News 8's Ted Leitner hits the road with the San Diego Padres, manager Jerry Coleman in 1980

In May of 1980 News 8’s Ted Leitner and photojournalist Tom Warren got an up-close experience going on the road with the San Diego Padres. The first part of the series shows the players passing the time aboard owner Ray Kroc’s personal 727 airplane. Longtime Padres broadcaster Jerry Coleman was the manager that season and spoke to Ted about the difficulties of travel and being away from home. At the team’s first stop in San Francisco, pitcher Rollie Fingers spoke about going to the movies and playing cards with Randy Jones after games. In part two, Leitner compared the on-the-road experience of veteran players to that of rookie Gary Lucas who was loving every minute of traveling with a major league team instead of what he was used to in the minor leagues. Over breakfast with legendary Padres pitcher Randy Jones, Leitner talked to players about their per diem for meals which was $29.50 a day at that time (they also got $99.50 a week for expenses). The series ends with some fun with the team’s prankster Kurt Bevacqua and bidding the team farewell as they headed out for another road trip without our News 8 crew. You can hang a star on this one! https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/loc...