During the 2025-26 offseason, the San Diego Padres lost both Ryan O’Hearn and Luis Arraez to free agency. Since both are left-handed batters, the Fenton Curse merits being revisited.

What was originally San Diego Stadium was the newest of the three major league ballparks in Southern California. Dodger Stadium opened in 1962, what was originally Anaheim Stadium opened in 1966, and San Diego Stadium opened with football in August 1967 before first hosting baseball in 1968. San Diego Stadium was also renovated in the early 1980s when the success of the Chargers football team warranted a seating expansion. The first Padres owner to express a desire for a new stadium was Tom Werner after attendance dropped during the fire sale years and Werner wanted a smaller stadium with fewer empty seats. After Werner’s ownership group sold the Padres, new owner John Moores originally didn’t ask for a new stadium. The 1990s renovations based on the Chargers’ demands included lease terms more favorable to the Chargers than to the Padres. The Friars actually needed a new lease rather than a new stadium, but the factors necessitated a new ballpark.

The Fenton quarry just west of the stadium had been mined out by that time. Fenton offered the city the land for the new baseball stadium, which also would have allowed sharing of the old stadium’s parking lot. The city wanted the new baseball stadium to be part of Downtown redevelopment and turned down the Fenton offer. That was probably beneficial to city sales tax revenue since the land became the Fenton Marketplace mall which includes a Costco, an Ikea, and several restaurants with the city itself obtaining a presence with the Mission Valley library branch.

Petco Park was built in the East Village area of Downtown San Diego. The allegedly blighted area razed to build the stadium wasn’t primarily the likes of bars and tattoo parlors but rather the Produce District where local growers sold their produce for resale to grocery stores and restaurants.

Home plate is traditionally the southwest corner of the diamond for a reason: if the batter is facing east the sun will not be in his eyes. In order to have a skyline view of Downtown San Diego rather than Barrio Logan, home plate at Petco Park is due south. That means left-handed batters are looking into the sun during certain hours. The configuration seems to have been adverse for left-handed hitters.

Ryan Klesko was the Padres’ top left-handed hitter when the team moved to Petco Park. In his four seasons with the Padres prior to the stadium change he batted .282. Klesko batted .270 for the Padres during the years they played home games at Petco Park.

Adrian Gonzalez, who played for the Padres from 2006 to 2010, holds the club record for most career home runs by a left-handed batter. He hit 104 of those 161 home runs on the road. In all five of his seasons, he hit more home runs on the road than at home, and in all five of those years he also had a higher batting average in away games. His highest Petco Park batting average of .296 in 2006 gave him his only .300 overall season with the Padres and was slightly better than his worst road batting average of .295 in 2007, which was the only year he didn’t hit over .300 on the road.

Wil Myers was a right-handed batter for the Padres from 2015 to 2022 and batted .254 with 134 home runs during those years. The 2016 All‑Star Game was held at Petco Park, and Myers was the host team representative in the Home Run Derby the day before. He lost in the first round as did all three of the Home Run Derby contestants who batted left-handed.

That should have sent a message to free agents who batted left-handed that Petco Park will have adverse effects on production. A left-handed hitter who was offered a large salary for a significant number of years had the luxury of taking the money rather than the advice. In February 2018, Eric Hosmer signed an eight-year contract in which the Padres would pay him $144 million. Hosmer, who batted .284 with 127 home runs during his seven regular seasons with the Kansas City Royals, batted .265 with 69 home runs in just under five seasons with the Padres. In August 2022, the Padres sent Hosmer, two minor-league players, and cash to the Boston Red Sox for one minor-league player.

Jackson Merrill was the runner-up for the National League’s Rookie of the Year award in 2024, so that season wasn’t a bust for him. He hit 24 home runs consisting of 12 in 79 home games and 12 in 77 away games. He batted .256 at home and .326 on the road. In 2025, Merrill had more home runs in Petco Park than on the road but batted .243 in home games and .284 in road at-bats.

In 2025, O’Hearn batted .283 with 13 home runs in 94 games with the Baltimore Orioles while hitting .276 with four home runs during his 50 games with the Padres. Even his overall Padres batting average exceeds the .270 he hit at Petco Park.

Arraez may be an exception to the Fenton Curse. During 2025, he batted .315 with six home runs at home and .270 with two home runs in away games. However, his only full season with the Padres produced a .292 overall batting average, which was the worst of his major-league career. His 2024 season consisted of 33 games with the Miami Marlins and 117 contests with the Padres, and he batted .268 at home and .359 in road games.

Gavin Sheets played 72 home games and 73 road games with the Padres in 2025. His first year with the team included a .229 average with eight home runs at Petco Park and a .273 road average with 11 homers elsewhere.

Excluding pitchers and players with fewer than 15 games with the Padres, the only other left-handed batter on the Padres’ 40-man roster as of Arraez’s signing with the San Francisco Giants is Jake Cronenworth. His 2025 season saw a .218 average with four homers in 67 Petco Park games and a .270 average with seven homers in 68 road contests.

The loss of O’Hearn and Arraez indicates that free agents may be taking the Fenton Curse seriously.

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