The San Diego School of Baseball was backed by hitting stars such as Tony Gwynn and Alan Trammell, but it was the pitching minds that gave the early 1980s baseball camp its charm — and its legacy.

Brent Strom and Tom House had been teammates at the University of Southern California and then, later, journeyman pitchers in the major leagues. Aside from lineage, they also shared deep-seated hunches that there was more to learn about baseball than previous generations had taught.

So when the day’s instruction was over, they sat in the dugouts of Grossmont College or ventured to a local watering hole, tossing ideas back and forth: the things they loved about the game, the things they thought were wrong, the things they wanted to change.

Once, during a baby shower for another coach’s wife, the men were scolded when they were found in the corner of a room, playing back film of pitchers. They were all obsessives, and the San Diego School of Baseball was their offseason oasis — a place where they could gather and discuss, without judgment and scorn, some of the very concepts that decades later would alter the balance of baseball.

“A summit,” House called it, “of smart baseball minds.”

Before PITCHf/x and Statcast could measure progress, before internet message boards and…

Early last June, as the San Diego Padres were sputtering below .500 and the Chicago Cubs were visiting Petco Park, Peter Seidler proposed an idea for changing up the energy in the building.

Soon, the Padres chairman, general manager A.J. Preller and assistant general manager Josh Stein gathered down the right-field line and, with the help of traveling secretary TJ Lasita, burned a packet of incense. They carried it to the mound, then to home plate, where they were joined by Seidler’s wife, Sheel. They took off their shoes.

Later, the GM was asked by members of the Cubs — who were staying at a hotel overlooking the ballpark — whether he and the owner of the Padres had been the people they spotted on the field openly praying for offense.

“To which I said, ‘Goddamn right. We’re trying to do everything we can to win in San Diego,’” Preller recalled.

Preller told that story to laughs Saturday at Petco Park during a celebration of Peter Seidler’s life. Seidler, who purchased the Padres in 2012 and died Nov. 14 at age 63, did seemingly everything in his power to bring San Diego its first major professional sports championship, from spending record amounts of money to beseeching the heavens for a shift in fortunes. Although he died before he could realize his dream,…

The Hall of Fame is made for players like Adrián Beltré. As a pure hitter, reliable slugger and slick third baseman, Beltré had few peers: No other infielder in the history of baseball has 3,000 hits, 400 homers and five Gold Glove awards. Beltré, now 44, was a lock for the Hall of Fame.

As a first-time Cooperstown candidate, Beltré did not need to follow the breathless tracking of public ballots this winter. Yet he still could not feel secure, he said, until his wife and son assured him on Tuesday that election day looked promising. He could savor it.

“That made me relax a little bit more, and I kind of forced myself to try to enjoy this moment,” Beltré said from his home in Southern California, moments after achieving his sport’s greatest honor. “It was going to be a nice moment, and probably the last moment in baseball that I was going to accomplish, being at the pinnacle of the game.”

Beltré had company at the summit on Tuesday, with Todd Helton and Joe Mauer joining him in the new class of Hall of Famers. Former manager Jim Leyland, elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee last month, will also be inducted at the ceremony July 21.

Candidates must receive 75 percent of the ballots from 10-year members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of…

Peter Seidler, the San Diego Padres owner who brought national relevance to his franchise with unprecedented spending and other bold moves, died Tuesday. He was 63.

Seidler’s family requested that the cause of death remain private. Seidler, who had been dealing with an undisclosed illness, announced in a Sept. 18 statement that he had undergone an unspecified medical procedure, adding that he would not be able to attend Padres games for the rest of the 2023 season.

“The Padres organization mourns the passing of our beloved Chairman and owner, Peter Seidler,” Padres CEO Erik Greupner said in a statement.

“Today, our love and prayers encircle Peter’s family as they grieve the loss of an extraordinary husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and friend. Peter was a kind and generous man who was devoted to his wife, children, and extended family. He also consistently exhibited heartfelt compassion for others, especially those less fortunate.

“His impact on the city of San Diego and the baseball world will be felt for generations. His generous spirit is now firmly embedded in the fabric of the Padres. Although he was our Chairman and owner, Peter was at his core a Padres fan. He will be dearly missed.”

Seidler was the grandson of former Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers owner…

At about 2 a.m on Dec. 7, a weary Aaron Judge completed his second flight in a 24-hour span, with a third coming up just a few hours later. He had traveled from Tampa to San Diego to Stockton, Calif., 20 minutes from his home in Linden. And upon landing in Stockton, a career-altering text message appeared on his phone.

While on vacation in Italy, New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner had composed a long message to the American League MVP, asking if they could talk. Steinbrenner, knowing Judge was closing in on his free-agent decision, wanted to make his intentions absolutely clear.

Judge was with his wife, Samantha, and miniature dachshund, Penny. He and Samantha were dropping the dog off at Judge’s parents at Linden, then leaving on a 7 a.m. flight from Sacramento to Maui. So much was happening, both with his travels and at the winter meetings in San Diego. Before calling Steinbrenner, Judge wanted to formulate a game plan. He phoned his agents, Page Odle and Dave Matranga of PSI Sports Management. The moment of truth in Judge’s suspenseful, month-long spin through free agency had arrived.

A dozen people close to the negotiations, some of whom were granted anonymity to speak candidly, detailed the final, frantic hours leading to Judge’s nine-year, $360 million…

If you have questions about the future of your team’s live games on your local cable, satellite or digital provider, particularly those on Bally Sports channels, we’re here to answer with what we know so far.

Diamond Sports Group, the Baltimore-based corporate parent of the 19 Bally Sports channels that air 47 NBA, MLB, NHL and WNBA teams, announced Feb. 15 that it would skip a $140 million debt payment due that day and use the month-long grace period as part of its effort to financially reorganize itself.

Many observers interpret the move as a precursor to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, though that is not a certainty. Diamond has $8 billion-plus of debt, incurred as part of parent Sinclair’s 2019 purchase of the regional sports channels, and lost $1.2 billion in the most recent fiscal quarter.

“Certainly more likely that they will file bankruptcy because they did not make the payment,” said Schuyler Carroll, a bankruptcy attorney who is not connected to Diamond. “But not necessarily that they will file bankruptcy. They are still continuing discussions with their creditors to try and avoid bankruptcy. But those can often be difficult.”

Diamond in a Feb. 15 statement said it “intends to use the 30-day grace period to continue progressing its ongoing…