50 Moments: Fowler & Seidler Group Approved as Padres Owners

National League owners unanimously approve fifth ownership group in franchise history

By Bill Center

Brian O’Malley, Tom Seidler, Kevin O’Malley, Peter Seidler and Ron Fowler

One of the stranger chapters in sports ownership history ended on the highest note possible on Aug. 12, 2012, when National League owners voted unanimously to a approve the sale of the Padres to a group headed by Ron Fowler and Peter Seidler.

Six months earlier, Major League Baseball rejected the layaway sale of the Padres to Jeff Moorad. Three years earlier, Moorad had agreed to buy the franchise from John Moores.

The move to block the sale to Moorad had cast the Padres into a state of uncertainty. Control reverted to Moores.

This might explain the smile on the faces of National League owners on Aug. 16 as they emerged from a meeting room in Denver.

The Moorad chapter had been closed. Moores was out. And the fifth ownership group in Padres history, led by respected San Diego businessman Fowler and financier Seidler, had laid out a solid plan for the Padres future.

Earlier, Seidler and Fowler came together as heads of two different groups interested in the future ownership of the Padres.

Seidler and his brother Tom were nephews of former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley. Fowler was the managing general partner of a group of minority owners that owned 49.32 percent of the Padres. Together they built an ownership team that included investors brought on board by the Seidlers and members of the minority owners represented by Fowler.

Fowler is the Executive Chairman of the Padres. Seidler is the Managing Partner. Together, Fowler and Seidler have pointed the Padres toward a better future while overseeing a number of upgrades at Petco Park. A closer look at the compatible team:

Peter Seidler — Seidler is the managing partner of the holding company that owns the Padres and is the lead investor in the ballclub. Since Seidler put together the ownership team that bought the Padres in 2012, he and his brother Tom Seidler have extended the Padres outreach into the community. Peter is the founder and managing partner of Del Mar-based Seidler Equity Partners, which is a family-oriented private equity fund that provides capital and management support to growing entrepreneurial companies throughout the United States. Peter and his wife Sheel Seidler are involved in the San Diego Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Association, the American Cancer Society and the Turning Point Home (a San Diego facility dedicated to treating young women with addiction-related diseases).

Ron Fowler — Fowler has been a business and civic leader in San Diego for four decades and was the first already San Diego resident to have a controlling position in Padres ownership since founding owner C. Arnholt Smith. Fowler’s role in Major League Baseball extends far beyond the Padres. He is a member of the owners’ executive committee and recently was the lead representative of the owners during the meetings with the Major League Players Association in the negotiations for the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement. Fowler previously owned the San Diego Sockers and served on the civic task forces that picked the location for Petco Park and secured the 2002 Super Bowl for San Diego. In addition to the Padres, Fowler is CEO and President of Liquid Investments, Inc., and is recognized as a leader in the beverage industry. Fowler has been the recipient of many civic awards for his contributions to a number of causes and institutions in San Diego, including San Diego State and the University of San Diego and the San Diego Hall of Champions.

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Top 50 moments (in chronological order):

1. National League votes to expand into Montreal and San Diego (May 27, 1968)
2. Padres stocked with players in National League expansion draft (Oct. 14, 1968)
3. Padres win their Major League debut (April 8, 1969)
4. Clay Kirby removed from a no-hitter (July 21, 1970)
5. Nate Colbert’s five-homer, 13-RBI doubleheader in Atlanta (Aug. 1, 1972)
6. 1973, the year San Diego nearly lost the Padres
7. Ray Kroc buys the Padres (Jan. 25, 1974)
8. Ray Kroc grabs the microphone during his first home game as the Padres owner (April 9, 1974)
9. Randy Jones National League Cy Young Award (1976)
10. Shortstop Ozzie Smith’s greatest defensive play in Padres’ history (April 20, 1978)
11. Padres host the 1978 All-Star Game (July 11, 1978)
12. Gaylord Perry wins 1978 National League Cy Young Award
13. The “re-hatching” of the San Diego Chicken (June 29, 1979)
14. 1984 Padres-Braves brawl in Atlanta (Aug. 12, 1984)
15. More than 12,000 fans greet Padres as they return home from two losses in Chicago in 1984 National League Championship Series (Oct. 3, 1984)
16. Steve Garvey’s series-tying, walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 1984 National League Championship Series
17. Padres win their first National League title (Oct. 7, 1984)
18. Benito Santiago’s 34-game hitting streak to finish a strong finish to N.L. Rookie of the Year season (1987)
19. LHP Mark Davis wins the 1989 National League Cy Young Award
20. Roseanne Barr butchers The National Anthem (July 25, 1990)
21. Padres host the 1992 All-Star Game (July 14, 1992)
22. The fire sale (1992–1993)
23. Tony Gwynn’s .394 during the strike-shortened 1994 season
24. John Moores buys the Padres (Dec. 21, 1994)
25. Ken Caminiti’s “Snickers Game” caps historic Padres-Mets series in Mexico (Aug. 16–18, 1996)
26. Padres win 1996 National League West title on Chris Gwynn’s two-run, 11th-inning, pinch-hit double in season finale at Dodger Stadium (Sept. 29, 1996)
27. Third baseman Ken Caminiti is the unanimous pick for the National League Most Valuable Player (Nov. 13, 1996)
28. “Hells Bells” accompanies Trevor Hoffman from the bullpen for the first time (July 25, 1998)
29. Greg Vaughn hits his club-record 50th homer and Trevor Hoffman records his club-record 53rd save (Sept. 27, 1998)
30. Kevin Brown out-pitches Randy Johnson and win the opener of the 1998 National League playoffs (Sept. 29, 1998)
31. Sterling Hitchcock named the MVP of the 1998 National League Championship Series (Oct. 14, 1998)
32. Heartbreaking loss to Yankees in 1998 World Series opener (Oct. 17, 1998)
33. 59.5 percent of San Diego voters approved the construction of Petco Park (Nov. 3, 1998)
34. Tony Gwynn gets his 3,000th hit (Aug. 6, 1999)
35. Dave Winfield inducted into the National Hall of Fame as a Padre (Aug. 5, 2001)
36. Padres defeat the Giants 4–3 in 10 innings in the first game at Petco Park (April 8, 2004)
37. Jerry Coleman inducted into the broadcast wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (July 31, 2005)
38. Padres win 2005 National League West title (Sept. 28, 2005)
39. Trevor Hoffman becomes baseball’s all-time saves leader with №479 (Sept. 24, 2006)
40. Padres win their fifth National League West title (Sept. 30, 2006)
41. Jake Peavy wins the 2007 National League Cy Young Award
42. Trevor Hoffman gets 500th save (June 6, 2007)
43. Tony Gwynn inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. (July 29, 2007)
44. Colorado defeats Padres 9–8 in 13 innings in Game 163 at Coors Field to win National League wildcard berth (Oct. 1, 2007)
45. Last-game loss costs Padres a shot at 2010 playoffs (Oct. 3, 2010)
46. Group led by Ron Fowler and Peter Seidler accepted by the National League as the fifth ownership group in Padres history (Aug. 16, 2012)