San Diego (PCL)

By 1956, the Pacific Coast League was officially classified as "Open", with a plan in place to be eventually certified as a major league. However rumblings about MLB clubs moving West were already being heard, and in two years the Dodgers and Giants would dash the dreams of the PCL to be a major league by taking their two largest territories. The Padres continued on in the AAA PCL until a National League expansion franchise of the same name was granted for the 1969 season. The PCL Padres played in Lane Field, on San Diego's waterfront. Ted Williams (#19) - the lanky kid who would go on to earn the nickname "The Splendid Splinter" - was signed by the hometown Padres as a pitcher. After the 1937 season, Williams' contract was purchased by the Red Sox. He was sent to Minneapolis in 1938 before joining the Sox in 1939.