Fred Kendall, father of Jason Kendall, was an original member of the 1969 expansion Padres. He was the team's MVP in 1973, when he compiled career highs in hitting at .288, home runs at 10 and RBIs at 59. He was the team's regular catcher from 1973-1976, the last two seasons handling almost all of Randy Jones' 42 victories. He was the National League's second-best defensive catcher in 1976, when his .994 fielding percentage trailed only Johnny Bench. But mostly, Kendall was a plugger on an expansion team full of them: The Padres lost 110 games in that inaugural season, followed by 99, 100, 95, 102, 102, 91 and 89.

After Jason Daniel Kendall was born in 1974, the father played two more seasons in San Diego. Then he spent the 1977 season with the Cleveland Indians, his last as an every-day player, and part of 1978 with the Boston Red Sox, his only season on a pennant contender, which ended when Bucky Dent and the New York Yankees came along and won a one-game playoff. The blockish catcher returned to San Diego for bits and pieces of the 1979 and 1980 seasons, when the club lost 93 and 89 more games.