(April 8 marks the 50th anniversary of the first major league game in Padres history. To commemorate the occasion, the Union-Tribune is producing a nine-part series on memorable debuts through the years. Today: Chapter Eight ... Going downtown)

They got almost everything right with Petco Park.

The downtown location provides excellent views of the San Diego skyline, the Coronado Bridge and San Diego Bay and was the catalyst for redevelopment in the East Village and beyond.

The design smartly incorporates the historic Western Metal Supply Co. building, with its leading edge serving as the left-field foul pole and its balconies as home run depositories.

The Spanish mission style architectures offers a nod to the past while incorporating modern amenities.

The 42,000 seats put fans closer to the action than in most places and each seat is angled toward the pitcher’s mound for the best viewing experience.

The field is so finely manicured that it begs for a “stay off the grass” sign.

The Park at the Park located beyond the outfield wall offers a place for families to gather on a blanket adjacent to a little field for little kids

It’s no wonder USA Today ranked Petco as the nation’s best ballpark three years ago.

Amid all that’s so right, there’s one thing they got seriously wrong. And it can never be corrected.

A guy in a Giants jersey was allowed into the ballpark before anyone else.

“I’m very proud to be the first fan to come in,” Brent Walker, a 17-year-old from San Ramon, said as he presented his ticket for the first major league game at Petco Park, on April 8, 2004.

At least the Padres sent Walker — and those dressed like him in the crowd of 41,400 — home unhappy with a 4-3, 10-inning win over San Francisco in the new ballpark’s big league debut.

It is appropriate that extra innings were required to earn an outcome.

San Diego voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in 1998 with nearly 60 percent voting in favor of the measure.

Ground breaking for the ballpark was in May of 2000 with a projected completion in time for the 2002 season opener.

Construction was halted five months after it began, however. The project had to survive 19 legal challenges that delayed funding, construction and the grand opening.

But the $450 million ballpark opened to rave reviews in 2004. A $60 million, 22-year naming rights deal with Petco, the San Diego-based pet supplies retailer, supplied the place’s alliterative name.

“I sense I’ve spent 14 years on it the last seven years,” said Larry Lucchino, the former Padres president who was one of the driving forces behind the ballpark. “It feels good. There’s a positive buzz about the place and it’s certainly a beautiful ballpark. If I had to give it a marketing theme, it would be “A Ballpark Like No Other.’ ”

Lucchino’s comments came on the occasion of the first baseball game played at Petco.

A college game.

It was March 11, 2004. San Diego State beat Houston 4-0 before a crowd of 40,106, which remains the largest gathering ever to watch a college baseball game. The contest matched the Aztecs team coached by Tony Gwynn against the alma mater of then-owner John Moores.

SDSU’s Lance Zawadzki hit a double for the first hit and teammate Rielly Embrey launched a ball over the right-field wall for the first home run. Right-hander Scott Shoemaker pitched a three-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts to get the first win.

The college tournament that weekend served as a good soft opening before the major leaguers returned from spring training to open the season.

That first game had all the pageantry one would expect at a home opener, with the added excitement of actually being a new home opener.

Petco not only replaced the aging Qualcomm Stadium, the Padres’ home for the first 36 years of their existence but returned them to their downtown roots, just a mile or so from where the minor league Padres began in 1936 at Lane Field.

“It’s great to be home,” Padres manager Bruce Bochy said before the game. “They didn’t hold back anywhere when they designed and built this place. I can feel the buzz.”

Added Padres second baseman Mark Loretta: “I heard a fan behind the plate say `'Wow’ about five times. I think everyone here today is pumped.”

Former President Jimmy Carter, a good friend of Moores, threw out the first pitch to cheers from the crowd. Commissioner Bud Selig also threw out a first pitch, to loud boos from the crowd.

Selig’s throw was to Tony Gwynn, who flew into town for the ceremonies and immediately returned to Colorado Springs, Colo., where his San Diego State baseball team was playing a series against Air Force.

The umpiring crew included three members with San Diego ties — plate umpire Mike Winters, an Oceanside native, second base umpire Brian Runge, a San Diegan and third-generation major league umpire and Kerwin Danley, a San Diego State graduate and former teammate of Gwynn.

The Padres picked an appropriate starting pitcher for the game, handing the ball to left-hander David Wells, the former Point Loma High star.

Wells did not disappoint, pitching seven shutout innings in which he allowed only four hits.

The Padres’ Brian Giles singled for the first hit. Teammate Sean Burroughs hit a ground-rule double in the third inning to score Khalil Greene with the first run.

The Giants spoiled Trevor Hoffman’s bid for the first save when Ray Durham doubled home two runs in the ninth to give San Francisco a 2-1 lead.

Burroughs singled home Greene in the bottom of the ninth to make it 2-2, necessitating extra innings for the first time.

The Giants’ Marquis Grissom hit the first homer with a 10th-inning blast off Antonio Osuna for a 3-2 lead before Eddie Oropesa replaced him to retire the side.

The Padres responded in the 10th, with Miguel Ojeda’s run-scoring double followed by the park’s first game-winning RBI — a single to left field by Burroughs that scored Greene one more time.

“This is like one out of a fictional novel,” Burroughs said after the game. “This has been anticipated for so long. And to have it played like this . . . This is a game that none of us will forget for the rest of our lives.”

Monday: In the beginning ...