SAN DIEGO – Thomas Wolfe once wrote you can’t go home again. “You cannot return to the past, childhood, or places you once knew,” he said, “because time, change, and memory alter them.”
That wasn’t true this weekend for Will Venable. The White Sox manager returned to Petco Park where it all began for him as a young player, and it felt like home.
Venable was picked by the Padres in the seventh round of the 2005 draft, and he played there for the first seven-plus years of his nine-year career. Sitting in the visiting dugout down the third-base line, he glanced around at Petco and its familiar surroundings.
He arrived in San Diego in 2008, only four years after the Padres moved from Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley to the new $450 million ballpark downtown.
“It was my whole career playing here for the Padres,” Venable said in an interview. “I spent two months with the Rangers and two weeks with the Dodgers. Other than that, my whole career was with the Padres. I grew up in the organization and made my debut. Everything good that happened to me in baseball happened in a Padres jersey.”
He arrived just as veteran Bruce Bochy left for San Francisco and Bud Black took over the club’s reins. Venable played almost eight seasons for Black. Many of his old friends came by to visit on Friday as the Sox opened the three-game series against the Padres, outscoring them 12-2 to win the first two games.
Black is back with the Padres as a front office consultant. Tony Gwynn Jr. is a club broadcaster. Phil Nevin works for the Sox now as a minor-league coordinator. Chris Denorfia is Chicago’s big-league field coordinator.
“I got to see a number of guys,” Venable said. “The big thing about being here at that time was this was a special group, a pleasant group. So, to see Buddy, to see Tony Gwynn, I get to see Nev pretty frequently now that he’s in the organization. It’s been special to see some of those guys.”
The ballpark still looks pretty much the same. Some of the dimensions are different. The video boards have all been upgraded. The neighborhood and downtown skyline beyond and north of the outfield seats is certainly much denser, altering the wind currents.
In Venable’s early years as the Padres struggled on the field and the glow of the new ballpark opening began to fade, home attendance hovered at about 2 million and the Padres averaged about 27,000 a game.
Not now. The ballpark rocks as the Padres challenge the Dodgers for the National League West title and as always short of that for at least a Wild Card playoff berth. Last season, they drew 3.4 million, averaging 42,435 a game, second in the Major Leagues behind the Dodgers in both categories.
This year, they’ve sold out their first 13 home dates, already drawing 752,626 and averaging 41,979, again both figures shy of the Dodgers. It’s not like the old days, Venable acknowledged.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “What [general manager A.J.] Preller and the group have done here, bringing in all these great players and creating this environment has been incredible. More than everything I’m just happy for the fans. After a phase where we had a couple of good years, we were unable to generate the excitement they are creating now.”
It’s a road map for where the now 16-17 White Sox are heading. More wins mean more attention and better attendance.
After 121 and 102 loss seasons, if Venable learned anything from his first year in this job, it’s that it all takes incessant work to turn it all around.
“Oh, I learned something new every single day,” he said. “We learned a ton of meaningful things along the way. There’s been tons of help from baseball ops, which is what I signed up for. I have a great partnership with that group and they’ve been very supportive. Just look around you at what’s happened [in San Diego].”
You can go home again.