But first I have to cover the criteria I used when making my selections.

I didn’t want to include any player(s) that didn’t at least play a significant portion of their playing career in San Diego so I set minimums. For position players I established a base line of 2,000 plate appearances. For pitchers, starters needed to make at least 100 starts while relievers needed to have made 150 appearances as a Padre.

For this “All-Time” team, I will select 1 player from each of the following positions; catcher, 1B, 2B, SS, and 3B. Three OF will make the cut while 2 starting pitchers (one left-handed and one right-handed) and 2 relievers (again, one left-handed and one right-handed) will be chosen. Twelve players in all will make the final team.

While in reality, the winner at certain positions may be obvious and clear cut, I am still going to list multiple candidates. It’s just fun to look back at some players who we may have forgotten over the years.

Today, because I had to provide a preface, I am only going to cover 1B. Subsequent pieces will list winners at two positions. Let us now begin.

Nate Colbert – Colbert was the first Padres star. He was selected as the 18^th pick of the 1968 expansion draft from the Houston Astros. Colbert would spend 6+ seasons in San Diego and qualified for 3 all-star squads. He remains the franchise leader in HR with 163.

For his Padres career, Colbert posted a slash line of .253/.331/.469 in 3,485 plate appearances. He recorded an OPS+ of 127. For comparative purposes the average OPS+ for a NL hitter in the early 1970’s was around 93 – 94. Nate was worth 20 wins above replacement (WAR) in his six full seasons in San Diego; that’s an average of 3.3 or so per season.

Steve Garvey -  Garvey had his best seasons as a member of the rival Dodgers but it can’t be understated how big it was for him to bring his talents to San Diego. Garvey spent just more than 4 years as a Friar and posted a slash line of .275/.309/.409. His OPS+ was 100; average for a hitter. Garvey was a 2.0 WAR player during his Padres tenure.

His Friar career may actually have been defined by a singular moment in October of 1984. With the Padres making their first ever postseason appearance and down 2 games to 1 in a best of 5 against the Chicago Cubs, Garvey came to the plate in the bottom of the 9^th in a 5 – 5 game. Garvey was facing Cubs closer Lee Smith; one of the most intimidating pitchers of all-time. Tony Gwynn stood at first base with one out when Garvey hit the biggest HR in San Diego Padres history. There would be tomorrow. The HR knotted the series at 2 and helped propel the Friars to a 6 – 3 win in game 5 and their first World Series appearance.

Ryan Klesko – Klesko was a good player in Atlanta before coming to San Diego. As a Padre, Klesko turned into a fan favorite and tacked on several more pretty good years. His career Padres slash line was .279/.381/.491 and his OPS+ was 134. He earned the only all-star selection of his career in 2001 with the Friars.

Klesko was never known as a great defensive 1B but he was solid. All told, Ryan was worth 17.8 WAR in his 6+ seasons as a Friar.

Adrian Gonzalez – The recently traded Gonzalez was far and away the best Padres player of the 2000’s. He departed San Diego this winter just 2 HR shy of Nate Colbert’s club mark of 163. In 3,424 PA, Gonzo had a slash line of .288/.374/.514 with an OPS+ of 141. He also drove in 501 runs for the Friars.

Gonzo leaves San Diego with 2 gold gloves and 3 all-star appearances. His WAR mark was 22.7 in 5 seasons as a Padre. He put up tremendous numbers with little in the way of help in the Friar lineup. Chances are he will thrive in his new home and would appear to be well on his way to a hall-of-fame career.

Those are the top 4 candidates for the All-Time Friar team. Fred McGriff missed the 2,000 PA threshold and was not included on the list though he would have been a worthy option.

Now the question is; who is my choice as the Padres best 1B in their 42 season history? This is an example of a no-brainer decision. Adrian Gonzalez is far and away the best 1B in the history of the organization. The fact he was a local kid turned good is gravy.

The numbers don’t lie in this case. Gonzo’s average WAR per season was significantly higher than the other candidates. He finished with 2 fewer HR than Colbert but also had 61 fewer PA. His OPS+ mark was superior to the competition. This is probably one of the easiest calls I’ll have in this series.

Join me next week as I look at the best middle infielders in Friar history. I have given a little thought to some of the names you will see and this should be interesting. Chances are the final decisions will be more difficult than it was for 1B.