Petco Park

The Padres played their first regular-season game at the ballpark on April 8, 2004, defeating the San Francisco Giants 4-3 in ten innings. It hosted the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic championship and the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and on October 9, 2024 it set a baseball attendance record with 47,773 people present. Gallagher Square, known as the "Park at the Park", is a grassy berm sloping above the outfield fence in center field; when no game is scheduled it serves as a free local park for area residents. The franchise was established in 1969 and plays in the National League West. It has reached the World Series twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing to the Detroit Tigers and then being swept by the New York Yankees. The article on the club describes Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Famer who spent his whole career with the Padres, as widely considered the greatest Padres player ever, and names Dave Winfield, Roberto Alomar, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Rickey Henderson, Trevor Hoffman, Greg Maddux, Willie McCovey, Fred McGriff, Gaylord Perry, Mike Piazza and Ozzie Smith among the other Hall of Famers who played for the franchise. Ownership was in transition when this research was carried out: Peter Seidler, who owned the team from 2012, died on November 14, 2023; Major League Baseball owners approved John Seidler as the club's control person on February 6, 2025; and on May 2, 2026 the Padres announced a pending sale to Feliciano and Kwanza Jones, which the article records as not finalized as of August 4, 2026.