Sports' Forgotten Heroes - 10: Nate Colbert

are you having a hard time figuring out what to get dad for father's day shop now at sports history network dot com slash row one and say fifteen percent off your order when you check out row one brand vintage sports pictorium gallery they have america's best sports art with over 7 200 historic sports prints you're sure to find something unique for dad this father's day if he's an nfl buff check out the 1963 vintage nfl helmet poster shop now at sports history network dot com slash row one [Music] august 1st 1972 the san diego padres were in atlanta for a double header against the braves at 6 05 pm ron schuller delivered the first pitch of game one shortly after midnight the last pitch of the night was thrown in between those two pitches san diego's nate colbert came to the plate 10 times hit five home runs and knocked in 13 a night for the ages next on sports forgotten heroes one of the game's most feared sluggers and a forgotten star nate colbert this is sports forgotten heroes a tribute to the stars who shape the games we love to watch and the games we love to play stars who provided us with many thrills but when their time was up they faded away we'll take a look back at their spectacular careers their moments of fame even if it was just for one season or just one game and now here's your host warren rogan welcome to sports forgotten heroes so glad you can be here joining me in just a moment on today's podcast will be bill swank bill is a terrific author he's written several books about baseball the san diego padres and is regarded as san diego's preeminent baseball historian by the san diego historical society also joining today's podcast will be mike ursory from the east village times you know if you listen closely to the open of the show each week sports forgotten heroes pays tribute to players who might have had a great career or one great season or just one incredible game well today's podcast concentrates on a guy who sort of fits each of those categories depending on how you look at it you see nate colbert is the all-time leading home run hitter in the history of the san diego padres so did he have a great career well smacking 163 home runs for one team does not make for a great career but in the annals of the padres that's more than anyone did he have just one great season well his best season might have been 1972 when he was an all-star and finished eighth in mvp voting he hit 250 with 38 home runs and 111 ribbies but he did way more than that we'll tell you about that in just a moment and those are pretty darn good numbers at a time when pitching really dominated the game did he have one great game well he had one heck of a night that's for sure on august 1st 1972 in a doubleheader in atlanta against the braves colbert walloped five home runs one of which was a grand slam had 13 rbi scored seven runs and had a record 22 total bases absolutely incredible not only will we talk about that day but we'll discuss just how good colbert was during his career for one of the worst teams ever assembled first though thanks to henry r and jack k for their continued support of sports forgotten heroes to show your support please visit sportsfh.com or our page on patreon at patreon.com backslash sports fh that's p a t r e o n dot com backslash sports fh you can find out how to become a supporter of the podcast ask questions and more follow sports forgotten heroes on twitter at sports f heroes or look for the sports forgotten heroes page on facebook and if you have any questions or comments please visit sportsfh.com back to nate colbert he was originally signed by the cardinals in 1964 was drafted by the astros in the rule 5 draft in 1965 spent three years in the houston organization and then was taken by the padres in the expansion draft prior to their first season 1969 and the padres weren't good in 69 they went 52 and 110 they followed that with records of 63 and 99 in 1970 61 and 171 and 58 and 95 in 1972 in fact it wouldn't be until 1978 that the padres would sniff 500 when they went a very respectable 84 and 78 and it wouldn't be until 1982 until they would reach 500 again going 81 81-81 yeah they were bad and of course with the dodgers and the angels not playing too far away being a fan of the padres wasn't easy but they did have a big powerful star to root for and his name was nate colbert now with much regret i tried to contact nate and bring him on the podcast to talk about that great day he had sadly though i did not have success i just couldn't locate him however bill swank covered the padres for years and remembers nate well and joining us now is bill swank glad to be with you now before we get into that magical day of august first 1972 can you tell me the kind of ball player that nate was and just how powerful a hitter he was well i think he was a bit of surprise he wasn't even the starting first baseman in in 69 and it took a while for him to work his way into the lineup uh but uh he quickly you know it became apparent that he was a power hitter i mean he uh he was he was uh hitting better than i think certainly you know they dropped him from houston uh but i mean even you look at his minor league numbers uh they didn't jump out at you but neither do roger marissa's minor league numbers or uh or hank aaron's uh so you know some of these men they just develop into sluggers and the man really was a slugger he he uh colbert could really hit that baseball and he played on some really poor really bad teams some they were some historically bad just how bad were they and how much more significant did their poor play make what nate did at the plate during his years in san diego even more impressive well there wasn't a whole lot to cheer for with the team that was losing as much as it was so when someone like nate colbert came along he was the man and he was uh the fans loved him and and he he was responsive to the fans thing you know things were different back then there was there's more accessibility to ball players and nate just had one of those outgoing personalities and he he was the the the star of those early padre teams you know he was an all-star i think three years but uh he was he was definitely one of the leading uh power hitters in baseball uh you know remember i think it was 60 i think it was 68 i think it was the uh the impossible dream here that uh yastrebski batted 301 he's the only guy in the american league to even hit over 300. sure so it was a pictures it was a pitchers game back then so uh cobra was uh he was playing in a time when the pitchers were more dominant you know than they had been and and that brings up my next question one of the most incredible statistics that i read during my research about nate colbert comes from the 1972 season and to me this shows just how good he was the padres it was a strike shortened season so the padres went 58.95 that year and they had a batting average a team batting average of just 227 in the lineup along with nate was laurent lee and he was second on the team in rbi's with 47 and cetel gaston who was also on the team had only 44 and that was third best on the team as a team the padres scored only get this 488 runs nate colbert drove in 111 of those runs that year and he scored something like 87 runs that year he was responsible for almost 25 of the runs scored by san diego that says a lot about how good nate was how in the world was he able to do that and why didn't opposing pitchers pitch around him well i'm i'm pretty sure you know that as you said the percentage of uh of uh runs bad at them to runs that were scored by a team i think that set a major league record yes it was incredible uh and uh why didn't pitchers pitch around him i i just had lunch with bob chandler i don't know if you recognize the name bob was the uh broadcaster for the padres partner with uh jerry coleman for years and uh you know one of the things that hub said was i asked him about that i said you know what you know and he wrote you know and i asked him about because i knew you know that we were going to be talking i asked for some of his memories about uh you know what we'll be talking about the great day that he had in the in in august august 1st of that year but uh bob said he couldn't understand why the pitchers just didn't pitch around him because uh he he was the he was the guy that could drive in the runs but i think it was just they were just that disdainful toward the padres they knew they were going to beat them unreal so in 1972 he knocks in 111 he hits 250 cranks out 27 doubles blasts 38 home runs five of those 38 home runs came in one day in a double header on august 1st against the atlanta braves nate colbert hit two home runs in the first game three more in the second game knocked in 13 for the entire day and had 22 total bases when i first contacted you you said you remembered that day tell me about that day i you know i've been trying to piece together exactly where i was coming from because in my memory it was on a sunday but i think it was on a tuesday and i was working i got off work at i think two o'clock in those days and i was driving home on interstate five and so i really wasn't aware of what had happened uh you know because we're three hours different than the east coast sure and nate was coming up uh i think for the last time and they were saying how you know he'd already you know well i mean the padres won the first game i think it was a shutout and he had two home runs and he'd had two home runs in the second game and i think he's coming up for the third uh you know you know in the la in the last game right and he hits the other one and i thought wow this is really something and the padres won that game so i mean in addition the winning two games which didn't happen very often it was just uh unbelievable this man uh could hit five home runs in a double header uh you know there's it was it and and i'm glad that i happened to catch it because uh you know when you're working uh sometimes you miss you miss things it was an historic day for sure san diego won game one of that double header nine nothing in the first inning colbert hit a three-run shot off ron schuller and in the seventh he had a solo blast off mike mcqueen for the game he was four for five with five ribbies and ten total bases in the nightcap san diego won again 11-7 and for the padres winning two games in one day was quite the rarity in the second inning colbert smacked a grand slam off pat jarvis in the seventh he hit a two-run shot off jim hardin and in the ninth he had a two-run shot off cecil upshaw that's 12 total bases another eight rbis so for the day that's five home runs incredible 13 ribbies and a major league record of 22 total bases he faced five pitchers and hit a home run off each of them and for those home runs he took the pictures deep on the first pitch he saw and on the other home run he went deep on the second pitchy face i also read where he barely missed two more home runs by inches on balls that were barely foul mike ursory from the east village times also remembers the games his first at-bat was a three-run home run so right off the bat he's already got a home run three rbis uh his next at-bat was a single he drove another run he also had a grand slam that day you know he already has five hormones in a day but what makes it even more remarkable to me is the fact that at least as a story goes when he was a young boy he was sitting in the stands with his dad in saint louis on the day that stan usual hit five home runs that is a really that is really amazing um you know we all once were kids and we all have idols that we looked up to and we all have said one day i'm going to do something like that but nate colbert actually was there to watch musical do it and he told his dad he said one day i'm gonna do that and you know 18 years later he did it in fact in an article about that day written by bob wolf which i found in the la times colbert is quoted as saying stan was my idol after that day now when i see him he says hey we're the only ones to do it mutual's big day came on may 2nd 1954. in the first game of doubleheader against the then new york giants a 10-6 cardinals victory mutual went 4-4 with 3 home runs and 6 rbi in the second game a 9-7 cardinals loss mutual went two for four his two hits were home runs and he totaled three ribbies for the game overall mutual went six for eight with five home runs and nine rbi and 21 total bases now 26 662 people were in attendance and as the story goes two of those people were nate colbert and his father however swank debunks that story just a bit when you're a researcher and and a historian and you uh you go back and because i i i did the early history of baseball in san diego back in the 1800s and there's some pretty far-fetched stories and and i think there could be a little embellishment and you know telling a good story is real important and you know for for for nate to be in the in the stands when ted i went chat i think ted williams because when stan the man uh you know it could have happened uh i'm just a real skeptical guy that's that's what i'll say but uh i know you know stan mutual was a very gracious man and and uh you know i know there was some uh you know there when they they celebrated it when i think the you know when the cardinals came out and i know that they reported that uh that nate colbert got a got a cadillac eldorado now whether or not colbert received a cadillac el dorado is another story that swank questions but what no one questions is how bad the padres were and because they were so bad colbert played in relative obscurity even in san diego very few showed up to see him play in fact in san diego's first season the padres drew just over a half million people or 6 33 per game at a time when nl teams averaged over 1.2 million fans per season in 1970 san diego drew just under 650 000 fans for the year and in 72 they fell back to just over 550 000 for the season during the course of colbert's six seasons in san diego the padres averaged just over 595 000 fans a year outside of san diego hardly anyone knew him and in fact after the 1973 season with attendance just so paltry the team was going to leave san diego and head across country to washington dc the padres just struggled at the gate they couldn't bring people in they were financially strapped so i read where there was also a period of time that it was thought that the padres were going to leave town and go to washington they were they were sold they were go they're on their way to uh washington and they they uh even uh had a a a friend of mine was a photographer for the team and i have a picture and as far as i know uh it's really the only one in existence that he took of the dave friesland wearing a uh a washington uniform it just said washington on it and there was a star on on the the hat they were going to be called the washington stars wow so so and and it was they were sold i think to a it was an east coast grocer or something like that and there was some problem and the commissioner's office said nah this this can't we can't go through and then ray kroc the founder not he's not the founder you know but he's considered to be the founder of mcdonald's he bought the team and when he told his wife i bought the padres she said why did you buy a monastery she didn't even know they were a baseball team and he was a he was a very colorful guy you know you mentioned at the start about the padres having compete against the dodgers and the angels i guess you were applying for for attention and for uh yes yes for fans but you know san diego uh san diego doesn't like la la like san diego i'm just talking about in general you know everybody in l.a wants to come down to san diego because it's such a beautiful spot and you know they're they're they have benign the positive feelings about san diego but san diegans don't like l.a and so playing the dodgers uh is always a highlight right and beating the dodgers i mean that that uh the padres have really traditionally done pretty well against the the dodgers uh interesting i don't know where where am i going with this what was your question again well we were talking about it you start talking baseball and you never know where it's going to go we were talking about the padres about ray let me tell you a quick story croc buys the team it's opening day this is 74. and they're playing uh houston they're playing houston the bases are loaded and i think yeah as colbert was at bat and he pops out that's one down he yeah i can't i think it was uh there was one out and he pops out and then the guy on first base gets picked off you know he's so i mean and so ray kroc he'd gone up to the uh uh to the booth you know the broadcast booth and he had he's holding on to the pa system he's talking and he says well i've got some good news and some bad news the good news is that you know we outdrew the los angeles dodgers on their opening day and so the bands cheer and he says and the bad news is this is the stupidest baseball i've ever seen and the fans cheered well that did not go well with the with the players needless to say and it didn't go well with major league baseball because uh you know you don't want the owner getting up and saying these things that same day you're aware of the san diego chicken i am the kgb you know i mean he's he he's a great greatest mascot ever that was the first time he made an appearance he was uh just a college kid he was uh wearing the a little different chicken outfit for uh radio station kgb uh here in san diego and so that was you know he made his debut that day and then while croc is talking a streaker runs across the field oh my god he's yelling and i mean the fans are just loving it because it was clear that this was a man who cared about uh you know about baseball in san diego and even though they were still terrible i think that was the year that they drew a million fans which was just unheard of so ray kroc really saved baseball in san diego how tough was it for the players to play previously before croc came in knowing that the team was on its way to washington d.c how did that affect the psyche of the players well in 73 i could remember going to to what i thought was the last game and there weren't many people in the stands and it was like you know it was like being at a funeral you know we didn't know that you know they were that they were going but it was pretty obvious that that uh you know well see arnold smith had run out of money and so the padres had to go right and there were a lot of people said great bring back the old pcl padres at least they'll win some games uh so their people didn't feel as bad about it as a as they should have and i remember feeling bad and i just remember that feeling in the stands that night it was uh it had to have an effect on the players and losing all the time has an effect on on the players these guys they may be professionals but but they're out there to win right and uh and the padres were god-awful no question of that uh get back to nate you know during the four-year period of 1970 71 72 and 73 he averaged 31 home runs a year yeah you said he was an all-star three times he was the face of the franchise and to this day he is san diego's all-time leader in home runs with hundred sixty-three yep um you know i don't think nate colbert is known very well outside of san diego but uh you know he was he was uh they they instituted a hall of the padre hall of fame right just recent 99 okay and uh nate and and randy jones and and ray kroc uh were the first three members uh colbert you know was the the franchise and and uh you know he he's been back he he was here last summer uh for the uh the all-star game you know he doesn't spend a lot of time in san diego but but he knows that that he was uh beloved in san diego do you think the cardinals or the astros at the time regretted not protecting him because he was drafted by the cardinals as i yeah yeah yeah and then and then well i don't i i'm not clear on that i i i thought i i thought that houston drafted him well it doesn't matter but yeah any you know it was a cardinals or houston yeah they wish they'd have kept them that there's no question that but i don't think uh you know they did i don't think anybody expected him to to be so powerful oh one quick last one i want to tell you sure when when san diego stadium was built it was 3 30 down the lines but there was a wall that was 19 feet high wow and so it was hard to hit home runs in san diego so uh and i think it was in 72 when he hit 38 home runs now again these are stories that might be apocryphal and and i think it was whitey whittleman who who said that uh you know that somehow because whitey whitey kept every he had a scrapbook when he died of every padres uh box score wow he was a great fan and uh but whitey claimed you know these whitey died 10 years ago but it it seems like he told me that that that year that nate hit the wall you know 17 times holy smokes and i think it was 84 when they brought in they you know they make it a more uh hitter friendly and that was the year the padres won the uh uh you know the nl uh championship but they they brought a fence in and i think it was 327 down the lines and and uh it was originally i think 420 the center and they brought it into about 405 and and it was kind of as i recall was kind of you know the chain link fence but pretty solid and then they put palm trees in the space uh they you know they've had palm trees down at lane field down on the bay and so so i like the affect the palm trees and of course then they they will hit more home runs so it was you know after they they brought the fences in if uh whitey's uh reasoning was that if they if uh if he hit the the wall which was 19 feet high if he hit it 17 times you know playing uh 10 years later that had 15 home runs to to his total yeah and that would be five home runs and then how many balls were caught right at the wall you know i don't think he kept but but i mean you know this is the game that gets played you know in baseball what if what if what if he was just he was that yeah go ahead no i just could say the padres uh uh sparky anderson was on the original coaching staff and he's you know enthusiastic guy and i think he was in you know in the early 70s he's he's the manager now of uh cincinnati and and he claimed that the padres had you know one of the the best offenses in baseball they didn't hit for average but uh they it seemed like they you know i'm not a real stats guy but i i think that uh i think this is right i think in 1970 they hit 172 home runs and they hit but only 104 of them or i mean not only i mean most of them were hit on the road they only hit 68 at home because it was just too hard to get over that fence yeah and i think one of the things because i in 1980 they only hit 29 home runs at home and so that's why i think that motivated to move in the fence because it's just too hard to hit home runs and you know the same thing happened down at petco and you know the pitchers were complaining in the hit and uh you know everybody come in and they they hit home runs and the padres couldn't even hit home runs their own ballpark you know what so they brought the fences in there you know they let's face it baseball today it's not the game it was in the old days when if you hit 20 home runs you were a power hitter yeah no doubt now uh you know we're past the steroid arab i think but it's a game that gets changed by home runs and the fans love it so that's people that don't think baseball's changing don't know what they're talking about it's changing all the time sure it is you know his final few years in baseball they weren't great and it's not because of a lack of well he was first ability or talent tell me about that what happened to nate colbert well he hurt his back and and you know his numbers really dropped off in 74 and so you know the padres traded him and he he uh he never he he just he was done he was finished and you know that happens you know guys get hurt yeah i heard it was some sort of a degenerative back condition yeah back so if you had to sum up the career of nate colbert how would you do it he was a great slugger he was an un obviously an unappreciated slugger uh and and i guarantee you uh people that know anything about baseball in san diego know how tremendous he was he didn't hit for average but boy he could he could hit the ball a long way very powerful man and a good guy a good guy that's great to hear hey tell the fans of sports forgotten heroes what you're working on now and where they can see all you have written well i i write for a local newspaper here but i i just wrote a uh a column about forgotten uh little league fields uh in in san diego and and the response was really great because people have so many memories of little league and so i had fun with that uh i've i've i've written 10 books most are about baseball but the last one i the last one i did uh was about christmas in san diego my editor said you know you don't know who i am what i look like but i'm santa claus for the for christmas on the prado which is san diego's big celebration and so my editor said why don't you write a book about christmas so i wrote a book called christmas in san diego interesting that's the last that's the last book i wrote and i got a picture in it of uh tony gwynn wearing a santa hat and and when they when they uh eulogized tony vince scully referred to tony you know he said if i can think of one word to describe tony gwen it would be jolly and ted lightner who's you know still the uh broadcaster i think it was ted he said tony gwynn was santa claus so i thought it was a good analogy because everybody loved tony and tony loved everybody that's nice bill i want to thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join me on sports forgotten heroes and i hope you would consider coming back again sometime in the future yeah this was a lot of fun uh thank you warren and i i wish you success for your program to find out more about bill swank and what he's written check out sportsfh.com colbert's career was shortened by his bad back after his 163 home runs for san diego he bounced around a little more he was traded to detroit after the 1974 season was purchased by montreal midway through 75 and signed as a free agent with oakland midway through the 76th season after the expos had released him for his career he hit 173 home runs with 520 rbi and posted a batting average of 243 but that one day in atlanta he was as great as they came only stam usual rivaled what he did thanks again to my guests bill swank and mike ursory for joining too for more information on nate colbert please visit sportsfh.com follow sports forgotten heroes on twitter at 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