In conjunction with the Seidler family, we are proud to announce plans to honor Peter Seidler and his legacy throughout the 2024 season and beyond.
Learn more: https://t.co/8yPfm0Bn5G pic.twitter.com/FaayAvCG52
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) November 27, 2023
Padres owner Peter Seidler died two weeks ago. Now the team has announced plans to honor him next season with a memorial patch.
The team’s press release says, “The patch design and location will be unveiled prior to the beginning of Spring Training.” But as you can see above, the tweet of the press release included a heart-shaped “PS” icon, with the letters rendered in the team’s font. It wouldn’t surprise me if that turns out to be the patch design.
As for the patch’s location, the Padres have the swinging friar on one sleeve and one of MLB’s most obnoxious uni ads on the other sleeve, so I’m wondering if the memorial patch might end up on the chest, perhaps like this:
Seidler will be the second Padres owner to be uni-memorialized. The first was Ray Kroc, whose “RAK” initials appeared on the left sleeve of the team’s jerseys from 1984 through 1986:
This will be the Padres’ first memorial patch since 2018. That year they wore a “KT|RP” patch for GM Kevin Towers and coach Rob Picciolo, both of whom had died during the offseason. Oddly, that patch appeared only on the team’s throwback uniform, which was worn six times that season:
(My thanks to Phil for bringing the Padres’ announcement to my attention, and for the mock-up patch concept.)
Can’t wait to see which patch will enjoy the premium sleeve location. Will a man’s memory be relegated second fiddle to Motorola’s money? The cynic in me is sure which one will occupy that real estate.
Ironically, since it was the owner who likely signed off on the advertiser insertion in the first place, I’m guessing he wouldn’t really mind.
-C.
Why wouldn’t this memorial (particularly if it’s not huge) go on the chest?
I know it’s not the traditional spot, but there’s precedent and it would allow the patch to be in a more prominent position.
Phil-
Sure, they could and probably will. But it will be a result of having no other choice since they are beholden to an advertiser, right? Therein lies the difference vs. team memorial patches past.
-C.
Did you check the mock up I did (Paul added it to the article after he posted it). I kinda like the idea of it on the chest, even if they didn’t have both the Friar and the phone maker ad.
Money over memory for sure. If they did care as much as they are leading on, they’d take away the ad for the year and put the memorial patch there.
Alas. Given the similarity between his name and the team name, I was hoping the memorial would be PETER S., rendered in the chest script and arching.
Hah!
I was definitely thinking they’d give it the old Robert Short treatment. They could do it right on the jersey script, just make the “S” the same size as the P in Padres. Maybe put an outline on those two letters so it stands out a bit more.
I was thinking they could invert the brown and gold on just the P and the S. Subtle, but cool I think.
This +. How often do you get the opportunity to modify the wordmark for a memorial? That would really be a nice touch to do any of these.
Follow this thread: link
I actually mocked the possible patch on the chest and sleeve, and then created a special wordmark that could be used for opening day.
link
I have an idea, get rid of the ugly ad on the sleeve and put the memorial patch there. Front of jersey is too busy with the swoosh and PS heart on the front. Pretty soon it’s going to be full nascar
I like the mockup with the PS as part of the Padres wordmark but with an orange outline. It will never see the light of day in reality but it would be nice.