Peter Seidler, a person who typically walked round cradling a baseball in his arms, who dressed extra modestly than his workers and who spent unprecedented quantities of cash in a smallish media market, was in contrast to some other proprietor of a major-league franchise. He set himself other than the start, with the style during which he entered that unique membership.
In an interview two years in the past, Seidler recalled being “locked in my home” in late 2011. That yr, he had begun present process chemotherapy and different in-home remedy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He remembered feeling bodily “OK” and “terribly bored.” A baseball group down the freeway from the then-Los Angeles-area resident occurred to be on the market. So Seidler, a profitable non-public fairness investor and a scion of the household that moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Chavez Ravine, requested for extra details about the San Diego Padres.
Curiosity quickly changed into willpower.
“That hit me as I seemed on the supplies,” Seidler mentioned within the 2021 interview. “With my background in non-public fairness, I’d seen plenty of terrific firms and been part of them. However one factor about skilled sports activities, to reiterate what I first heard from Commissioner (Bud) Selig, baseball is a social establishment, and it all the time has been. I imagine to today it’s America’s pastime, and the affect that the San Diego Padres can have on the town and county of San Diego is one thing like no different enterprise can have. And that was vital to me.”
Seidler died Tuesday morning. He was 63. He will likely be remembered as an proprietor who certainly handled the Padres as a social establishment, who lifted the franchise to unprecedented prominence, and who set himself aside till the tip.
“Peter was in all probability essentially the most optimistic particular person I knew,” Ron Fowler, who teamed with Seidler to purchase the Padres in 2012, mentioned Tuesday afternoon. “To say he noticed the cup as half-full might be a misstatement. I believe he noticed it near three-quarters full. He noticed the probabilities, the upside in the whole lot.
“He all the time mentioned issues may very well be fastened or ‘this can occur.’ He simply was extraordinarily optimistic with how he checked out folks, issues, the whole lot. He all the time noticed the great. I believe that was the best way he was in relationships, that’s the best way he was in enterprise, and clearly it served him properly.”
My coronary heart hurts with the unlucky information of Peter Seidler’s passing. I’m positive everybody that knew him would agree with me once I say Peter was a very fantastic human being, and being in his presence was all the time a blessing.
He was a trainer of life, and taught me numerous…
— ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) November 14, 2023
In an business identified for its pursuit of chilly, arduous revenue, Seidler was a beloved determine, whilst he helped flip Petco Park into considered one of baseball’s hottest locations. A number of years in the past, he emerged additional emboldened after a second bout with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The Padres subsequently signed Eric Hosmer to the franchise’s first nine-figure contract. They signed Manny Machado to San Diego’s first $300 million deal — briefly the biggest pact in North American sports activities historical past — and later retained Machado with a $350 million contract. They demonstrated Seidler’s want to win, again and again, with equally profitable commitments to Fernando Tatis Jr., Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Xander Bogaerts. They fielded the franchise’s first nine-figure payrolls, together with a $249 million sum this previous Opening Day. (As lately as 2012, months earlier than Seidler and Fowler purchased the group, the Padres had a $55 million payroll.)
Seidler’s large swings led to high-profile misfires in 2019, 2021 and 2023, however his willpower remained intact all through. His escalating monetary expenditures proved that. His well being struggles knowledgeable his strategy. And his endeavors away from the sphere equipped extra proof.
Addressing homelessness in San Diego turned Seidler’s private mission. A few of these makes an attempt have been identified to the general public, similar to his founding of the “Tuesday Group” and his involvement with the Lucky Duck Foundation. A few of his efforts have been extra non-public. Seidler, for example, bought into the behavior of taking prolonged late-night walks not removed from the San Diego coast. Alongside the best way, he continuously stopped to converse with the homeless — to pay attention and search a higher understanding of one of many group’s foremost crises.
“He was keen about it,” Fowler mentioned. “One time I mentioned, ‘Peter, I believe it’s the duty of presidency to frankly do that. … It appears to be one step ahead some days and two steps again. However you should have your optimistic perspective.’ In any other case, I believe he’d discover it very irritating, however he simply saved on going after it.”
The Padres, after all, have been Seidler’s full-time venture. His ardour was apparent even earlier than he bought the group. In early 2012, when Fowler and Seidler met in particular person for the primary time, the latter had lately accomplished most cancers remedy. He seemed so frail that Fowler questioned if Seidler would require speedy medical consideration. But Seidler proved undeterred, taking methodical notes on a authorized pad as he spoke with Fowler, a preexisting minority proprietor of the Padres.
“My thought was, why is he attempting to purchase a baseball group proper now? Why isn’t he attempting to get well?” Fowler mentioned. “However he needed to purchase a baseball group.”
Across the identical time, Seidler attended his first recreation at Petco Park. Within the 2021 interview, he remembered the load he had misplaced from chemotherapy. He remembered feeling chilly.
He additionally remembered being captivated by the fantastic thing about the ballpark and the encompassing metropolis, one which had by no means celebrated a significant sports activities championship. He remembered feeling impressed.
“Which may have been the second I bought critical,” Seidler later recalled.
Within the years that adopted, Seidler repeatedly proved his dedication. Alongside the best way, he befriended the person who constructed Petco Park. They bonded over shared expertise.
“He needed to win as a result of he was an awesome sportsman, and nice sportsmen need to win,” mentioned former Padres president and CEO Larry Lucchino, himself a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor. “However he needed to do one thing for the town, unquestionably.
“He was a exceptional baseball man and a extra exceptional human being, and I’m pissed off that he’s taken from us so early in age.”
Peter Seidler by no means bought to expertise what he so desperately needed: San Diego’s first main sports activities championship. However on Tuesday, as Fowler and Lucchino and others round baseball paid tribute to a person who handled the Padres as a social establishment, Seidler’s legacy was clear: In some methods, he was the perfect proprietor.
A really particular second as Yu Darvish pays his respects to #Padres proprietor Peter Seidler @CBS8 pic.twitter.com/wXsC0t6FYv
— Jake Garegnani (@JakeGaregnani) November 14, 2023
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(Picture of Seidler: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Pictures)
