1972 San Diego Padres season

The 1972 San Diego Padres season was the fourth season in franchise history.

Offseason

January 12, 1972: Rich Troedson was drafted by the Padres in the 1st round of the secondary phase of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft.

Regular season

Until 2021, no Padres pitcher had ever thrown a no-hitter. On July 18 against the Philadelphia Phillies, Steve Arlin came within one out of a no-hitter before a Denny Doyle single broke up the bid.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

May 17, 1972: Ollie Brown was traded by the Padres to the Oakland Athletics for Curt Blefary, Mike Kilkenny and a player to be named later. The Athletics completed the deal by sending Greg Schubert to the Padres on September 11.
June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball draft
*Randy Jones was drafted by the Padres in the 5th round.
*Warren Cromartie was drafted by the Padres in the 1st round of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Fred Kendall	91	273	59	.216	6	18
1B		151	563	141	.250	38	111
2B	Derrel Thomas	130	500	115	.230	5	36
SS		114	329	64	.195	1	15
3B	Dave Roberts	100	418	102	.244	5	33
LF	Leron Lee	101	370	111	.300	12	47
CF	Johnny Jeter	110	326	72	.221	7	21
RF	Cito Gaston	111	379	102	.269	7	44

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jerry Morales	115	347	83	.239	4	18
Larry Stahl	107	297	67	.226	7	20
Garry Jestadt	92	256	63	.246	6	22
Pat Corrales	44	117	23	.193	0	6
Curt Blefary	74	102	20	.196	3	9
	33	100	24	.240	0	3
	29	88	17	.193	0	9
Fred Stanley	39	85	17	.200	0	2
Ollie Brown	23	70	12	.171	0	3
	14	49	10	.204	0	6
	13	47	10	.213	0	5
Joe Goddard	12	35	7	.200	0	2
Ed Spezio	20	29	4	.138	0	4
Rafael Robles	18	24	4	.167	0	0
Johnny Grubb	7	21	7	.333	0	1
Don Mason	9	11	2	.182	0	0
Ivan Murrell	5	7	1	.143	0	1
Mike Fiore	7	6	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	38	250.0	10	21	3.60	159
Clay Kirby	34	238.2	12	14	3.13	175
Fred Norman	42	211.2	9	11	3.44	167
Tom Phoebus	1	5.2	0	1	7.94	8

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	42	163.2	7	11	4.01	102
Mike Corkins	47	140.0	6	9	3.54	108
Bill Greif	34	125.1	5	16	5.60	91

Mike Corkins was the team leader in saves with 6.

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Gary Ross	60	4	3	3	2.45	46
	46	3	6	0	4.45	53
Mark Schaeffer	41	2	0	1	4.61	25
Al Severinsen	17	0	1	1	2.53	9
Steve Simpson	9	0	2	2	4.76	9
Mike Kilkenny	5	0	0	0	8.31	5
Ron Taylor	4	0	0	0	12.60	0
Ralph Garcia	3	0	0	0	1.80	3

Awards and honors

1972 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Nate Colbert, reserve

Colbert scored the winning run, but he brought the wrong uniform with him to Atlanta. The San Diego Padres' slugger donned his road jersey with SAN DIEGO on it instead of his home one with PADRES on it.
One week later, Colbert returned to Atlanta Stadium and tied Stan Musial's Major League record with five home runs in a doubleheader vs. the Braves. Colbert also drove in 13 runs during the twinbill, which San Diego swept 9–0 and 11–7.