Excitement for San Diego Padres in full effect during 2020 FanFest

The annual baseball winter festival for the fans of the San Diego Padres takes place at Petco Park every year, just when the offseason seems to be going on forever.

It reminds all the die hard baseball fans, and San Diego Padres fans in particular, that spring training is just around the corner and the game that we love so much will be starting back up soon, after the long offseason slumber.

Saturday, January 11 at 9 a.m. the season ticket holders entered the gates of Petco and descended on the Padres Foundation garage sale, the Kids Zone beyond the center field walls, the playing field for games of catch and running the outfield to catch balls at the wall.

There were three autograph locations where the Friar Faithful lined up in long lines to capture the signature and/or photo of a Padres player, alumni or broadcaster.

The general public joined in at 10 a.m. to swell the crowd in the park to the largest ever to attend the annual winter rite, 16,000 souls.

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For their trouble fans get to cheer the words of their Friars interviewed on the Sycuan stage by Padres broadcasters and beamed on the big board in the park.

New this year were photo booths located around the park that allowed fans to pose for photos in front of a FanFest backdrop and, later in the day, included opportunities to pose with the players who showed up after their other obligations were completed.

For their part, players such as Chris Paddack, Manny Machado, Drew Pomeranz, Joey Lucchesi, Matt Strahm, Ty France, Greg Garcia, Austin Hedges, Zach Davies, Trent Grisham and soon to be Padres Taylor Trammell, Luis Patino, Owen Miller and Joey Cantillo made the media rounds, signed autographs, participated in interviews, and posed for photos.

All this made for a joyful and celebratory environment for the Padres and their fans. There seemed to be a different level of enthusiasm this year.

Machado steals the day

Especially when Manny Machado listed his three priorities for the coming season: 1. Stay Healthy 2. Win some games 3. Bring a championship to San Diego. The entire ballpark could hear the cheers from the crowd gathered in front of the Sycuan stage to watch the interviews.

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As the crowd chanted his name, Manny nearly dropped a f-bomb while yelling “this is why I f(stopped himself) signed with San Diego!”

All of this passion between Manny and the Friar Faithful set off a Twitter war that lasted all afternoon with Padres fans vowing their support (I love Manny Machado and will protect him with all my being) and the Machado haters (F#%! Manny Machado).

The die seems to be cast for the future as Machado haters will never be able to get past the mistakes Manny made during the playoffs of 2018 while he was with the Dodgers, and the Friar Faithful who have fully adopted him after he has assumed the role of head cheerleader for the team. Time will tell who will win this war.

For my part, I attended my first Social Summit hosted by the Padres that has been a yearly occurrence at FanFest over the past several years. Including the bloggers, the world of Padres Twitter, and other social media participants the two sessions were held in the Beer Loft of the Western Metal Building.

The first session featured Chris Paddack, Ty France and new Padre Zach Davies. I didn’t attend the session but followed the Twitter feed and the main theme seemed to be how much everyone felt that Chris Paddack is willing and able to assume a leadership role on the team this year.

He echoes the assertion of Machado that their goal is to bring a championship to San Diego.