San Diego hadn’t been home to a whole lot of quality baseball the first 10 years of the Padres’ existence. On this date — July 11 — in 1978, it was home to the very best players in the game during the first All-Star Game held at San Diego Stadium.
The pomp and circumstance of the occasion — President Gerald Ford was among owner Ray Kroc’s guests and part of the largest ever crowd in San Diego — had some thirsting for more.
“Now that we’ve had a taste of it,” Padres team President Ballard Smith told San Diego Union sports editor Jack Murphy, “we want more.