Padres Essential, Everything you need to know to be a Real Fan, Stories, Statistics, Facts, Figures, Anecdotes, Trivia… and More by Bill Center; Foreword by Tony Gwynn; 2007; 229 pages; Triumph Books, Chicago, IL; 978-1-57243-956-6; Interlibrary Loan from Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, OH; 5/27/09-5/30/09

Why was a book about a team from San Diego by a reporter from San Diego published by a company in Chicago?  Why have the three books that I have gotten about the Padres through come from the Midwest, two from Des Moines and one from Cleveland?

First my only complaint is I don’t think there was a proofreader or editor on the book, there are a couple of misspellings and weird sentences and one photo is miscaptioned as to one of the people in the picture.

Padres Essential is essential the history of the Padres, from their days at Lane Field as a minor league team starting in 1936 through 2006.   It relies heavily on anecdotes from players and hits the highlights that most true Padres fan already know.  This is great starter material for the new Padres fan, there are a few new things that I found out, like Trevor and Glenn Hoffman’s parents met in London when they were both performing there and that the Hoffman boys have big age gaps between them.  Having read extensively on the Padres, there was not a lot new here but it was fun and had some great statistics and list that I can use in my collecting.  RRR