The San Diego Padres this year are celebrating 40 years as a Major League Baseball franchise.

The team has seen a lot during its four decades of play, including World Series appearances in 1984 and 1998, and a near-move of the club to Washington, DC.

Today, the Padres play in gleaming Petco Park in downtown San Diego's restored Gaslamp District. Yet the club ranks 21st in attendance and is in last place in the National League West.

Tom Garfinkel, who joined the club as team president in April after a stint as executive vice president of business operations at the Arizona Diamondbacks, believes the Padres are on the right track in building a championship team - as well as connecting with San Diegans.

In an interview with San Diego Sports Talk station XPRS-AM "XX 1090," Garfinkel said the team wants to "get out into the community" in many ways and talk to fans - including those who prefer to speak Spanish.

"As we look at the different segments and opportunities ... certainly the Hispanic community is important to look at," he noted.

That's an encouraging sign from a team that has acknowledged its fan base in Tijuana and Baja California for several seasons but is still stepping up its efforts to target Spanish-speaking fans on the U.S. side of the border.

Tapping into San Diego's growing Hispanic community means speaking directly to 928,275 people - representing 31 percent of San Diego County's total population, according to Geoscape.

The team is doing so in several ways:

• A Spanish-language website - Padresbeisbol.com - offers Hispanic fans a wide array of ways to interact with the team. Spanish-language translations of news stories about the Padres are offered on pages sponsored by convenience store chain ampm.

In addition to an online ticket window for Spanish speakers, team statistics en español and Padres-themed ring tones and screensavers are available for download. Padresbeisbol.com is also the place where Latino fans can vie for a prize by offering their "memorias favoritas" of the team's 40 years of Major League Baseball play.

• A blog, Palabras de los Padres, features commentary written by Juan Angel Avila - one of the team's two Spanish-language play-by-play announcers.
• An e-mail newsletter, La Nota Padre, keeps Spanish-speaking fans up to date with news and information about the team.
• Noticias Padres, the official Spanish-language magazine of the team, is published quarterly and available via subscription or at the stadium.

On the broadcast side, the Padres air all of their games in Spanish on Uniradio's XEMO-AM 860 "La Poderosa," a Tijuana-based classic regional Mexican station with a booming signal that reaches coastal Orange County. Calling the games are Avila and Eduardo Ortega - a 21-year veteran of the Padres.

The Padres are also speaking directly to Hispanic fans in several of its game-day promotions, including "Desayuno en el Parque" - a Sunday event that enables fans to enjoy breakfast on the playing field between 10:30AM and noon. The next "desayuno" is set for September 13.

Additionally, the August 1 game against the Milwaukee Brewers served as the prelude to the sixth annual Fiesta con los Padres concert - presented by Welk Resorts and co-sponsored by Uniradio's regional Mexican FM - XHTY-FM 99.7 "La Invasora." Festive food and cultural displays were seen throughout the stadium, while popular Disa/Universal Durangüense act K-Paz de la Sierra provided the post-game entertainment.

All fans to the August 1 matchup also scored a "Padres Béisbol" T-shirt sponsored by both Welk and La Invasora.

Garfinkel offered few details on further Latino-oriented efforts, but it's highly probable the team's star first baseman - hometown hero Adrián González - will be prominently featured.

Two banners of González - by far the team's most popular player - hang within Petco Park. He's also a favorite of Garfinkel, as is Nicaraguan rookie shortstop Everth Cabrera.

Garfinkel points to young players like Cabrera and rising stars like González as the foundation for the Padres not only as a quality team on the field, but also off it.

"Players become heroes by virtue of this sort of genuine play on the field and how they act in the community and through the things they do," Garfinkel says. "Adrián González is a hero - he's a great person, and a great person in the community."

* The San Diego Padres have actually existed since 1936, when the club became a member of the Pacific Coast League. With Major League Baseball expansion in 1969, San Diego was awarded its first pro team, which took the Padres name.
HispanicSportsBusiness

The Latino Connector
In 2005, the Padres named Alex Montoya to the newly created role of director of Latino relations. He had spent the six previous seasons as a member of the game-day staff while working full-time with the San Diego County Hispanic chamber of commerce.

Hometown Hero
Born in San Ysidro, California and raised in Tijuana until the age of 13, when his family came back over the border and settled in nearby Chula Vista, Adrián González was first signed by the Florida Marlins before breaking into the major leagues as a member of the Texas Rangers. He's been with the Padres since 2006 and is presently batting .276, with 34 home runs - tied for fourth in the National League.

The D.C. Friars?
The San Diego Padres could have easily disappeared 35 years ago. With five straight last-place seasons for the expansion team, then-owner C. Arnholt Smith in early January 1974 agreed to sell the team to a buyer that planned to move the club to Washington, D.C. Topps even printed up baseball cards with "Washington NL" shown  in place of the Padres' name.

Thank the founder of the Big Mac and Ronald McDonald for saving the Padres. Ray Kroc, a longtime baseball fan, stepped in and offered $12 million cash for the Padres. Smith sold the team to Kroc, who vowed to keep the team in San Diego.

HispanicSportsBusiness Related Read

Enhanced Market Profile: San Diego
While the overall population in the San Diego market has inched downward year-to-year, the Latino population has increased. Spanish-language media serves many of them, although high acculturation levels can be seen across the region.
July 31, 2009