidler will become incensed enough to holler into the stadium microphone, "Fans, I suffer with you. I've never seen such stupid ballplaying in my life."
In their recognition that fans shouldn't have to care about MLB's economics, they are kindred stewards of the local baseball shop.
"Ray showed me what an impact an owner can have on fan interest and attendance,' Chandler said, "and I think you're seeing that with Peter Seidler, with what he's invested in this team and what Padres attendance has become."
Seidler is attempting to finish the job that Kroc began.
