February 1st, 2011, the Sacrifice Bunt’s Ray made the case for fans to boycott the blue and rally around getting the Padres to switch back to brown as their main color. The Padres had been in blue in one form or another for 20 years at that point.

It wasn’t for altruistic reasons. It was originally intended at the time as a protest of the ownership group led by Jeff Moorad. Turns out Jordan Stark of Product Etc had been working with his business partner at the time, Tony Martinez, on a petition to present to the Padres asking them to switch back to brown. Bring Back The Brown was born.

Nine years. 2,366 signatures. 2 (and a half) ownership groups.

Guess what? Bring Back The Brown worked. As of Saturday night, the official color of the San Diego Padres is brown. Blue is gone.

Luckily, as one of the first Bring Back The Brown petition signers, I’ve gotten to know Jordan, so I asked him to give me Bring Back The Brown’s official stance on the new uniforms.

We’re very, very, very happy with the new uniforms. They’re not for everyone, but neither are the Padres. The most diehard fans we know seem to be extremely happy, and so are we. It’s light years above what we’ve been offered in recent memory. The fun isn’t over yet, as it’s going to be a really amazing experience to watch them playing year round at home, or in places like the Chavez Ravine, in BROWN and GOLD!

Jordan Stark, co-founder of Bring Back The Brown

I was about to graduate from high school when Tom Werner bought the team and they went to blue. At the time I didn’t think much of the change. I just sort of went with it. And then things like the Fire Sale, the Moorad years, and “Johnny Manziel, Padres draft pick” happened. And the more I’ve thought about it, the more blue seemed to represent something bad.

And I only tell you that to show that I understand people who didn’t grow up in the 1980s who have only known the Padres wearing blue. Sure there were great times in blue. The 1992 All-Star Game. 1996 and Ken Caminiti. 1998 and Greg Vaughn. Trevor Hoffman. Petco Park. Those were/are all awesome and I’m not trying to take anything away from those times.

But, as Prince sang in “Raspberry Beret,” they say the first time is the greatest. 1984 happened in brown. As someone who vividly remembers seeing games involving Eric Show, Steve Garvey, and Garry Templeton, brown is the Padres for me.

Tony Gwynn came to the Major Leagues in 1982 and immediately started out wearing brown. That’s gotta count for something.

So I say rejoice. The Padres are going to look like the Padres again. Finally.

Now…announce Strasberg.