Fernando Tatis Jr Pays Beautiful Tribute to Late Padres Owner Peter Seidler

Jeremy Hanna | Oct 2, 2024

Sep 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The San Diego padres had an impressive showing in Game 1 of the Wild Card series, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 4-0.

A large part of that success was because of the momentum created by star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. when he hit a two-run home run in the first inning.

Not only was this Tatis' first postseason game in front of a real crowd, it was also the largest crowd in Petco Park history (47,647 people).

Needless to say, Tatis was ecstatic.

“We had the energy today,” Tatis said, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “These fans are amazing. I just got lucky enough to put my barrel on the ball. Next thing we know, this place is going crazy.”

Still, Tatis knew that a large reason for the team's success was because of the Padres' late owner Peter Seidler, who had a pronounced effect on the team and the San Diego community in general.

“After all my surgeries, he came a couple times to my house and had beautiful conversation with him how San Diego was going to look the next three years, the next five years, the next 10 years,” Tatis said, per Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune. “And what he asked for the city and the love he had for all of us, it was just unconditional."

“Every step that I got from here in my career here in San Diego, he’s definitely going to be on my right shoulder popping in every single special moment.”

This comes a week after San Diego announced that they had broken the all-time franchise attendance record, with 3,314,593 people coming to Petco Park. Once again, Tatis was quick to remember Seidler.

"It's amazing. It's beautiful," Tatis said, per AJ Cassavell. "This is what Peter built. We're just taking care of it, definitely doing it for him."

Seidler operated as the owner of the Padres from 2012 to his death on Nov. 14, 2023. He invested significant money into the organization and was responsible for bringing multiple star players like Yu Darvish, Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, Joe Musgrove, Juan Soto, and, of course, Tatis.

Now, the Padres have entered into their third Wild Card in five years, and seem like they are more than capable of making a run for the National league pennant and even the World Series.

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