At yesterday morning's Social Summit at Petco Park, a lot of talk went on about the new Padres Hall of Fame. Darklighter already covered the whole BS Plaza part of it all, but aside from that discussion yesterday we also learned a little more about the organization's plans for the Hall of Fame itself.
As Darklighter noted, Selig Plaza (they've dropped the words "Hall of Fame" from the name to avoid confusion) will be located in the area inside the Gaslamp Gate. It will be separate and distinct from the Palm Court Plaza (where the bricks are located - this area will not change in either name nor function). The Padres Hall of Fame will then be located where the current Mighty 1090 studio is now and will pay homage to Padres Hall of Fame inductees, as well as great moments throughout Padres history. Not only will there be plaques and memorabilia to honor our past, but interactive displays as well. "If a kid wants to watch a video of Garvey's home run from 1984, they'll be able to do that," said Dee.
While we were touring the area, Dee also mentioned that something big (he emphasized the word "big") was in the works for 2016 when Trevor Hoffman is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Basically he implied a Trevor Hoffman statue will be built in the area near the entrance to the Padres Hall of Fame. Before you say, "Are you sure they're not planning a Bud Selig statue?" just stop because I already made that joke to the person next to me when Dee made that announcement, so I beat you to it.
So, yes, Selig's name will still be tarnishing some section of our beloved Petco Park. But, there are some seemingly great plans to build us an actual Hall of Fame that will allow us to celebrate our past. Something we can be proud of and show off to visiting fans, so they can joke about how little we have to celebrate, but really they're just masking their jealousy over our gorgeous ballpark and perfect weather here in San Diego. Somewhere to house future game-used balls from the Padres first ever no-hitter and the bat Rene Rivera uses when he eventually hits for the cycle (yes, I've given up on Will Venable doing it and now I'm going for Rivera to come out of nowhere and pull it off). We as a fanbase may not be happy with a majority of the decisions and changes that have come out of the Fowler/Dee era in Padres baseball so far, but their plan for our Hall of Fame is something they seem to have gotten right.