1998

1998 was a good year.

I graduated college, got my first job in TV (editing news video from 2AM to 9AM) and the Padres won the National League Pennant. I loved that team, not in the same way that I loved the 1984 pennant winning Padres, but it was still love. Tony Gwynn, Trevor Hoffman, Ken Caminiti, Andy Ashby, Kevin Brown, Greg Vaughn, Steve Finley...I could go on and on. That team was blessed with some great players, but not all those players got the headlines.

Two such guys were at the ballpark today. Do you recognize them? Did you read ahead and now are just pretending like you knew who they were all along?

It's Carlos Hernandez and Quilvio Veras. To be honest, it took me a minute to recognize QV but once I did I was stoaked! Neither of those guys got tons of press for the '98 Padres but don't kid yourself, they were crucial to San Diego's pennant run.

Carlos called a great game behind the plate and handled the staff like a true pro and QV was a good lead off hitter and a solid second basemen. With out either one of those guys the Padres wouldn't have made it to the World Series. Were they stars, no...but they were an integral part to one of the best Padres teams to ever play in San Diego.

So yeah, when you see two guys like that at the park you ask them to pose in a picture with you. It's not like I asked for an autograph.