Tag: sports

Baseball is Inside/Out at San Diego History Center.

Baseball is being celebrated at the San Diego History Center. While the 2026 season gets underway, the Inside/Out exhibit in the museum’s atrium summons happy baseball memories.

Artifacts and ephemera from the San Diego History Center’s collection are front and center. Most of the memorabilia on display concern the San Diego Padres and professional baseball in our city. Tony Gwynn, Jerry Coleman, the San Diego Chicken and others are lovingly remembered.

There are multiple objects from the 1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at San Diego Stadium (pre-Jack Murphy Stadium). Padres players Dave Winfield and Rollie Fingers contributed to the National League victory.

I noticed one shelf celebrates Alice “Lefty” Hohlmayer, a longtime Bonita resident who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1946 to 1951. She was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 2005.

Very cool!

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Plaque memorializes three SDSU rowers.

A plaque memorializes three San Diego State University rowers who perished in a tragic car crash in 1986.

Derek Guelker, Jim O’Hara and Mark Skinner were in a van with other college athletes returning to San Diego from a rowing club competition in Sacramento when the terrible crash occurred. Here’s an article explaining what happened.

I stumbled upon this plaque when walking past the Mission Bay Aquatic Center, a water sports equipment rental service that is located on Santa Clara Point. The aquatic center, owned and operated by Associated Students of San Diego State University and UCSD Recreation, is open to the general public.

If you’d like to see the plaque yourself, you’ll find it by a walking path that approaches the H Del Beekley Rowing Center.

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Watching the 2026 San Diego Crew Classic!

Late this morning I spent some time watching the final day of the 53rd San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay. I was walking near Ski Beach when I saw the rowers, so I crossed over to Crown Point and looked on from afar with other members of the public who hadn’t purchased a ticket.

With my fuzzy zoom photos you can see the extreme effort of the competing rowers. They were really putting their backs and arms into it! The San Diego Crew Classic in 2026 featured over 100 teams from across the country, including premier collegiate, junior and masters rowing programs. The Crew Classic is one of the nation’s most prominent competitions of its kind.

The college teams, including Texas, Washington, Cal, UCLA, and San Diego State, are among the best of the best!

Even though the racing was held at some distance from where we watched, the excitement was very real!

If you want to learn more about the big event and view the results, check out the Crew Classic website here.

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Fun photos at Opening Weekend Block Party!

Enjoy some fun photos taken early this afternoon at the East Village Opening Weekend Block Party! The 2026 MLB baseball season has begun and our San Diego Padres have high hopes.

Lots of fans were wandering up and down several blocks of J Street just north of Petco Park. There was live music, dogs dressed like Padres fans, cool lowriders in a row, food, kids making swag chains, a spray paint artist, and even a wiffleball derby!

Too much fun!

Opening Day morning excitement downtown!

It’s the morning of Opening Day for the San Diego Padres, and the excitement has begun!

Reporters are in the Gaslamp Quarter commentating and interviewing fans. The Ben and Woods sports radio show is broadcasting from Baja Rick’s to a crowd of Padres fans!

Let’s go Pads! Beat the Detroit Tigers!

Baseball exhibit at San Diego History Center!

With less than a week to go until Major League Baseball returns, it was fun to see the San Diego History Center had a pop-up baseball exhibit in their atrium today. Most of the displays concerned the San Diego Padres. (The team’s Home Opener is at Petco Park next Thursday!)

All sorts of historical photographs and artifacts could be viewed by visitors. There was a fun quiz (I got 3 of 3 questions correct and a high five), plus creative activities for kids.

It was fun to see old photos of Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn and the San Diego Chicken.

I remember listening to Jerry Coleman and Dave Campbell on the radio during the Padres amazing 1984 season. I was a young man way back then. I also enjoyed years of listening to Ted Leitner, and going to games now and then. So many good memories…

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Padres banners appear for 2026 season!

The 2026 Major League Baseball season is about to begin! The Home Opener for the San Diego Padres is next Thursday!

I noticed, while walking near Petco Park today, that the latest set of Padres player banners have been put up on street lamps in East Village.

This year there’s a huge addition: Mason Miller! He’s arguably the best closer in all of baseball. Did you watch him pitching for Team USA during the World Baseball Classic? He’s got a flamethrower arm. Wow!

Go Pads! Let’s make the playoffs again this year, and go all the way!

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San Diego goes bananas . . . again!

This weekend, San Diego is going bananas . . . again! The Savannah Bananas have returned to Petco Park, to play two banana ball games against one of their rivals, the Loco Beach Coconuts!

The Savannah Bananas’ popularity continues to grow, with their crazy, kid-friendly on-field antics during “banana ball” games and between innings. It’s like a non-stop circus, all the while playing a baseball game with unusual rules, that include fan participation. (If you catch a foul ball, the batter is out!)

The games have become so popular that there is a league of six teams traveling around playing each other. By the way, the Loco Beach Coconuts are 2-0 versus the original Savannah Bananas team so far in 2026!

Both games this weekend are sold out. Today I walked through the festival atmosphere just north of Gallagher Square, where families (often clad in yellow) were lined up for fun banana ball merchandise.

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San Diego Wave FC Season Kick-Off Rally!

San Diego Wave FC held their 2026 Season kick-off rally this evening in Balboa Park! A bunch of fans came together at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion to root for the team and make great memories!

Activations around the pavilion included unique giveaways, a merchandise station, kids activity station, and numerous photo ops. The San Diego Sirens independent supporters group was present. So was Forever Balboa Park. Upbeat music gave the event a fun, festival vibe.

When the players filed into the pavilion around 5:30, everyone cheered! The players would then pose for photos with fans at the different stations, and even autograph posters and clothing before photos were taken.

I saw many families. Young ladies were particularly excited to see their sports idols.

San Diego Wave FC is celebrating their fifth year. They’ll have their Home Opener in several days at Snapdragon Stadium.

The club made the National Women’s Soccer League playoffs last year. Hopefully in 2026 they’ll have even more success!

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Padres bobblehead collection at San Diego library!

A new exhibit was recently introduced to the Sullivan Family Baseball Research Center on the 8th floor of San Diego’s Central Library. Filling two display cases are a bunch of Padres player bobbleheads!

How cool is this?

There are Padres past and present, including Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, Ozzie Smith, Rickey Henderson, Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Jackson Merrill and many more. The one exception I noticed is a bobblehead of Hamilton (Ham) Porter from the classic baseball movie The Sandlot.

The figures on display, I was told by a librarian, are only a small part of the extensive bobblehead collection owned by Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) member Oscar Murrieta.

Head up to the 8th floor of the Central Library for a better look!

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