As Urban Legends Go, This One Is Full of Kruk
Sat, Jun 9, 2007
by Geoff Young
My colleague TD at Rain Delay shot me an email the other day:
Got a question for ya, and I figured you’d be the guy to go to. Right now I’m in the middle of reading John Kruk’s I Ain’t an Athlete, Lady, and he says in the book (and he’s said it on BBTN this year) that he was the last guy to wear #44 for the Padres because they retired it when Willie McCovey got elected to the HOF. I’m either reading things wrong or seeing things, because doesn’t Jake Peavy wear #44?? So do you know the story with that?
I’d heard Kruk mention the bit about McCovey earlier this year and it bugged the heck out of me, but I had no idea that he’d committed this nonsense to paper several years earlier (his book was published in 1994). I don’t have a copy of the book, and it’s out of print, so I asked TD to send me the exact citation and here it is (p. 203):
In San Diego I was the last guy to wear number 44 before they retired it for Willie McCovey. He had played there for a couple of years. I was wearing it with the Padres, but when he was voted into the Hall Of Fame, they retired it. It was kind of exciting.
As any Padres fan knows, there are five numbers that have been retired in team history:
- #6, Steve Garvey — a mistake, IMHO, but what are you gonna do
- #19, Tony Gwynn — duh
- #31, Dave Winfield — duh
- #35, Randy Jones — maybe not quite as obvious as Gwynn and Winfield, but still a no-brainer
- #42, Jackie Robinson — by mandate of MLB
The next number to be retired will be Trevor Hoffman’s #51, but we’re not there yet.
At any rate, in the interest of debunking this myth (others are sure to ask about Peavy’s #44 in light of Kruk’s claim), here are the players who have worn the number for San Diego:
| Year(s) | Player, Pos |
|---|---|
| Courtesy of Baseball-Almanac.com. | |
| 1969 | Steve Arlin, RHP |
| 1970 | Tom Dukes, RHP |
| 1971 | Al Severinsen, RHP |
| 1972 | Mark Schaeffer, LHP |
| 1973 | Vicente Romo, RHP |
| 1974-75 | Willie McCovey, 1B |
| 1976-79 | Bob Owchinko, LHP |
| 1980 | n/a |
| 1981 | Eric Show, RHP |
| 1982 | n/a |
| 1983 | Marty Decker, RHP |
| 1984-85 | n/a |
| 1986-87 | John Kruk, OF |
| 1988-89 | n/a |
| 1990 | John Davis, RHP |
| 1991 | n/a |
| 1992-93 | Frank Seminara, RHP |
| 1994 | A.J. Sager, RHP |
| 1995 | n/a |
| 1996-97 | Sean Bergman, RHP |
| 1998 | John Vander Wal, OF |
| 1999 | Carlos Reyes, RHP |
| 2000-01 | Tom Davey, RHP |
| 2002-present | Jake Peavy, RHP |
It’s true that Kruk changed to #8 at some point during his Padres career, and it’s true that nobody else wore #44 for two years after Kruk had. Who knows, maybe the Padres had plans to retire McCovey’s number and it never happened. Whatever the case, #44 is very much alive and well in San Diego.
(I’m personally hoping that the Padres do retire the number. And that they don’t do it for another 15 years or so.)
So, the next time someone asks you about #44, tell them that the Padres are still using it, thank you very much. And remind them that Kruk ain’t no historian.
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
June 9, 2007 at 10:23 am
[...] Jake Peavy currently wears it. For a more complete discussion of the Padres and #44, head over to Ducksnorts… baseball, john kruk, mlb, san diego padresShare [...]
June 9, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Bad news … no SUPER ball-game here in Corvallis today … a bit too much rain … sigh …
Good news … all the Ducksnorters out at Petco to the Storm prelim game got to see Matt Antonelli poke a lead-off HR and Kyle Blanks follow that 2 outs later with another solo shot … 2-2 early … http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....a_lesafa_1
June 9, 2007 at 3:31 pm
News: Padres CF Mike Cameron left Friday’s game against Seattle as a precaution after spraining his left wrist when he caught it on Richie Sexson’s glove while being thrown out at first base in the seventh. X-rays were negative.
June 9, 2007 at 3:39 pm
John Manuel of BA chats about the draft …
http://www.baseballamerica.com.....64243.html
Says Porcello may go to UNC … and … then there’s this Q&A …
Q: Kevin from San Diego asks:
Down here in San Diego we are up in arms. This was seemingly the year to completely restock our system. Instead of mixing in some high ceiling talent (with 8 of the 1st 87) we picked a bunch of guys who are sure bets to help their teams win Northwest and Arizona league titles, but will never produce above A-ball. I mean, c’mon, Brad Chalk, Cory Luebke??!! What is wrong with these guys? It’s no wonder they NEVER produce impact players.
A: John Manuel: Kevin I was disappointed in some ways by the Padres’ low-ceiling approach, but when I looked deeper, I thought they did OK. Drew Cumberland’s hitting tool is in question, for Padres fans I hope he’s not another Drew Meyer (another middle infielder who couldn’t hit that Grady Fuson liked). If you’re going to take mostly college guys, they took some good ones–Kulbacki can really, really hit, and I love Canham and Sogard. Nick Schmidt is a typical Fuson pick, LHP with pitchability, and Grady’s track record remains pretty good. They diversified more than I thought at first glance with Cumberland and Toledo, a good idea.
… good stuff!
June 9, 2007 at 3:52 pm
And one last interesting Q&A from previous link …
Q: Ryan from Houston asks:
What exactly happens to teams that sign guys for over slot value? Do they get punished or something by MLB?
A: Jim Callis: You can’t be directly punished if you go through the mandated process. If you want to sign a guy over slot, you have to tell MLB. You have to explain why it’s a good move. Then MLB, much like David Spade in those phone commericals, says “NO!” Then you say you want to do it anyway, and MLB tries to lean on your owner. Now, if you’re a small-revenue owner and you’re hoping Bud Selig will give you an All-Star game or some discretionary funds, you might fall in line. Otherwise, MLB can’t really do much to you.
… so now you know!
June 9, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Draft summary … a list of all the Padres draft pics …
http://www.baseballamerica.com.....hp?team=SD
June 21, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Cumberland is the real deal. Don’t doubt his skill.