Petco Park

Petco Park, in San Diego, CA has been the home of the San Diego Padres since the start of the 2004 season.

BUILT: 2004

CAPACITY: 42,445

FIRST GAME: April 8, 2004, vs. San Francisco Giants (Padres 4, Giants 3, 10 innings)

• David Wells vs. Dustin Hermanson; WP: Eddie Oropesa, LP: Matt Herges; HR: Marquis Grissom

• First Hit: Brian Giles
• First Double: Sean Burroughs
• First Triple: B. Giles (April 11, 2004)
• First Home Run: Grissom off Antonio Osuna
• First Run: Khalil Greene
• First RBI: Burroughs

HIGH SEASON ATTENDANCE: 3,016,752 (2004)

LOW SEASON ATTENDANCE: 1,919,603 (2009)

HIGHEST GAME ATTENDANCE: 45,567 on March 30, 2014

GOOGLE EARTH: View Petco Park in Google Earth

Petco Park is located in downtown San Diego, CA at the intersection of Tony Gwynn Drive and Trevor Hoffman Way, both streets named after former San Diego Padres greats. It is jointly owned by the City of San Diego (70%) and the Padres (30%), who are its main tenant. The view beyond the outfield fence encompasses the downtown skyline, while there are various ocean views to be had from the seats. A berm in the outfield serves as a public park when there are no games, while a historic building in the city, the warehouse of the Western Metal Supply Company, has been integrated into the park's architecture and holds luxury boxes. The design is modern, steering away from the "retro" look that was popular in most of the ballparks built around the same period.

The Padres moved into their new home at the start of the 2004 season. It was christened in spectacular fashion, on April 8th, when they came back twice against the San Francisco Giants, from one run down in the 9th and again in the 10th inning, to win the game, 4-3. Sean Burroughs was the hero that day, driving in the first run of the game, and then the tying run in the 9th and the winning run in the 10th. On the 20th anniversary of that game in 2024, the Padres erased an 8-0 deficit in the 6th inning to eventually win the game, 9-8, over the Chicago Cubs, tying the record for the biggest comeback in team history.

Petco played as an extreme pitcher's park for a number of years after it opened, with a particularly strong effect of suppressing home runs, although around 2015, it became friendlier to hitters. This was due to modifications to the design of the fences, as well as construction outside the park which affected wind patterns.

In addition to hosting baseball games for the Padres and San Diego State University, Petco Park was the site of a Davis Cup tennis match between the USA and the United Kingdom on January 31-February 2, 2014. A clay tennis court was laid out in the outfield grass for the three-day event.

Petco Park hosted the 2016 All-Star Game. It was one of four ballparks chosen as a neutral site venue for the Division Series and the American League Championship Series in 2020, due to restrictions imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic. It hosted American League games, with no fans present, alongside Dodger Stadium, while the two major league ballparks in Texas hosted National League contests.

Petco park was the site of a tragedy on September 25, 2021, when two fans, a mother and her two-year old son, fell to their deaths near a concession stand on the third level concourse, before a game scheduled for that afternoon. The fall to the street below was equivalent to six stories. Police stated that the deaths appeared to have been suspicious and the following January issued a report calling them a homicide-suicide, that is that the victim had intentionally taken her own life, taking her young son along with her. Attorneys for the victim's family immediately rejected the inquest's conclusions, claiming that the death was the result of negligence by the owners and planned to sue the City of San Diego and the Padres.

Further Reading

• Ted Berg: "San Diego's Petco Park is the best ballpark in baseball", For the Win!, USA Today Sports, July 12, 2016. [1]
• Jason Owens: "Police rule mother-son falling deaths at Petco Park suicide-homicide; family claims wrongful death", Yahoo! Sports, January 19, 2022. [2]

Related Sites

• Petco Park (San Diego) at the SABR Bio Project