WHAT IF.......PART I

                 

               A couple of years ago I was sitting with a group of baseball enthusiasts who like yours truly are very intelligent about the game itself. The topic came up with some "What If......" situations, for example I recall from the colleague from the Washington D.C. area brought up the case back in 1973 this little tibit. What if Ray Kroc didn't become owner of the San Diego Padres & were to move to Washington D.C. what the 1974 Season be like.

             A little back story before we play the 1974 Season on the new team in "Washington Nat'l Lea." 2 years before the last team left the Washington area for the Dallas/Fort Worth area to become the Texas Rangers so with the RFK Stadium vacant during the summer time only being used during the fall when the Washington Commanders (Redskins at the time to me they will always be that name.), had use of the stadium. So Kroc never owns the Padres the new team is in Washington D.C. 

            Topps presses went to make cards before the choice of ownership was finalized leaving 15 cards with the move noticed they later fixed them keeping the Padres in San Diego even though most collectors still hunt down the early print ones.  Unfortunately the Dave Winfield RC wasn't 1 of them though I have seen lot of Customized card creators make one that could almost make you wonder why Topps didn't get Winfield after all they did get future Hall of Famer Willie McCovey in one.

           You can almost wonder what the National League Divisions would have been what team would've been like which team would have gone from the National League East to move west would it have been the Cardinals but then they would lose their rivalry in the Chicago Cubs. So what team would have joined the Padres to the East rumors had Atlanta or Cincinnati speculated that it might been the Braves. 

         Fast forward to 1984 did the Padres make the playoffs or were they still like they were near the bottom of the 2nd division. Does Tony Gwynn Sr. end up playing in the D.C. area. Does the San Diego Chicken ever exist? Do we ever have other mascots if the move took place? Do other teams move to the locations they were thinking of moving like the San Francisco Giants they has 2 choices Toronto before the Blue Jays were an expansion team in 1977 or do they move on down to St. Petersburg, Florida long before the Rays arrived in 1998 & who would forget that Oakland A's were thinking after the 1977 season in moving to Denver long before the Rockies debut in 1993.

         This debate makes 1 wonder "What If......."so I like to hear from my readers what is your take on this remember Ray Kroc isn't the new owner of the Padres keeping them in the San Diego area instead you are 1 of those owners moving to the D.C. area what do you call the team do you keep the Padres name or give them a new nickname. As for my opinion I am glad that Ray Kroc kept the team intact in the San Diego sure the Padres haven't had much success going 0-2 in World Series play but I look at this way at least they have made it to the dance compared to the Seattle Mariners who are the only Major League team yet to make it to the World Series & I am sorry but if we didn't have the San Diego Chicken watching The Baseball Bunch in the early 80's I wouldn't have watched the program. I look forward to your comments on this subject & should I continue on with more of our round table discussions that we had in the group on the topics of "What If......" So with that said I am reminded of the Rogers Hornsby famous quote about signing autographs for kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American. He's a Communist."