My latest at Baseball Prospectus ($) focuses on the origins of professional baseball in each of the five current NL West cities. Did you know, for instance, that Hall of Fame right-hander Walter Johnson pitched for the San Diego Pickwicks in 1907? I had no idea.
Anyway, the whole article is full of stuff like that. Give it a read…
I think Eddie Kunz (acquired today for Allan Dykstra) pitched to Mitch Canham @ Oregon St … iirc … but Eddie may have come in the year after Canham left … neither of them was a eye-popping as Jacoby Ellsbury … but both were very solid college players, that’s for sure.
Apparently, the Padres have a one Beaver at a time rule… Canham was released and subsequently signed with the Astros system.