Ted Leitner, Larry Lucchino to join Padres Hall of Fame

Together, Ted Leitner and Larry Lucchino will enter the Padres Hall of Fame.

The team announced Friday that Leitner, the longtime radio (and sometimes TV) broadcaster for the Padres from 1980 through 2020, and Lucchino, the club’s president and CEO from 1995 to 2001, will be inducted into the Padres Hall of Fame before the July 7 game against the San Francisco Giants.

The ceremony, fittingly, will be at Petco Park, which likely would not exist without Lucchino, hired by John Moores two years after spearheading efforts to build Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

“We knew right from the outset that this was all about a ballpark play to stabilize the team,” Lucchino said by phone Friday afternoon. “But I had been warned by various people in baseball, including Peter O’Malley, that I should not come west for this experience, because I could not tell from where I was, but the Padres games are just where they should be. They should be on the Dodgers’ station because it was a strong overlap between San Diego and Los Angeles.

“While there was some overlap, I think San Diego has demonstrated to the world that it is a great baseball town.”