The first Padres team to call Westgate Park home was a Cleveland Indians based franchise. The San Diego Padres had been an affiliate of the Indians since 1956 and remained with the team upon its move to the new ballpark. The team's star was a future Cleveland Indian and California Angel named Earl Averill. Earl would just about light Westgate Park on fire, hitting .347 with 24 homers... both leading the team. Dave Pope was right behind him with
19 HR and a .319 average and future St. Louis Cardinal Eddie Kazak hit .334. The pitching staff was a fine one as well. Future All-Star Cleveland Indian Gary Bell was certainly a star on this team putting together a 6-2 record in 9 starts with a 1.56 ERA. He was joined in the rotation by future Houston Astros All-Star Hal Woodeschick who put up his own fine season going 10-2 with a 2.54 ERA. The Padres were certainly an excellent overall team and put up a 84-69 (.549) to land a 2nd place finish. Unfortunately it just wasn't good enough to get the Padres a championship. When the team returned in 1959, they weren't nearly as good. No hitter hit over .300 or had more than 20 homers. Luckily there was some decent pitching still as future Chicago Cubs pitcher John Briggs went 14-6 with a 2.60 ERA. Future Indian Bobby Locke went 6-4 with a 1.63 ERA. Future Indian Jake Striker went 12-8 with a 2.83 ERA and future All-Star Minnesota Twin Dick Stigman went 9-17 with a 4.01 ERA. It was good enough to keep the team above .500 as they went 78-75 (.510) but fell to 3rd in the standings.