Where have you gone, Kurt Bevacqua? Padres fans turn their lonely eyes to you.<\/p>\n
The Padres\u2019 one \u2014 and only \u2014 World Series victory occurred 41 years ago Friday, when Bevacqua belted a three-run home run on the way to a 5-3 win over the Detroit Tigers.<\/p>\n
The Padres trailed Game 2 by a run when Bevacqua launched a fat slider from Detroit Tigers starter Dan Petry with Graig Nettles and Terry Kennedy aboard and one out in the fifth inning.<\/p>\n
What did a Padres World Series win look like?<\/p>\n
Lefty Craig Lefferts induced a popup. Second baseman Alan Wiggins glided to his left and gloved it overhead, while Steve Garvey backed into him and Tony Gwynn approached from right field. The clock read 8:09 p.m at Jack Murphy Stadium.<\/p>\n
What did it sound like?<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh pop fly,\u201d Vin Scully, his rich voice pouring through NBC\u2019s telecast, said as Tigers batter Larry Herndon lifted Lefferts\u2019 final pitch. \u201cA trio of Padres. It will be Wiggins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scully said nothing more for 40 seconds, allowing a national audience to hear the San Diego crowd\u2019s roar on this Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
How did San Diegans react?<\/p>\n
Fans in brown, gold and white waved white World Series pennants, peered through binoculars or just yelled and clapped. Others in the crowd of\u00a0 57,911 shook homemade signs:<\/p>\n
\u201cMow Down Motown.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHold that Tiger!\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cPadre Power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four-plus decades later, the Bevacqua game \u2013 which featured also a combined 81\/3 innings of scoreless relief by Andy Hawkins and Lefferts and three hits apiece from Wiggins and Garry Templeton \u2013 remains the closest the Padres have come to winning the World Series.<\/p>\n
The Tigers, marching toward all-time greatness, won the next three games in Detroit to win the trophy. The Padres returned to the Fall Classic in 1998, but a great Yankees team swept them.<\/p>\n
Bevacqua, who still lives in San Diego, doesn\u2019t brag about the Game 2 victory. The three games that followed still sting too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really thought after we won Game 2, we were going to at least bring (the World Series) back to San Diego,\u201d he said this week. \u201cThe Tigers just had a great ballclub. There\u2019s no ifs, ands and buts about that. But, it was a bummer that it didn\u2019t work out. Because I wanted to hit some more. I was seeing the ball well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bevacqua batted .412 in the World Seies with two home runs, two doubles, three singles and a walk.<\/p>\n
Games 1 and 2 were a whirlwind for the 37-year-old infielder and outfielder.<\/p>\n
Batting ninth in Game 1, Bevacqua doubled off a split-finger fastball from Hall of Fame ace Jack Morris only to stumble around second base and get thrown out at third. Coming when it did, with none out and the Padres down one run, the seventh-inning baserunning mistake loomed over the eventual 3-2 defeat.<\/p>\n
![\"Marty](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-krasovic-1010-02.jpg\")
Marty Castillo completes tag, umpire Rich Garcia calls Padres Kurt Bevacqua is out at third base as the Tigers\u2019 Marty Castillo applies the tag and umpire Rich Garcia makes the call on a crucial play in Game 1 of the \u201984 World Series. (Union-Tribune file photo)<\/p>\n
A night later, Bevacqua atoned for that miscue and rewarded manager Dick Williams for moving him up to sixth in the lineup.<\/p>\n
Cashing Nettles\u2019 walk and Kennedy\u2019s bad-hop drive that went off second baseman Lou Whitaker\u2019s chest for a single, the 6-foot, 180-pounder walloped Petry\u2019s 0-1 mistake.<\/p>\n
The ball sailed beyond former Padres teammate Ruppert Jones, over the left-field fence and past the 17-foot stadium wall beyond it.<\/p>\n
Bevaqua made a slow tour of the basepaths, doing a spin around first base, waving an index finger and blowing kisses to the crowd as he rounded third base.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing from first base to third base, I had no idea what I was thinking,\u201d he said. \u201cI was in a different zip code.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bevacqua\u2019s home run was the first in 11 games against the Tigers.<\/p>\n
Tigers manager Sparky Anderson professed not to be surprised by how difficult Games 1 and 2 were for his favored team, which had swept the Oakland A\u2019s in the American League Championship Series and begun the season 35-5 en route to 104 victories.<\/p>\n
The Padres, said the Hall of Fame manager, matched up tougher against his team than the Cubs would have. The 92-win Padres had beaten the 96-win Cubs in Games 3, 4 and 5 of the NLCS to advance.<\/p>\n
Bevacqua\u2019s two World Series home runs and five other hits belied a subpar regular season in which he batted .200 with one home run in 80 at-bats.\u00a0 On the other hand, his impressive career as a pinch-hitter prepared him for the World Series.<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-krasovic-1010-03.jpg\")
San Diego Padres Kurt Bevacqua, right, leaps into air with elation on the way to first base as he sees his fifth-inning, three-run homer clear the wall during Game 2 of the World Series at San Diego, Oct. 10, 1984. Bevacqua\u2019s homer put the Padres in front of the Detroit Tigers 5-3 in a World Series game. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n
Beyond the Padres steering the 5-3 lead to the Game 2 victory, Bevacqua reaped other lifetime rewards from his three-run swing.<\/p>\n
Gossage saw where Bevacqua\u2019s home run ball landed and got the ball from a fan in return for autographs.\u00a0Assistant equipment manager Whitey Wietelmann made sure Bevacqua kept the home run bat. He inscribed the bat and the ball with the pertinent details. Bevacqua had both framed.<\/p>\n
In the Bevacqua home today are six stadium seats where the home run ball would\u2019ve landed if a fan hadn\u2019t grabbed it.<\/p>\n
Bevacqua tried to get those seats, making several efforts, but never heard back from San Diego State officials as they began to demolish the old stadium.<\/p>\n
But Bevacqua didn\u2019t forge a big-league career by accepting defeat. A TV report on the stadium\u2019s rapid deconstruction triggered a thought.<\/p>\n
Telling his wife he would be away for a few hours, Bevacqua hustled into his car and drove to the stadium. He would find a way to get the seats.<\/p>\n
Bevacqua found Padres fans among the construction crew and was taken to the on-site boss, a large man.<\/p>\n
Bevacqua convinced him who he was.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dated your daughter in high school,\u201d the man replied, a curveball the ex-hitter didn\u2019t see coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally?\u201d said Bevacqua, who then dialed his daughter, Natalie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sitting here with an old friend of yours,\u201d he told her, \u201cand I need a favor from him, so be nice, and I\u2019ll tell him what I want.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boss gave Bevacqua a white hard hat and a yellow safety vest and drove him to the left-field mezzanine in a golf cart.<\/p>\n
A construction worker matched the seats to the video replay of the home run, unbolted them and loaded them up for the former Padre.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot it the nick of time,\u201d said Bevacqua, 78.<\/p>\n
Spurred by what\u2019s still a unique victory in Padres history, the one-of-a-kind rescue fit the occasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where have you gone, Kurt Bevacqua? Padres fans turn their lonely eyes to you. The Padres\u2019 one \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":292008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[149629,5229,1582,276,1885,141381,3549,1306,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-292007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-1984-world-series","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-detroit-tigers","13":"tag-jack-murphy-stadium","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-san-diego-padres","16":"tag-sandiego","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115350047665962657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}