Luncheon meetings are summarized below (starting with most recent month). Feel free to scroll down the page to view or select one of the following months to jump directly to the article you would like to read.
| February 2008 | Kevin Towers |
| April 2008 | Heath Bell, Eduardo Ortega |
| May 2008 | Justin Huber and Leah Tobin |
February, 2008
Kevin Towers
At our first luncheon in February our speaker was Kevin Towers, Executive Vice President and General Manager, San Diego Padres. Kevin was born and raised in Medford Oregon, and was the Padres first round draft pick in 1982. He remained in San Diego’s farm system for 7 season, being permanently sidelined by arm operations. In 1995 he assumed his current position as the Padres’ General Manager.
April, 2008
Heath Bell, Eduardo Ortega
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Dinner is Served
The April Madres meeting was a “dinner” for the first time, The Padres had a day game, and of course it went into extra innings. Our Padre Player was Heath Bell, bull pen pitcher. When asked about his trip to China and about his food tasting, he told us the snake wine tasted like tequila, the scorpions were bad, and the silkworm the worst. Asked about his family: wife Nicole and 3 children (two daughters and one son). 2 dogs & 1 cat. The Madres, knowing how he likes chocolate chip cookies, we gave him a tin from Cooperstown Cookie Company. Heath told us they would be gone within a couple of hours. Our other guest was Eduardo Ortega, the Spanish voice of the Padres on radio and TV for over 20 seasons. He also writes a weekly MLB column that is published in several newspapers in Mexico and San Diego. He told the Madres that this was the first time he had ever spoken to a group in English. Eduardo did a great job and we were very happy to have him visit with us.
May, 2008
Justin Huber and Leah Tobin
G’DAY, MATE
By Kris Hardesty; Photos by Rick Zambori
Our May luncheon player guest was Justin Huber. Justin, a native of Melbourne, Australia, came to the Padres from the Kansas City Royals during spring training. One day he was playing against us as a Royal, the next he was a Padre. He was originally signed by the NY Mets as a non-drafted free agent in July 2000. In 2004 he was traded to the KC Royals. He made his Major League debut in June ’05 with the Royals but continued to go between the majors and the minor leagues. He won the Class AA Texas League batting title in ’05 and was named MVP of the Futures Game in July ‘05. He said his most memorable moment of his career so far was his first home run, a three-run home run he hit off Randy Johnson.
In asking him questions we learned that he originally played catcher until he suffered a knee injury. After the injury he moved to first base, and now with the Padres he is playing outfield. He doesn’t mind the change; the more positions he can play, the more valuable he is to a team. What he likes the most about the U.S. is how friendly the people are, and what he misses the most, being so far from home, are his family and friends. Growing up he was busy with lots of different sports: football (Australian rules, of course), cricket, and surfing. When asked if there have been any clubhouse pranks played on him as one of the new guys, he said, “not really,” but since his locker is next to Brian Giles’s he needs to be on constant look-out. Asked if he has any nicknames he said most just call him “Hubs,” but Brian Giles calls him “GEICO,” because with his Aussie accent he sounds like their gecko mascot.
He also talked about baseball in Australia. It is definitely not the number one sport there, not even the number two. He told us there are 80 players from Australia now playing in Major League Baseball at various levels. He told us whenever he goes home he still gets asked, “When are you going to get a real job?” by his friends. The Madres like his “job” and hope he continues it for a long time with our Padres.
Long Hours, But Still a Great Job
By Kris Hardesty; Photos by Rick Zambori
Leah Tobin, the Padres’ Manager of Media Relations, was our media guest for May. This is her second season with the Padres. She came to San Diego with an extensive background in baseball.
Leah is a native of Mansfield, MA, and did admit she grew up a Red Sox fan. She has changed her loyalties to the Padres (but still roots for the Sox). She received a BS in broadcast journalism from Emerson College, where she was a member of the varsity soccer and softball teams.
She got her start working for a radio station in Boston, then spent three years with ESPN, followed by three years with the Houston Astros before joining the Padres. Having spent so much time early in her career on the East coast, she now realizes how bad the East coast bias is in the media.
Leah told us that one of her favorite memories with the Padres so far is the day Trevor broke the all-time saves record. She was enjoying the clubhouse celebration, but when Trevor gave her a big hug, it really made her feel part of the celebration and the team. She says there are days when she works twelve hours or more, weeks when she works seven days, but it’s still the best job ever!
She was impressed by the Madres and has become a member herself. Welcome to the Madres, Leah!