Dave Winfield played nine of his 22 years in the majors in New York, one season longer than his stay in San Diego. The Padres, though, gave Winfield his start in baseball when they were one of four professional teams to draft the hulking 6-foot-6, 220-pound Winfield.
So on this date — Aug. 5 — in 2001, Winfield went into the Hall of Fame as a Padre, a first for the franchise.
There were rumors the Padres paid Winfield for the privilege, but he always denied them. “You dance with the one who brought you,” Winfield told the Union-Tribune earlier this summer.