April 9, 1974: The Chicken Debuts and the Padres Lay an Egg

April 9, 1974, 50 years ago: The San Diego Padres begin the new baseball season. They were very close to beginning it elsewhere. They may have wished they had.

After 5 seasons in the National League, all in last place, all losing money, founding owner C. Arnholdt Smith reached an agreement to sell the Padres to Joseph Danzansky, who was going to move the team to Washington, D.C., which had lost the Senators 2 years earlier.

New uniforms were designed. A choice of new names was down to 2: Washington Stars or Washington Nationals. There were even baseball cards produced by Topps, showing "SAN DIEGO" replaced by "WASHINGTON NAT'L LEA." -- but also a backup sheet, keeping the Padres name, just in case the deal fell apart.

As if seeing the recently-acquired "Stretch" in any uniform 

other than that of the San Francisco Giants wasn't weird enough.

This was one of those post-trade "Topps airbrush jobs."

It did fall apart: The sale became tied up in lawsuits, and on January 25, 1974, Smith instead sold the team to Ray Kroc, CEO of fast-food chain McDonald's, for $12 million. And he decided to keep the Padres right where they were.

On April 9, 1974, the Padres opened the season at home, at San Diego Stadium. The Padres started Steve Arlin. Having gone 9-19, 10-21 and 11-14 the last 3 years, he was the closest thing the Padres had to an ace. The opponents were the Houston Astros. They started their ace, Larry Dierker. A crowd of 39,083 people came out to a stadium whose capacity was then listed as 47,634.

Among the figures on the field for the pregame ceremony were Kroc, team president and former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Emil J. "Buzzie" Bavasi, and... the KGB Chicken. No, not a Soviet spy. KGB was a San Diego radio station, 1360 on the AM dial. (In 2020, the former KFMB, at 760 AM, became KGB, and has an all-sports format.)

KGB broadcast football and basketball games for San Diego State University, and hired Ted Giannoulas, a 20-year-old journalism student at the school, to wear a chicken suit with the letters K G B (spread-out, possibly so people in that very patriotic city, home to a major naval base, wouldn't make the "Commie" connection), to distribute Easter eggs at the famed San Diego Zoo. This having worked well, the station made a deal with the Padres to make him a mascot.

Kroc spoke to the fans before the game, saying, "With your help, and God's help, we'll give 'em hell tonight." He and Bavasi then moved to the owner's box to watch the game together.

They may have been better off going to a McDonald's. Certainly, they would have ended up less salty. The Astros scored 3 runs in the 1st inning, and 3 more in the 2nd. The Padres scored single runs in the 2nd and 3rd, but 6-2 was as close as they would get. In the 4th, with the bases loaded and 1 out, Bobby Tolan popped up to the catcher. Thinking that was the 3rd out, Matty Alou -- mind you, entering his 15th big-league season, and, as it turned out, his last -- walked off 2nd base, and was doubled off. Then, in a stadium not yet 7 years old, a pipe burst in a concession stand, flooding the area. So things were also going badly off the field.

The Padres allowed a run in the 5th. In the top of the 8th, Padre reliever Mike Corkins allowed another run, on a single by César Cedeño. With Bob Watson up, he thought he could pick Cedeño off 1st base. Instead, he threw the ball away, and Cedeño got all the way to 3rd base. Watson then hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 9-2 Houston.

That really burned Kroc's sesame seed buns. He sent aide Dennis Walsh to the public address announcer's booth, manned by John DeMott, to ask DeMott if he could address the crowd. DeMott said yes, and, in the middle of the 8th inning, Kroc, whose voice was also carried over the radio, said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I suffer with you. I've never seen such stupid ball playing in my life!"

Ray Kroc

And then a streaker jumped onto the field, with security officers pursuing him. Still on the mike, Kroc yelled, "Get that man out of here! Arrest him!"

The Astros mounted a minor comeback, but the game ended Astros 9, Padres. 5. Willie McCovey, the newly-acquired former (and future) San Francisco Giants slugger, told Kroc he'd gone too far, and that the players were going to boycott the next game. Kroc wrote an apology, and asked McCovey to read it to the players. He did, and the boycott didn't happen.

McCovey told the reporters, "I've never heard anything like that in my 19 years in baseball. None of us likes being called stupid. We're pros, and we're doing the best we can. His words will ring in the players' ears for a long time." But Padre fans, having had 5 horrible seasons of poor play and seemingly apathetic ownership, knew they now had an owner who cared.

On June 15, 1974, having a 1-7 record and a 5.91 ERA, Steve Arlin was traded to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Brent Strom and Terry Ley. Ley, as it turned out, had pitched his only 6 games in the majors for the New York Yankees in 1971, and never got out of the minors again. Strom gave the Padres decent seasons in 1975 and '76, then faded. Arlin pitched 11 times for the Indians over the rest of 1974, and never appeared in another major league game. So the Padres came out slightly ahead in that trade.

The Padres finished 60-102, their exact same record from the year before, again finishing 6th and last in the NL Western Division. To his credit, Kroc was willing to pay big if he thought it could bring big results. He tried picking up the pieces of the dismantled Oakland Athletics dynasty, signing relief ace Rollie Fingers and 1st baseman Gene Tenace, and nearly signing slugging right fielder Reggie Jackson before the Yankees' owner, George Steinbrenner, reminded Reggie that, while Kroc was offering a higher salary, Reggie could make more money in endorsements in New York than in San Diego.

The 1978 Padres featured 4 future Hall-of-Famers: Fingers, Gaylord Perry in a Cy Young Award-winning season, Dave Winfield just entering his prime, and a young shortstop named Ozzie Smith. They also had slugger Oscar Gamble, speedy Gene Richards, a briefly revitalized Mickey Lolich, and established Padre ace Randy Jones. Despite all this talent, they only managed a franchise-best 84-78. And they were mocked for having some of the worst uniforms in baseball history.

They did not win an NL West title, or an NL Pennant, until 1984. By that point, they had almost a completely different team, now led by batting champion Tony Gwynn. Kroc had died earlier in the year. In 1990, his widow, Joan Kroc, sold the team to Tom Werner, later a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox. He sold them to John Moores in 1994.

Seeking a new ballpark, Moors threated a move to, yes, Washington. But the team's 1998 Pennant led to a favorable vote on a bond issue that built Petco Park, so the Padres have stayed put. In 2005, the Montreal Expos moved to the nation's capital, and took on the name Washington Nationals.

The Padres are the only team left in San Diego: They had lost the NBA's Rockets in 1971, lost the ABA's Sails in 1975, lost the WHA's Mariners in 1977, gained the NBA's Clippers in 1978 but lost them in 1984, and lost the NFL's Chargers in 2017.

San Diego Stadium opened in 1967, for the AFL's San Diego Chargers. The Padres debuted there in 1969. In 1980, it was renamed Jack Murphy Stadium, in honor of the San Diego Union sportswriter who had so long advocated for the city to reach the major leagues. A statue of him was placed outside the stadium. His brother was Bob Murphy, the Hall of Fame broadcaster for the New York Mets.

In 1997, the stadium was renamed Qualcomm Stadium. In 1998, it hosted Super Bowl XXXII, with the Denver Broncos beating the Green Bay Packers; and the World Series, with the Padres losing to the New York Yankees. This made it the only stadium to host the Super Bowl and the World Series in the same calendar year.

(The Metrodome, in Minneapolis, hosted both events and the NCAA Final Four between October 1991 and April 1992, but not all in the same calendar year. Prior to the Super Bowl era, the Polo Grounds hosted both the World Series and the NFL Championship Game in the same calendar year in 1936; Cleveland Municipal Stadium did it in 1954; and Yankee Stadium in 1956, 1958 and 1962.)

The Padres moved into Petco Park in 2004. The NFL's San Diego Chargers played there until 2016, then moved to Los Angeles. The football team at San Diego State University continued to play there until 2019. In 2020, the stadium was torn down, and San Diego State's new home, Snapdragon Stadium, opened on the site in 2021.

As for the Chicken: Giannoulas became an indelible fixture on the San Diego sports scene. On the film of the 1978 Chargers-Raiders game, he can be seen, in his original costume, fainting in disbelief in the stands over what became known as the "Holy Roller" play.

In 1979, KGB fired Giannoulas, and they hired a new man to wear the Chicken suit. Fans knew it wasn't the same guy, and they booed him. In June, Giannoulas won a lawsuit, which allowed him to resume performing in a chicken suit, on the conditions that it wasn't the same suit, and that it made no reference to radio station KGB.

On June 29, a full house of 47,000 people came out to see his "grand opening." A giant egg was brought onto the field. As Also Sprach Zarathustra (a.k.a. the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey) was played, it hatched, and Giannoulas emerged in his new costume, to a standing ovation.

Now known officially as "The Famous Chicken," but usually called "The San Diego Chicken" or just "The Chicken," he had surpassed Mr. Met and the Phillie Phanatic as baseball's most popular mascot. In 1981, he joined the cast of NBC's children's show The Baseball Bunch, hosted by Johnny Bench, with remote guest appearances by Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda as "The Dugout Wizard."

Bench liked the Chicken in real life, but, as characters on the show, they had a rivalry. Lasorda hated all mascots, and eventually had tussles with both the Chicken and the Phanatic. To this day, the Dodgers have never had an on-field mascot.

Since 1996, the Padres have had a costumed representation of their "Swinging Friar" logo as their regular mascot. In 2016, though long past his peak of popularity, but still very much in demand all over the country, Giannoulas gave an interview in which he said he was cutting back on appearances. He said, "It's not the end, but I can see it from here." As the 2024 season dawns, he still performs, at age 70.

Tony Gwynn, 1960-2014

Cancer is a bastard. Cancer doesn't care if you're white or black, rich or poor, young or old, straight or gay, or what god you pray to in order to rid yourself of your suffering. It certainly doesn't care if you've got 3,000 hits and 8 batting titles.

We've made great strides in the treatment of cancer over the last half-century. But not in time to save Tony Gwynn.

Anthony Keith Gwynn was born on May 9, 1960 in Los Angeles, and grew up in neighboring Long Beach, where he attended Polytechnic High School, starring in baseball, football and basketball.

Other grads of Poly, which was used in the films The Craft, American Beauty and American Pie, include: Tony's brother and former San Diego Padre teammate Chris Gwynn, Giants pitcher Randy Moffitt, Moffitt's sister and tennis icon Billie Jean King, former Los Angeles Dodger All-Star Milton Bradley, Philadelphia Phillies All-Star Chase Utley; football players Gene Washington, Tony Hill, Mark Carrier, Tony Hill, Willie McGinest and DeSean Jackson; football player turned actor Carl Weathers; basketball star Tyus Edney; actress and Leo Durocher ex-wife Laraine Day; actors Van Heflin and Cameron Diaz; singers Marilyn Horne and Jo Stafford; quirky bandleader Spike Jones; jazz drumming legend Buddy Rich; metal guitarist Lita Ford; and rappers Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg (who were first cousins).

Tony Gwynn starred in baseball and basketball at San Diego State University, where their baseball field has been renamed Tony Gwynn Stadium. He was actually better in basketball at SDSU, setting school records for assists in a game, a season and a career. He was drafted by both the San Diego Padres and the NBA's San Diego Clippers -- who moved to Los Angeles in 1984.

Thinking baseball would be less physical, he signed with the Padres, and made his major league debut on July 19, 1982, at Jack Murphy Stadium (now Qualcomm Stadium). Batting 5th and playing center field, he went 2-for-4, with an RBI on a sacrifice fly in his first plate appearance, helping to knock Mike Krukow out of the box in the 2nd inning. But John Curtis couldn't hold the lead, and the Phillies ended up winning, 7-6.

For most of his career, Gwynn played right field, a position previously held in San Diego by Dave Winfield -- who thus ended up maybe the 2nd-best player in team history, but also its 2nd-best right fielder. Gwynn won 5 Gold Gloves. (Like Gwynn, Winfield had also been a baseball and basketball star in college, at the University of Minnesota, and was drafted in both sports.)

But it's his hitting that people will remember. He won 8 National League batting titles, a feat previously achieved only by Honus Wagner, and in the American League only by Ty Cobb (who won 12). A 15-time All-Star, his career batting average was .338, the highest of any player who debuted after 1939.

He collected 3,141 hits, including 543 doubles, 85 triples and 135 home runs. Only once did he top 90 RBIs, getting 119 in 1997, which was also his peak year for home runs, with 17. (The Murph/The Q was a pitcher's park.) As a singles hitter, he was the successor to Rod Carew, but with a little more power. In spite of not being a slugger, his career OPS+ was 132. He never struck out more than 40 times in a season.

In 1984, he batted .351. He was just getting warmed up. In 1987, he batted .370. In 1994, he was batting .394 and generating what remains baseball's last serious discussion of whether a player can bat .400 for the 1st time since Ted Williams in 1941, when the strike hit. Not to rest on his laurels, over the next 3 seasons, he batted .368, .353 and .372. In any ballpark, those numbers are outstanding; in a pitcher's park like The Murph/The Q, they're mind-boggling.

"People can say what they want to say about me," he said in 1991. "I know I've never driven in a lot of runs. That stat never has been that important to me. But who in this league is better at putting the bat on the ball? Nobody."

And when he said it, nobody accused him of being arrogant. Because it was generally agreed that he was right, and that he had a good perspective on his own talent: He may have been one-dimensional as far as offense went (although that's not completely fair: Despite his weight, he is the Padres' all-time stolen base leader with 319), but, at the time, nobody else was better at that one dimension, with the possible exception of Wade Boggs -- and Gwynn did say "in this league"; Boggs was in the American League.

Like Williams, Gwynn was known for his keen eyesight. He used that sight to constantly study videotape, of his swing, and of pitchers' tendencies. This earned him the nickname Captain Video, after a science-fiction TV show of the 1950s.

He was a one-club man, playing only for the Padres over 20 seasons, wearing only Number 19. The Padres never reached the postseason without him until 2005. With him, they won their 1st Pennant in 1984, their 2nd in 1998, and won another NL Western Division title in 1996. They've never gone all the way, but don't blame Gwynn: He batted .306 in postseason play, including a home run into the short porch at the old Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series.

Before that game, he was filmed walking through Monument Park, and paying his respects to the Yankee Legends -- due to Interleague play being a brand-new thing, and never having played in the AL, he had never faced the Yankees before. Between that, and living his entire life in Southern California, it was the first time he had ever set foot in Yankee Stadium. As accomplished as he was, he was in awe.

Plagued by a knee injury that required 8 surgeries during his career, he announced his retirement during the 2001 season, as did Cal Ripken, but he didn't get nearly the hype that Cal got. This is probably because Cal had the aura of his streak, and of playing in the MLB city closest to the nation's capital at the time (Washington not getting a team again until 2005), and thus having the D.C. intelligentsia going up the Baltimore-Washington Parkway (or MARC or Amtrak) and fawning over him; while Gwynn played in comparatively isolated San Diego, as Hollywood types could stay in L.A. and watch the Dodgers, instead of making the 2-hour trip to Mission Valley to watch the Padres at Qualcomm.

Oh, in that last season? He only made 112 plate appearances, but at the age of 41, he still batted .324. Indeed, aside from his rookie season (an otherwise-fine .289), he never batted under .300, a feat he shares with Cobb.

Dick Williams, his 1st manager and himself a Hall-of-Famer, said, "I don't think I've ever had a player who worked harder, cared more and was more deserving of his awards."

Those awards included election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2007, nomination to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999, being ranked Number 49 on The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players the same year, election to the San Diego Hall of Champions, having his Number 19 retired by the Padres, having a statue erected in his honor outside the Padres' new home, Petco Park, and having that stadium nicknamed "The House That Gwynn Built," even though he never played in it -- because the 1998 Pennant run he led helped pass the ballot initiative that paid for it. The base of the statue includes the words "Mr. Padre."

When his playing career ended, it coincided with the retirement of his college coach, Jim Dietz. He wanted the job, and got it. He took the Aztecs to the NCAA Regionals once, and, after a reduction in scholarships because the program did not meet academic standards, improved in that regard for 5 years straight through 2012.

But he had to take a leave of absence after that season, because he was diagnosed with oral cancer, having a salivary gland removed. He blamed it -- almost certainly correctly -- on his own use of chewing tobacco. Which may have also caused the death of Yankee star and broadcaster Bobby Murcer.

It was a bit ironic: I was concerned about his weight, which had ballooned to 330 pounds, making me think of the weight-driven health issues that killed Minnesota Twins Hall-of-Famer Kirby Puckett when he was only 45 -- yet it was cancer that plagued Gwynn, causing him to lose 80 pounds. In spite of his illness, he attended every Hall of Fame induction ceremony since his own.

"The whole experience was traumatic because I thought I had it beat," Gwynn said during an Induction Weekend visit. "And, dang, it came back." Cancer has a habit of doing that. Like I said, it's a bastard -- something Tony Gwynn never was.

At least, not that we ever saw. On and off the field, he generated respect. Even on those occasions when he was criticized -- a few teammates criticized him for his weight gain -- he didn't strike back. He was a class act.

His death was announced earlier today. He was 54. He leaves his wife, Alicia, who runs a record label, Base Hit Records.

Their daughter is a singer for that label, who professionally uses the names "Anisha Nicole" and "Nee-Nee Gwynn." Her 1st album is titled 19, after her father's uniform number. Anisha is married to a ballplayer, Kennard Jones, who's gotten to Triple-A ball, but not yet to the majors. (UPDATE: He played in the minor leagues from 2002 to 2013, but never reached the major leagues.)

Their son, Tony Gwynn Jr., is also a major league outfielder, currently with the Phillies, where one of his teammates is another son of a pretty good hitter, John Mayberry Jr. Tony Jr. was born near the end of his father's 1st big-league season, 1982, and like his father his 1st big-league hit was a double. He is married with 3 daughters.

UPDATE: Tony Gwynn Sr. was buried at Dearborn Memorial Park in Poway.