San Diego Padres' Mount Rushmore

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With yesterday being Presidents’ Day I decided to finally conform to the recent trend of creating a Mount Rushmore by choosing in my opinion the four best players for the San Diego Padres.

For those of you not familiar with a Sports Mount Rushmore here is how it works. You as a fan of the team (in this case the Padres) need to choose which four faces of former players you would choose to immortalize by carving their face into a mountain for all to see. In order to start this exercise, we need to first start with the ground rules. To be on my Padres Mount Rushmore all the following has to be true:

Must have been a Padre for at least three years (Sorry Ozzie Smith, Roberto Alomar and Mike Piazza)
Only look at their Padres stats (Otherwise Greg Maddux would make my list)
They had to contribute positively to the team. No fan favorites who couldn’t hit (Well, I guess Enzo Hernandez is out)
At least one pitcher and one position player. ( This wasn’t a hard rule to follow but I still wanted to include it)

Other than that anything was fair game. Let’s get started and feel free to critique my list in the comments and create your own list of Padres to represent the franchise.

Next: Jake Peavy

Jake Peavy. Getty Images.

Jake Peavy

This was a tough choice for me, and Peavy could really be replaced by Randy Jones but in my book Peavy gets the slight edge due to win percentage (Peavy won .575 % of his games and Jones won .448 %). Peavy did a lot for the Padres in his 8 year stint (2002-2009) with the team, including winning a Cy Young Award in 2007. That season was incredible for Peavy as he became the 12^th ever pitcher to unanimously win the NL Cy Young. He led the league in wins (19), ERA (2.54) and strikeouts (240), which means he won the pitching version the Triple Crown.

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That season alone could make his case for the Padres Mount Rushmore but it wasn’t just that year. For eight years he helped the Padres win and at the end of his Padres career he finished with 92 wins, 1348 strikeouts and a 3.29 ERA. Besides winning a Cy Young award, Peavy also represented the Padres twice in Major League Baseball’s All Star game and became the face of the franchise in the mid-2000s.

He also holds the Padres team record for strikeouts and comes in second (tied with Randy Jones) to Eric Show for number of wins as a Padre. I was also surprised that Peavy is also tied for third in Padres career WAR with a 26 career WAR. All of this goes to prove that Jake Peavy belongs on the Padres Mount Rushmore.

Next: Trevor Hoffman

Mandatory Credit: houstonchronicle.com

Trevor Hoffman

When the Padres traded Gary Sheffield and Rich Rodriguez to the Marlins for Andres Berumen, Jose Martinez and Trevor Hoffman, nobody could have predicted that the young relief pitcher would become an all-time great for the Friars but fast forward 16 years and that is exactly what Trevor Hoffman is. There is no way I could make a Padres Mount Rushmore without the one-time Major League saves record holder. I mean how many players have awards named after them? That alone speaks to the impact that Hoffman had not only in San Diego but all over the baseball world.

With the Padres , Hoffman flat out dominated, striking out 1,029 opponents while winning 54 games with a 2.76 career ERA. The most incredible stat for Hoffman though was his saves, totaling an incredible 552 with the Padres and 601 throughout his Major League career.

Let’s put that in perspective, Heath Bell next on the all-time Padres saves list has 134 saves, meaning he is only 418 behind Hoffman. But that’s just the Padres how does the rest of baseball compare? Well throughout the total history of baseball there have only been 26 players to record 300 saves. The number of players to reach 400 can be counted on one hand (Mariano Rivera, Lee Smith, John Franco, Billy Wagner and Hoffman). What about the 500 club? Just two members Mariano Rivera and the Padres own Trevor Hoffman. 600 Club, well that would be just Rivera and Hoffman again. Hoffman is in rare company, and has to be included as one of the best players to ever close.

On August 21^st, 2011 (what San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders dubbed Trevor Hoffman Day) the Padres Immortalized Hoffman and retired his number. Additionally, on August 30, 2014 the Padres chose Hoffman to become the ninth member of the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame. With all of these stats and achievements there is absolutely no way Hoffman can be left off of the Padres Mount Rushmore.

Next: Dave Winfield

Aug 8, 2014; Anaheim, CA, USA; Dave Winfield attends the MLB game between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Dave Winfield

Dave Winfield was the first real star to play for the Padres, playing a total of 8 years for the Friars. He also holds a soft spot in my heart as both Winfield and I grew up in the great state of Minnesota. I even remember going to watch the all-time great play in his last years when he played for the Minnesota Twins in 1993 and 1994. It could be argued that Winfield had his best years with the New York Yankees, he meant more to the Padres, than he ever could to the star studded Yankees.

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In his career with the Padres he was a fantastic hitter, who represented the Padres in four All Star Games. With the Padres, Winfield slashed .284/.357/.464 and hit 154 homeruns. Holding multiple team records until someone who may appear later on my list came along.

To go along with his 154 career homeruns he stole 133 bases for the Friars. Winfield twice joined the 20/20 club with the Padres (1978 and 1980), and in 1979 Winfield finished third in the MVP voting. 1979 was a banner year for Winfield and he slashed .308/.395/.558, hit 34 homeruns, swiped 15 bags and knocked in 118 runs. In 1980 Winfield left the Padres and joined the New York Yankees as a free agent and just kept hitting. When he finally hung up his cleats in 1995, he finished with 3,110 hits, 465 home runs, and a .283 career batting average.

In 2001, Winfield was elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame and became the first player to be enshrined as a San Diego Padre. Winfield defines a Hall of Famer, excelling on both sides of the ball (he won 7 Gold Gloves and 6 Silver Sluggers). He absolutely belongs on the Padres Mount Rushmore.

Next: Tony Gwynn

Mandatory Credit: Getty Images

Tony Gwynn

There can’t be an all-time great Padres list without including Mr. Padre. Tony Gwynn embodies the Padres, playing 20 years for the Friars. In college, baseball played second fiddle to Gwynn’s basketball career but eventually, the point guard would become one of the greatest left handed hitters of all-time. Gwynn would end his career with the Padres holding 15 franchise records including batting average, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, walks, total bases, runs and stolen bases.

His incredible career is full of amazing stats, but my all-time favorite Tony Gwynn stat is career strikeouts. In 20 seasons Tony Gwynn only struck out 434 times. That is incredible, considering he came to the plate 10,232 times.

Padres Editorial: San Diego Padres’ Mount Rushmore

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