Division titles 1973*, 1976, 1979 Founded 1973 | Previous parks Borleske Stadium League titles 1973, 1976 | |
Previous names Walla Walla Padres (1973–1982) Division North (1977–1982), South (1975–1976), East (1974) | ||
The Walla Walla Padres were a minor league baseball team in the northwest United States, located in Walla Walla, Washington. They were members of the short-season Class A Northwest League for ten years, from 1973 through 1982. The Padres played at Borleske Stadium and were an affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
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Walla Walla won the league title in 1973 and 1976, and were runners-up in 1979.
The team relocated back to the Tri-Cities after the 1982 season and became the Triplets, an affiliate of the Texas Rangers; the San Diego Padres moved their affiliation to Spokane, which had just lost its Triple-A team to Las Vegas. The independent Blue Mountain Bears were the NWL team in Walla Walla for a season in 1983.
Previous teams
In 1972, the Bend Rainbows relocated to Walla Walla and became the Walla Walla Islanders, an affiliate of the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League, whose parent club was the San Diego Padres. The Padres also had a team in the NWL, the Tri-City Padres in Kennewick, Washington. The teams merged operations prior to the 1973 season and became the Walla Walla Padres.
The Tri-City team became an independent for two seasons, known as the Triplets (1973) and the Ports (1974), and then folded.
Notable players
Two future hall of famers played for the team: shortstop Ozzie Smith (1977) and outfielder Tony Gwynn (1981). Their NWL batting averages were .301 for Smith and .331 for Gwynn.
Other future major leaguers included Joe McIntosh (1974–1975), Eric Show (1978), Ron Tingley (1977–1978), Bob Geren (1979–1980), Mark Parent (1979), Greg Booker (1981), John Kruk (1981), Jimmy Jones (1982), Gene Walter (1982), Ed O'Connell, and Mitch Williams (1982). Geren and Parent both became managers with different teams (Geren with the Oakland A's of MLB and Parent with the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League).
Yearly records
Northwest League