Written by: Raphie Cantor

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The Padres are a championship-less franchise, but there has been no shortage of incredible statistical seasons played in San Diego. Tony Gwynn’s 1994 season in which he chased .400, Ken Caminiti’s 1996 NL MVP campaign, and Trevor Hoffman’s 53-save season in 1998 all come to mind. This series is not about those seasons.

The series does not examine the seasons that are etched in the halls of Cooperstown, but rather the ones that are scribbled on the beams of the OB Pier; the strange, weird, and forgotten single seasons in Padres history from a statistical standpoint. The Good Times, and the Dad Times.

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The 1996 season marked a turning point in Padres’ history for a couple of reasons.

First, the team captured its first division title in a dozen years and made just its second playoff appearance in franchise history. Two years later, with many of the same pieces, the team would clinch its second, and as of now, last, National League (NL) pennant

Second, and more pertinent to this story, 1996 was the season in which third baseman Ken Caminiti stormed to the NL MVP trophy. Caminiti was unconscious that year. From a pure value standpoint, it was the single greatest offensive production season ever by a Padre according to Fangraphs. Caminiti hit .326 while smacking 40 dingers. He accounted for 130 RBIs while slugging .621. On top of all that, he played some pretty good defense at the hot corner, too. That season saw Caminiti win his second of three consecutive Gold Glove Awards. All told, Caminiti accumulated 7.5 fWAR in 1996, the second-best single-season mark in Padres history.

Why am I telling you all this? Because the greatest victim of Caminiti’s success was Steve Finley.

Finley’s role in Padres lore is complicated. On one hand, he was a part of the team that went to the World Series in 1998 and played a stalwart center field that saw him win two Gold Gloves in San Diego. On the other hand, he had some pretty mediocre seasons in a Padres uniform. Despite awesome moments like this one, in 1995, 1997, and 1998, Finley put up a combined 2.1 fWAR. That’s an average of 0.7 fWAR per year.

But we’re not talking about those years. Those were the Dad Times. We’re talking about 1996. And in 1996, Steve Finley put on a clinic that even the Safdie Brothers would consider a Good Time.

Let’s start with the basics. He hit .298 that season, managed to clobber 30 home runs, and stole 22 bases. His 12.1 percent strikeout rate was below the league’s 16.5 percent average that year, and he played in all but one of that season’s games. He had a wRC+ of 136, meaning he was a 36 percent more productive hitter than league average at the peak of baseball’s steroid era. And as indicated by the aforementioned Gold Glove he won that season, his defense was pretty good, too. It was a showing worth 5.4 fWAR. For what it’s worth, the most recent Padre to have that valuable of a season was Chase Headley in 2012

But here’s my favorite part about this story — the secret to Finley’s success in 1996. For whatever reason, Finley was a Hall of Fame-caliber hitter when leading off the inning. You have to understand, Finley wasn’t a leadoff hitter in the batting order that much. He only started 20 games that year as the first in the order. Finley was hitting either second or third in the batting order in 85 percent of his plate appearances.

But for whatever reason, on the happenstance that Finley got the chance to lead off the inning, he hit .338/.388/.642. Some addition shows that his OPS was 1.029! He hit 10 home runs, seven doubles, and four (!) triples in the inning leadoff position.

Things get even more out of hand when you isolate the times Finley led off the game in 1996. As mentioned earlier, he started 20 games that season in the leadoff spot. In those 20 plate appearances, Finley hit .368/.400/.632. for an OPS of 1.032.

What makes this so weird is that Finley was a bad hitter when he was first in the order and not leading off the game. In those 82 PAs, he hit only .183. He struck out 10 times and grounded into three double plays. Finley only had the magic when he was leading off the inning.

Steve Finley was overshadowed in every way by Ken Caminiti in 1996. He was out-hit, out-gloved, and out-roided. But Steve Finley put on a show that year, and for that, his consolation prize is being memorialized in this series.

Credit to FriarWire for the Featured Image