50 free San Diego Padres trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This San Diego Padres trivia quiz covers a franchise named for Franciscan friars that spent six years in last place, was nearly moved to Washington, and was rescued by the man who built McDonald's. There are questions on Nate Colbert, Randy Jones, Dave Winfield, Steve Garvey's 1984 homer, Dick Williams and the first pennant, Tony Gwynn's eight batting titles and .394, Ken Caminiti's MVP, Trevor Hoffman and 'Hells Bells', the 1998 sweep, Petco Park's warehouse, Manny Machado's $300 million, Fernando Tatís Jr., Joe Musgrove finally ending the no-hitter drought, and 'Slam Diego'. The culture and colours get a round too: the Swinging Friar, the San Diego Chicken, brown and gold, camouflage Sundays, the Vedder Cup with Seattle and the retired numbers at Home Plate Plaza. Easy questions suit any Friars fan; the hard ones are for people who know which grocery magnate almost took the team to Washington. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The name Padres, Spanish for 'fathers', honours which group?
The Franciscan friars of the local mission
Mission San Diego de Alcalá was founded in 1769, exactly 200 years before the big-league club arrived.
Q 02The Padres joined the National League as an expansion team in which year?
1969
They arrived with the Expos, Royals and Seattle Pilots and finished last in each of their first six seasons.
Q 03The Pacific Coast League Padres of 1937 won a title led by which 18-year-old San Diego native?
Ted Williams
The Splendid Splinter went on to hit .406 for Boston four years later.
Q 04Which fast-food magnate bought the Padres in 1974 to keep them from leaving town?
Ray Kroc
He read that the club was for sale while sitting on his yacht; they lost 102 games in his first year but drew a million paying fans.
Q 05The Padres were conditionally sold in 1974 to a grocery-chain owner who planned to move them where?
The U.S. capital
Joseph Danzansky's deal fell through when Ray Kroc stepped in.
Q 06Which first baseman was the Padres' career home run leader until Manny Machado passed him in 2024?
Nate Colbert
He was an expansion draftee from Houston and one of the few bright spots on those last-place teams.
Q 07Which pitcher won the Padres' first Cy Young Award, in 1976?
Randy Jones
The Union-Tribune called him the most popular athlete in the city's history during the mid-1970s.
Q 08Which manager led the Padres to their first pennant in 1984?
Dick Williams
He had already won two titles with Oakland and a pennant with Boston.
Q 09Steve Garvey's walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 1984 NLCS came off which Cubs closer?
Lee Smith
The Union-Tribune ranked it the No. 1 moment in San Diego sports history in 2016.
Q 10The Padres lost the 1984 World Series in five games to which team?
Detroit Tigers
That Detroit team had started 35-5 and never left first place.
Q 11Steve Garvey, whose number the Padres retired in 1988, spent most of his career with which rival?
Los Angeles Dodgers
He played 14 of 19 seasons in LA, which is why the honour is still debated in San Diego.
Q 12Tony Gwynn won how many National League batting titles, tied for the most in NL history?
8
He hit .300 for 19 straight seasons and retired with a .338 average, the highest since 1960.
Q 13Tony Gwynn's career-high batting average, in the strike-shortened 1994 season, was what?
.394
The strike ended his run at .400 in August; he finished with 3,141 career hits.
Q 21Which historic building was built into Petco Park, its corner serving as the left-field foul pole?
Western Metal Supply Co.
The brick warehouse in the East Village anchors the park next to the Gaslamp Quarter.
Q 22Who threw the Padres' first-ever no-hitter in April 2021, ending MLB's longest drought?
Joe Musgrove
The El Cajon native did it against Texas for his hometown club; Dylan Cease added a second no-hitter in 2024.
Q 23The 'Slam Diego' nickname came in August 2020 when the Padres became the first team to do what?
Clear the bases with a homer in four straight games
Q 14On the day he was drafted by the Padres, Tony Gwynn was also picked by which NBA team?
San Diego Clippers
He had played both sports at San Diego State, where he was a point guard.
Q 15Which Padres third baseman was the first player in franchise history to win the MVP award, in 1996?
Ken Caminiti
He was the fifth unanimous NL MVP; he later admitted in Sports Illustrated to using steroids that season.
Q 16Trevor Hoffman had been drafted as a shortstop and was converted to pitching by which organisation?
Cincinnati Reds
The Marlins took him in the expansion draft and traded him to San Diego in the Gary Sheffield deal.
Q 17Which AC/DC song announced Trevor Hoffman's entrance at Petco Park?
Hells Bells
He retired with 601 saves, 552 of them for the Padres, and his No. 51 was retired in 2011.
Q 18The Padres were swept in the 1998 World Series by which team?
New York Yankees
The closer had saved 53 games and finished second in Cy Young voting that year.
Q 19Which manager, hired in 1995, took the Padres to the 1998 pennant and later won three Giants titles?
Bruce Bochy
He had caught for the Padres in the 1984 World Series.
Q 20The Padres opened Petco Park in which year?
2004
They beat the Giants 4-3 in ten innings in the first game there on April 8.
Fernando Tatís Jr.'s 3-0 swing against Texas started the run and a debate about unwritten rules.
Q 24Manny Machado's 2019 Padres contract, then the richest in North American sports, was worth how much?
$300 million
He passed the club's long-standing career home run leader in 2024.
Q 25Fernando Tatís Jr.'s 2021 extension with the Padres ran 14 years for how much?
$340 million
He was suspended 80 games in 2022 for the steroid Clostebol and returned as a right fielder.
Q 26The Padres' original 1969 colours were what?
Brown and gold
The all-gold uniforms of the mid-1970s remain a cult favourite; brown returned as the primary colour in 2020.
Q 27The Padres' mascot and long-time alternate logo is known as what?
The Swinging Friar
He appeared on the very first 1969 logo, bat in hand, standing in a sun.
Q 28The San Diego Chicken originated in 1974 as an animated character in a commercial for what?
A radio station
Ted Giannoulas, then a 20-year-old journalism student, was hired to wear the KGB-FM suit and never took it off.
Q 29In 1996 the Padres became the first national sports team to hold an annual what?
Military appreciation day
Camouflage jerseys followed in 2000 and became a Sunday staple.
Q 30The Padres' interleague rivalry with Seattle is unofficially named after which musician?
Eddie Vedder
The Pearl Jam frontman claims both cities as hometowns, though he is really a Cubs fan.