It’s a good thing Jerry Coleman had a jacket because the dugout was much colder than he remembered.
Though the stadium in Mission Valley could get cold after the sun set, weather had nothing to do with it.
The chill Coleman encountered was due to the reception he received from several of the ballplayers when he shared the Padres dugout with them four decades ago.
It was 40 years ago today — April 10, 1980 — that Coleman managed his first game for the Padres after moving down from the broadcast booth.
The experiment lasted one season before Coleman returned to the booth, where over more than three decades he became one of the most beloved figures in San Diego sports history.