An attractive modern facility with natural grass and good sight lines, Jack Murphy Stadium opened as San Diego Stadium in 1967. It didn’t have a tenant until the Padres were created in the NL's 1969 expansion. Renamed as Jack Murphy Stadium in 1981 (after a local sportwriter who led the city’s campaign for a team) the park has commonly been referred to as "The Murph."
The stadium was originally three-sided, open in right field with only a small bleacher section, as opposed to five seating levels around the rest of the field. The right-field bleachers were expanded after the 1983 season, enclosing the field fully for the first time and bringing the capacity up to 59,022. The park has been officially known as Qualcomm Stadium since 1997, when a local electronics conglomerate helped pay for an expansion project to add seating for football games, enclosing the park with stands that now seat 67,544. The Padres share the stadium with the NFL's San Diego Chargers. (SCL)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»April 8, 1969:
In the Padres victory over Houston, the leadoff batter at Jack Murphy Stadium is Astro outfielder Jesus Alou. Brother Matty Alou, with the Pirates, was the first batter up at the opening of Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium on April 12, 1966, and Brother Felipe, playing for Atlanta, was the first batter up when Busch Stadium opened in St. Louis a month later.
»May 3, 1986:
It's not the baseball that stinks today. A skunk wanders onto the field
in the 7th inning at Jack Murphy Stadium and holds up the Padres-Pirates game for 7 minutes. The incident gives life to the rumor that a group of skunks live under the stadium, existing on peanuts and other food dropped by fans. The Bucs score 3 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th to beat the Padres, 7–6.
»July 6, 1992: The Cardinals-Padres game at Jack Murphy Stadium is held up for four minutes when a wild skunk wanders out onto the field. The Cardinals eventually win the game by a score of 4–0 on Mark Clark's 4-hitter.
»May 12, 2001: At Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, the Marlins' A.J. Burnett no-hits the Padres, 3-0. He strikes out 7, but walks 9 -- the most in a no-no -- and hits a batter in his gem. It is the 228th complete game no-hitter in major-league history. Burnett mixes just five curveballs and one changeup with 122 fastballs.
»April 30, 2002:
The Colorado Rockies, with permission, are storing their balls in a humidity– and temperature–controlled room, according to Rockies president Keli McGregor. The room keeps the humidity at 40 percent, compared with 10 percent or less humidity often felt in the mile–high city. In their first seven Aprils, the Rockies and their opponents combined to average 15.1 runs per game. This April, the average total score at Coors Field was 9.8 runs—a 35.1 percent decrease. Through the first 16 games at Coors, scoring is off 4.69 runs a game—2.15 runs a game greater than the park with the second–biggest run decrease, San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. However, once the warm weather—and the Yankees—hits, run production will jump.
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