Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Qualcomm Stadium, also known as Jack Murphy Stadium, was home of the San Diego Padres from 1969-2003.


[b:de52cf2ab8]Field dimensions [/b:de52cf2ab8]
Left field 330 (1969), 327 (1982)
Left-center 375 (1969), 370 (1982)
Center field 420 (1969), 410 (1973), 420 (1978), 405 (1982)
Right-center 375 (1969), 370 (1982)
Right field 330 (1969), 327 (1982), 330 (1996)

[b:de52cf2ab8]Qualcomm originally had a 19 foot outfield wall, which can be seen here. This made home runs harder to hit, so in 1973, the Padres put a 10 foot high wooden fence in centerfield which reduced the distance to 410 feet, while painting a line 9 feet up the 18 foot concrete wall in LF and RF. After one season of this ridiculous set-up, the Padres returned to the 18 foot wall all around the Stadium. Finally, in 1982, the Padres put up an interior 8.5 foot high fence at the distances listed above.[/b:de52cf2ab8]
[img:de52cf2ab8]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/andycummings/Stadiums/qualcomm1.jpg[/img:de52cf2ab8]

[b:de52cf2ab8]The Stadium was known as San Diego Stadium until 1980, when it was renamed Jack Murphy Stadium. In 1997, it became Qualcomm Stadium when Qualcomm gave $18 million to completely close the center and rightfield seating into the now-familiar bowl look.[/b:de52cf2ab8]
[img:de52cf2ab8]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/andycummings/Stadiums/qualcomm3.jpg[/img:de52cf2ab8]

[b:de52cf2ab8]Qualcomm hosted the 1978 and 1992 All-Star Games and the 1984 and 1999 World Series (neither of which ended well).[/b:de52cf2ab8]
[img:de52cf2ab8]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/andycummings/Stadiums/qualcomm2.jpg[/img:de52cf2ab8]