#571 Nate Colbert #572 In Action - Nate Colbert

First and still is considered one of the Padre’s true sluggers…led team in home runs for first five years…while wearing the signature yellow and brown uniform, Nate’s slugged 38 home runs twice in his career which remain at #5-6 on the Padre all time list…..Never could fully break through Houston farm system despite being the Texas League home run champ in 1967…offered up the expansion draft…Turned out to be San Diego’s most significant expansion draft pick and relatively consistent player…. Three time all star starting in 1971-73…but not their first all star…still hold franchise record for most home runs with 163 a mark no where near to overtaken by a small market club…suffered a downfall in 1974 as ex nemesis Willie McCovey took over first…hit a sub par .207 and 14 home runs….spent some time in the outfield to get playing time, a very difficult transition…continued to decline after a 1975 trade to Detroit failing to get untracked as a Nate jumped from a 100 loss club to a 100 loss club…Montreal was his last real stop in 1976….Career highlight was hitting  5 home runs and driving in 13 runs in a double header in Atlanta August 1^st, 1972...still highly associated with San Diego.