This month marks the 25th anniversary of the San Diego Padres’ last appearance in the World Series. The 1998 New York Yankees swept Bruce Bochy, Tony Gwynn, Trevor Hoffman and San Diego in four games.
Here’s a game-by-game look at the Series, with commentary from five current and former Union-Tribune staffers who were there:
San Diego in the Series
The Friars defeated the Astros in the Division Series before dispatching the vaunted Atlanta Braves for the franchise’s first pennant since 1984. Up next: A showdown with the best team in baseball, the New York Yankees.
John Maffei, current Union-Tribune reporter who covered the Padres for the North County Times: “The Padres clinched the 1998 National League championship in Atlanta. The team was scheduled to fly to New York for a workout and the start of the World Series the next day. Working for the North County Times with beat writer Joe Christensen, our flight reservations to New York couldn’t be changed and weren’t scheduled to fly out for another day. The Padres were set to fly out of Atlanta at 2 p.m., so we came up with a gameplan, went to the team hotel at 9 a.m., caught the players, coaches and broadcasters in the lobby.
“Finally, a little after 2, Joe and I realized neither of us had spoken to manager Bruce Bochy. We made our way out to the bus and found Bochy, the only person on the bus. I knocked on the window and asked if we could come on. He said, no, but got off, and asked where his team was.
“Informed that they were still straggling in, he asked if we were hungry, then bought us lunch and gave us an exclusive 60-minute interview.”
Sean Haffey, former Union-Tribune and current Getty Images photographer: “Growing up in San Diego, I had become accustomed to teams that showed flashes of brilliance but never won titles. The San Diego Sockers seemed to be the only team that delivered championships so the thirst for a World Series title was very strong. The Padres had newer ownership that was bent on winning and the buzz in the town was strong. I felt that this could be the best chance I had at shooting a winning franchise in town.”
Tom Krasovic, Union-Tribune reporter who covered the 1998 Padres: “The Padres had just knocked off two teams that had won more than 100 games. Kevin Brown was rested and ready for Game 1. The Padres had looked comfortable on the road at Atlanta and Houston. They matched up OK with (Yankees starter) David Wells. I figured they had an even chance, at worst, to win Game 1. And I guessed that if they won the first game, the series would go six or seven games.”
Smell that?
The series opened Oct. 17, 1998 in at Yankee Stadium. For many San Diegans traveling east, it was their first visit to “The House that Ruth Built.”
Bill Center, former Union-Tribune reporter who covered the Padres from 1996-2014: “Although I had been to New York covering the Padres and Mets, this was my first trip to Yankee Stadium. I took the tour the day before the opening game of the World Series. The first thing that struck me about Yankee Stadium was the smell. It sorta had a historical musk-like smell. It was distinctive. Not overly offensive, but unlike anything I had experienced before.”
Maffei: “We arrived several hours early, got our credentials, ate lunch at the Yankee Stadium McDonalds, and I went to center field to take in the plaques of the Yankees greats in Monument Park.
“Alone with my thoughts and the plaques, still hours before the scheduled Padres workout, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Tony Gwynn, who had the same idea. You don’t go to Yankee Stadium for the first time without visiting Monument Park.
“We talked, we marveled at the Yankees greats, then Tony said ‘Mafe, can you believe two Aztecs (we both played baseball at San Diego State, Tony playing a lot better than me) are in Yankee Stadium standing in Monument Park, waiting for the World Series?’
“I told him I was getting kind of misty. He said the same thing, and we left before anyone knew we were there.”
Haffey: “A personal memory that I love to tell people about shooting in the old Yankee Stadium was asking a fan behind me if they wouldn’t mind getting me a cup of coffee around the fourth inning of Game 1. Ten minutes later, the fan returned and handed me my coffee. I took a sip and someone had spiked it with whiskey. I told them I appreciated it but couldn’t drink the whiskey during the game. A NYPD cop next to me wasted no time to say, ‘I’ll take it!'”
GAME 1: Yankees 9, Padres 6
The Padres’ first World Series game in 14 years got off to a promising start. The hosts took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Then the Padres began to batter Yankees ace and ALCS MVP David Wells. Greg Vaughn blasted a two-run homer in the third inning before he and Tony Gwynn homered in the fifth to give the Padres a 5-2 advantage.
Center: “On one of the greatest swings in Padres’ history, Gwynn hit a mammoth drive to right on the first pitch of the at-bat from Wells that ricocheted off the famous Yankee Stadium façade for a two-run home run to give the Padres’ a 4-2 lead. Vaughn then hit his second home run of the game on Wells’ next pitch to make it 5-2.”
San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Nick Canepa: “I was there, in the Yankee Stadium auxiliary press box, when Tony Gwynn hit one up against the Bud Light sign. Then Greg Vaughn hit a home run that was coming right at us.”
Manager Bruce Bochy turned to his bullpen with one out in the seventh. The Yankees immediately took advantage of the switch, and Chuck Knoblauch ripped a three-run homer off Donne Wall. “Anytime you get a starting pitcher out of the game, it’s a good thing,” Knoblauch said. “Especially when it’s Kevin Brown.” Tino Martinez followed later in the inning with a grand slam off Mark Langston, and New York took the lead for good. Manager Brucee Bochy called his team’s Game 1 loss “a punch in the stomach.”
Canepa: “And then came the missed called third strike and the Padres lost. It was a game the Pads should have won (the only one).”
Maffei: “The game … came down to one critical call. Padres pitcher Mark Langston delivered a 2-2 pitch to Tino Martinez, a pitch that was right down the middle. Home plate umpire Richie Garcia blanked and called it a ball. On the next pitch, Martinez hit a grand-slam homer, part of a seven-run Yankees inning. What would have happened had Garcia called Martinez out on strikes? How different would the World Series have been had the Padres won Game 1?”
Center: “I thought Garcia’s call ended the Padres’ hopes for the World Series. The 2-and-2 pitch by Langston that was miscalled ball three still haunts me as the key pitch in the series — moreso than the Martinez homer that followed. ..
“To take the lead the way they did, then lose the game on a grand slam after a blown strike three call seemed to deflate the Padres — more than I thought it would. I think the first game decided the series. In less than two innings, it went from the ultimate high to the ultimate low.”
Krasovic: “While I was writing after the game, a Yankees fan figured out I was from San Diego. He took the time to shout out his opinion, at length, that Mariano Rivera was a better closer than Trevor Hoffman. Pretty considerate of him.”
GAME 2: Yankees 9, Padres 3
Game 1 was a disheartening loss, and any chance of the Padres establishing a different tone in Game 2 quickly evaporated. Two of San Diego’s first three batters reached base in the first inning against Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, but couldn’t score. Then, in the bottom of the inning, Ken Caminiti committed an error that led to three Yankees runs. From there, the Yankees’ lineup hammered San Diego starter Andy Ashby until he was pulled with two outs in the third inning and the Padres trailing 7-0. He surrendered four earned runs on 10 hits in what was the shortest outing by a Padres starter all season.
Center: “I thought the Padres were flat in the second game. A Ken Caminiti throwing error led to three unearned runs in the Yankee first. The Yankees scored three more in the second, two off a homer by Bernie Williams. The scored was 7-0 before the Padres scored in the fifth. The Yankees finished with 16 hits — 10 off Ashby in 2 2/3 innings.”
Krasovic: “Andy Ashby looked as uncomfortable as I’d seen him.”
Haffey: “New York was alive and hungry for a title and after two games there it seemed like the San Diego curse was alive and well.”
GAME 3: Yankees 5, Padres 4
With a crowd of 64,667 packed into Qualcomm Stadium for the Padres’ first home World Series game in 14 years, the Yankees again rallied late to claim a victory. After San Diego built a 3-0 lead in the sixth off New York starter David Cone, the Yankees broke through against Padres starter Sterling Hitchco*ck. Hitchco*ck gave up a homer to Scott Brosius and a double to Shane Spencer when manager Bruce Bochy turned to his bullpen. The Yankees tacked on another run to cut the lead to 3-2. In the eighth, Bochy sent in closer Trevor Hoffman, but he surrendered a three-run homer to Brosius. The Yankees won, moving closer to the first World Series sweep since 1990.
Haffey: “Coming back to San Diego, I wasn’t optimistic the Padres could get out in front of the steamrolling Yankees, and my feelings proved to be right. The town was buzzing with excitement, but deep down I wasn’t optimistic.”
Center: “What happened when the World Series came to San Diego didn’t surprise me at all. Qualcomm Stadium was rocking well before the first pitch — just like it had in 1984. The crowd cheered every strike from the Padres.”
Maffei: “Game 3 was back in San Diego and the Padres were leading 3-2 after seven innings. In the eighth, Padres lefty Randy Myers opened the inning by walking Paul O’Neill. Bochy went to the bullpen and brought in closer Trevor Hoffman, who entered to thundering applause and the ear-splitting ‘Hells Bells.’ Hoffman walked Martinez, and Scott Brosius hit a three-run homer. The Padres couldn’t rally against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.”
GAME 4: Yankees 3, Padres 0
The Padres watched as one of greatest teams in baseball history completed a four-game sweep with a shutout before a record crowd of 65,427 at Qualcomm Stadium. San Diego ace Kevin Brown started for the second time in the series, throwing 118 pitches over eight innings with eight strikeouts, boosting his total to a postseason-record 46. But the Padres’ lineup was stifled by left-hander Andy Pettitte, who gave up five hits in 7 1/3 innings. Scott Brosius was named World Series MVP after hitting two home runs and driving in six runs.
Haffey: “On the final pitch of Game 4, I took a dramatic photo of Joe Girardi hugging Mariano Rivera after they beat the Padres. Pair that with a dejected Tony Gwynn postgame, the buzz of the Series came to a crashing halt.”
Krasovic: “I remember how quiet the big crowd felt after Mariano Rivera obtained the final out, and I remember wondering how many years it would take for the Padres to bring another World Series to San Diego.”
What it meant
It’s been a quarter-century (and counting) since the Padres last played in the World Series. Memories from San Diego’s playoff run still linger.
Krasovic: “After Game 1, it wasn’t very interesting. The Yankees were just too capable. Did the World Series itself result in San Diego voters approving the ballpark measure several days later? I doubt it. But the run to the World Series probably helped quite a bit.”
Center: “The 1998 World Series had a lasting impact on the city if for no other reason than it directly led to the passage of the bond issue that created Petco Park. I think it also created a new era of Padres fans who were too young to enjoy the 1984 World Series.”
Canepa: “The shame of it all was that the Pads had basically no chance in their two trips to the Series. The (1984) Tigers and (1998) Yankees were two of the best teams over the second half of the 20th century.”
Haffey: “I now shoot sports exclusively for Getty Images and have shot five World Series in the last seven years. I travel from town to town and see what winning a title does to a city’s sense of community. San Diego isn’t a four-sport town, but the fans here have been through a lot with the loss of the Chargers and never having experienced a major title. I don’t consider myself a fan, I stay neutral in coverage but would love to see that happen; it’s been more than long enough. “
