Some news and notes on San Diego's Petco Park

San Diego hosts the 87th All-Star Game on Tuesday at Petco Park, so here are random facts about the Padres and the history of the All-Star Game in San Diego.

This is the third time the Padres have hosted. The first was in 1978, the second in 1992. In 1978, nine years after the franchise started as an expansion team, the National League won 7-3. The Orioles' Jim Palmer was the American League starter, giving up three runs with four walks and four strikeouts. Palmer in the third gave up a bases-loaded walk to Greg Luzinski and a two-run single to Steve Garvey, the MVP. Orioles Mike Flanagan and Eddie Murray were on the AL team, but neither played.

In 1992, there were 14 future Hall of Famers on the rosters, seven from each league, including the Orioles' Cal Ripken Jr., making his 10th appearance, and Atlanta pitchers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz. The AL won 13-6, scoring six runs in the first three innings, with Ken Griffey Jr. the MVP, going 3-for-3 with a home run. Ripken went 1-for- 3 with an RBI. The other Orioles on the team were Brady Anderson and Mike Mussina.

Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, known as Mr. Padre, who died of cancer at 54 in 2014, played in 15 All-Star Games for his hometown Padres. Gwynn was 7-for-29 in his All-Star Game career. When the first game was played in 1978, Gwynn sat in the stands. In 1992, he was the NL right fielder. That was the first time he talked to Ted Williams, another Hall of Famer from San Diego. Williams threw out the first pitch. Gwynn and Williams talked hitting and Gwynn said that Williams jumped on him for not turning on pitches on the inside half of the plate. In the 1994 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Gwynn scored the walk-off run in the NL's 8-7, 10-inning win. Gwynn finished with 3,141 hits and eight NL batting titles. As an 18-year-old, Williams played for the San Diego Padres in the Pacific Coast League.

The Padres went 52-110 as an expansion team in 1969 and their first All-Star was catcher Chris Cannizzaro when the game was at RFK Stadium. He hit .245 in the first half of that season, but was known for his strong arm. He played with six teams during his 13 big-league seasons and the Padres were his second expansion team. He also played for the 1962 New York Mets, and manager Casey Stengel's scouting report was this quote: "I've got the only defensive catcher that can't catch.'' After his career, Cannizzaro was a car salesman before coaching baseball at the University of San Diego. The Padres lost at least 95 games in each of their first six seasons, including four seasons of at least 100 losses. Their first winning season was 1978 with 84 wins. Dave Winfield (.308-24- 97), Gaylord Perry (21 wins) and Rollie Fingers (37 saves) were their best players.

The Padres have played in two World Series, losing eight of nine games. They lost 4-1 to Detroit in 1984 and were swept by the Yankees in 1998. The Padres came close to moving to D.C. in 1974. They were so close that pictures of Washington's road uniforms - light blue with red and white block letters with "Washington'' across the front - were distributed. However, McDonald's mogul Ray Kroc bought the team on Jan. 25, 1974 and kept it in San Diego. President Nixon was no doubt disappointed. He had been so excited about baseball coming to D.C., he wrote a letter to NL president Chub Feeney, thanking him for getting baseball back.

The Orioles' earliest connection to the Padres was pitcher Pat Dobson, who was San Diego's opening-day pitcher in 1970, starting a 14-15 season with a 3.76 ERA. Dobson was traded to the Orioles and went 20-8 with a 2.90 ERA in 1971. The next season, Dobson's ERA was 2.65, but he was 16-18. He played in Baltimore for two seasons before the Orioles traded him to Atlanta. Tom Phoebus, one of the pitchers the Orioles traded to get Dobson, was San Diego's opening day starter in 1971.

The Padres are the only team that hasn't thrown a no-hitter. According to the book, Baseball's No-hit Wonders, the team has thrown 28 one-hitters. Of those near no-hitters, one was broken up in the ninth inning, four in the eighth and six in the seventh.

There are two statues at Petco Park, one honoring Gwynn and the other broadcaster Jerry Coleman's 70 years in baseball, 40 of them with the Padres. Coleman's statue has him in a pilot's uniform when he served in the Marines. Coleman is the only Major League player to have a career interrupted by two wars. He fought in World War II and the Korean War. Coleman hit .263 with 17 home runs in 723 big-league games with the Yankees.

The Padres have had one NL MVP (Ken Caminiti), four NL Cy Young winners (Randy Jones, Gaylord Perry, Mark Davis and Jake Peavy), two NL Managers of the Year (Bruce Bochy and Bud Black), but no NL Rookie of the Year as voted by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The Padres' retired numbers are displayed on the batter's eye in center field at Petco Park: Steve Garvey (6), Gwynn (19), Dave Winfield (31), Randy Jones (35), Trevor Hoffman (51), and of course, Jackie Robinson's No. 42, which is retired by all MLB teams.

Petco Park is 94 miles from the Angels' park in Anaheim, Calif., and 124 miles from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Google maps says it takes two-and-a-half hours to drive from Dodger Stadium to Petco Park, about the same time it can take to go from Nationals Park to Camden Yards in rush-hour traffic. The outfield fences at Petco Park were moved in before the 2013 season. The left-field foul pole is 336 feet while left-center is 390, center 396, right-center 391 and the right-field foul pole 322. The fence was moved in 11 feet in right-center and 12 feet in left-center.

When the Padres hit a home run, the ballpark celebrates with the sound of a ship horn, giving it a nautical and military flavor. The sound is a recording of the horn of the Navy's USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is home-ported in San Diego.

The most useless facts I dug up: The Padres' left-field bullpen is 88 feet long and 28 feet wide. The visitors' bullpen, tiered in left field, is eight feet shorter. The visitors' relievers warm up east to west, the home team west to east.