Padres' new ballpark revitalizes San Diego

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BY JAY PARIS

SAN DIEGO -- When you traipse through a revitalized East Village en route to posh Petco Park, don't forget to tip your Padres cap toward the nearest McDonald's.

If McDonald's owner Ray Kroc hadn't purchased the club and rescued it from moving 30 years ago, there would be no San Diego Padres, no Petco Park, no makeover of the blighted neighborhood in downtown San Diego.

"It's very clear he saved the Padres from Washington, D.C., which frankly, is a fate worse than death," Padres owner John Moores said.

It was Moores who had the capital idea - and the capital - for the Padres' new palace, with an assist from the city. But while celebrating Thursday night's Petco Park christening, with San Diego State playing Houston in the first game of a four-day college tournament that also includes Nebraska, don't overlook Kroc's super-sized effort.

"We plan on a public plaque identifying the gratitude we have," Moores said.

When Moores was searching for a baseball-only stadium location, he looked to the past while considering the future. The first home of the minor-league Padres, Lane Field, was west of the Santa Fe Depot downtown.

"That was the better part of downtown," Moores said. "San Diego needed a signature building on the water, and I thought that would have worked. But as it turned out, it would have been too cramped there and the environmental issues with the bay would have gone on for centuries."

Moores wasn't the only one with an idea that turned out to be all wet. Larry Lucchino, then the team president, preferred a site near Qualcomm Stadium.

"It turns out we were both wrong, because it's perfect right where it is." Moores said. "We would not have had the development opportunity that we did in the East Village, and that was purely a political decision. I know it's not fashionable to say nice things about politicians, but it really was a good decision."

The result is a 42,500-seat ballpark adjacent to the lively Gaslamp Quarter.

"I like the fact that the fans are right there with you," said Padres manager Bruce Bochy, who oversaw team workouts before heading to spring training last month. "There are going to be great seats for the fans."

Added third baseman Jeff Cirillo: "The field is close to the fans, so you feel like you're in a little bowl. When you play in those football stadiums, it's kind of hard sometimes to focus in because of how center field is so far away."

By far, Petco Park's deepest reaches are in right-center. That limits left-handed slugger Ryan Klesko's praise.

"I'm not going to say anything about the field," he said, "because they made it 411 feet to right-center."

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In Petco Park, San Diego rolls up its sleeve and displays a fresh venue that glistens. That's especially true of its most recognizable landmark, the Western Metal Supply Company building in left field.

The red-brick warehouse dating to 1909 was retrofitted to accommodate suites, the Padres Hall of Fame Bar and Grill, a team store and rooftop bleachers. The left-field foul pole hugs the structure's southeast corner.

Others rave about how the seats - some angled - embrace the diamond. Compared with Qualcomm Stadium, the field-level seats are 10-to-12 feet closer to the action, with some on top of the foul lines. The upper deck's front rows are three feet closer than the Qualcomm Stadium's loge level was.

And with many concessions stands - anyone for Chinese, Italian or Mexican food? - constructed away from the seating bowl, there's an open feel to the concourse levels. The outside ring offers views of San Diego Bay, Point Loma, downtown and the Coronado Bay Bridge.

"I think it's spectacular," Escondido's Bob Krier said while touring the facility with his family last weekend. "We're looking forward to coming here."

Added his wife, Julie: "It's going to be fun to come down here. I can't believe how much downtown has changed."

Just like the Padres' persona, thanks in part, to Kroc. He acquired the Padres in 1974. then turned them over to his wife, Joan, who recently died. She sold the club to Tom Werner in 1990, and Moores bought it four years later.

"Joan told me the story of how Ray came home one day and said, 'Honey, I've bought the Padres,'" Moores recalled. "She said, 'You can do whatever you want with your money, but why would you buy a monastery?'"

Thursday night, spiffy Petco Park, which often didn't have a prayer of being built, opened its doors. For area baseball fans, that's more than enough reason to shout, "hallelujah!"