PEORIA, Ariz. — John Seidler leaned back and shifted his glance upward while appearing to not be looking at anything.
He sighed.
It had just been pointed out to him that it seemed the situation was clear — that the beloved Padres chairman was being replaced by a man who did not ever want to run a baseball team and under normal circumstances, because he is an intensely private man, would not have taken the job.
So, in light of that, he was asked to explain his role as the steward of the franchise.
The pause of several seconds that followed was the only time in a half-hour conversation Wednesday morning — inside the office that now bears his name at the entrance — that a response was not immediate.
But this was the moment. This was the question.
When the answer came, it was impossible to not see the resemblance and feel the reverence.
“You know, it’s true this isn’t a role that I aspired to,” Seidler said. “Peter, when he was in the role, did an amazing job and was loved by the fans. I mean, I think you could look at every professional sport in every country and probably not find an owner that was loved by the fans the way Peter was. You find a lot of respect. You find people that appreciate. But love is a step beyond that. And Peter had a unique personality and a way of just executing his life, of interacting with people. He was a natural for it, and he deserved it. He earned it.
“In terms of stepping into the role, Eric Kutsenda took the baton from Peter and carried on executing the Padres plan. And last year was a terrific season for the Padres. We came up nine wins shy of where we would like to be, but we had the Dodgers on the ropes, and then the baseball gods interjected and the bats went quiet. I’m taking the baton from Eric, and everything is going to stay the same. We’re going to continue executing the Padres’ long-term plan. I want what all the fans want. I want to see a World Series championship. I want to have the decision that Peter talked about — do we have a parade on water, land or both?
“Our home in San Diego is downtown, and the key moments in the playoffs, even during the COVID season, where nobody was allowed in the stadium, there were cars driving up and down the streets honking, and it was just crazy. I want to see that on a much bigger scale. So I’m gonna keep working with Erik (Greupner) and A.J. (Preller), and we’re gonna do our damnedest to put the best team on the field that we can. Playoffs three years out of five is good. We hope to do even better. And one of these years, we are going to win the World Series.”
The John Seidler era began Wednesday, as Peter Seidler’s only older brother officially became the control person of the Padres.
He is very much like his brother. That is evident in a matter of minutes. There are familial facial features, for sure. But it is the lilt of his voice, the tilt of his head. It is the thoughtful answers and the occasional fun aside. It is in an almost identical manifestation of what appears to be a genuine desire to be forthcoming while not giving away too much.
The glaring difference is that John Seidler does not relish the spotlight. He was among the family members that bought into the team alongside Peter Seidler and others in 2012. But where Peter Seidler headed the family’s position and his portion of ownership grew to nearly a quarter stake, John was content to go to games and not be known.
He was, in fact, intent on that.
“We’re private people and very content to be that way,” John Seidler said of him and his wife, Laurie. “We enjoy time with our family, our friends and not with the greater world.”
How it happened
John, who is 65, was the Seidler brother at a point in life where he could take over as the Padres control person, which is the member of ownership responsible for the day-to-day operation of the team and with the power to make all decisions.
Technically, John Seidler succeeds Kutsenda, a business partner and longtime friend of Peter Seidler’s. Kutsenda was named interim control person after Peter Seidler’s death in November 2023 and served in that capacity until Wednesday.
Peter Seidler’s trust specified that one of three brothers take over as control person in the event of his death. First in line was Robert, then Matt and then John.
None of the brothers asked for the role, they have pointed out. Robert and Matt have other things happening in their lives that are not conducive to running the Padres.
So now John, a retired engineer and entrepreneur, is trustee of Peter Seidler’s trust, the entity that owns 24% of the team. (His stake and that of other family members, totaling about another 20%, is separate from the trust.)
Major League Baseball requires in most instances that when the largest portion of a franchise is owned by a trust, the trustee and the team’s control person be the same. John was approved as control person by MLB owners in early February, pending his taking over for Matt Seidler as trustee of Peter Seidler’s trust.
Hanging over the family and the franchise is the lawsuit filed by Peter Seidler’s widow, Sheel Seidler, who is the beneficial owner of the trust’s stake in the Padres. Her suit, filed in January, contests control of the team and contends that Robert and Matt Seidler defrauded her in their roles as trustees.
While Matt Seidler has responded in a court filing disputing Sheel Seidler’s contentions, there has yet to be even a pretrial hearing. Barring a settlement, the proceedings are expected to last beyond this season.
“It saddens me that there is a lawsuit,” John said Wednesday. “It’s unfortunate that it has spilled out into the public, that it has taken some focus off what ideally would otherwise be solely on the Padres. The lawyers are working to resolve that through the legal process, and I’m hoping it’s resolved quickly and amicably. But other than that, I can’t comment.”
The lawsuit — and even the mere description of the succession plan — can lend to John Seidler’s ascension seeming as if it is merely business and maybe even a burden.
He contends it is neither.
“It feels great,” he said. “I mean, I’ve been a lifelong baseball fan. If you ask baseball fans to list their (desired) jobs, this would have to be at or near the top of the list. Maybe some harbor illusions of being able to play. I gave up on that when I was 13 or 14. It’s an honor to be part of the Padres organization.”
In his blood
John Seidler’s Padres fandom evolved, not unlike many others but also in a very unique way.
He and Laurie have owned a residence in San Diego since they became empty-nesters four years ago.
“When we lived in Orange County in 2012, we would drive down for six or eight games,” he said of his visits to Petco Park. “But, you know, the traffic on the 5 can be horrible. There was more than one occasion where we got as far as San Clemente, and (it was clear) we’re not going to get there until the fifth inning and we said, ‘It’s time to just turn around. This isn’t meant to be today.’”
Last year, they spent more than half their time in San Diego.
He attended 62 games in 2024. Laurie was at 60.
At his first Padres-Dodgers game as a minority owner, in 2012, John Seidler was all in on his new team.
“I was rooting for the Padres,” he said. “Everything the Padres did that was good, I was cheering for.”
But there was one thing he could not get into.
“When the crowd started chanting ‘Beat L.A.,’ I couldn’t quite bring myself to get that out,” he said. “There was just a little part of me somewhere deep down inside — it’s hard to push 50 years worth of experience out the window.”
That experience? He does not shy from acknowledging that at all.
It was, of course, more than fandom.
The Seidler brothers’ grandfather, Walter O’Malley, moved his Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958. The O’Malley-Seidler family owned the team for another four decades.
“For 50-something years, I was a Dodgers fan,” John said. “Peter was a Dodgers fan for just as long, minus one year, because I’m 15 months older than Peter was. We all bled Dodger blue back in the day. Everything changed when we became involved in the Padres. For Peter and Tom, who were working with the Padres out of the chute, their change was 100% and absolute. It was like a switch flipped. It was off, and then it was on. Mine was slightly more gradual.”
It did not take long. Tom Seidler, now the Padres’ vice president of community and international impact, bribed John’s 10-year-old son to work on his dad regarding the ubiquitous Petco park chant.
“So I’ve been a ‘Beat L.A.’ Padres fan since early in 2012,” John said. “… I just needed a bit of a nudge. And now I can say I’ve completed the 12-step program, and I’m never going back.”
In charge now
John Seidler was sitting with Tom Seidler and Greupner, the Padres CEO, near the Padres dugout at a spring training game a couple weeks back when a fan approached.
“Are you John Seidler?” he asked.
The question was directed at Tom, who truthfully answered that he was not John Seidler. And that was the end of that.
John Seidler’s arrival in camp this week was actually his third trip of the spring.
Many employees have become familiar with him over the years, but most of those that have work at Petco Park during the season. Many players and staff have not met him. And there were some quizzical looks and whispers about the guy walking around the Peoria Sports Complex in restricted areas.
It was as if he owned the place, only without any airs.
Anticipating questions, he even carried his ID badge with him.
That is the level of anonymity John Seidler has enjoyed and will no longer have.
There are not a whole lot of people, even in the organization, who know much about the man who will now run San Diego’s MLB franchise.
John Seidler graduated from Santa Clara University with an engineering degree and completed his Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctor degrees (at the same time) at Loyola Marymount.
He retired as an engineer — he owned his own large firm for decades — in 2019. He remains CEO of O’Malley Seidler Partners, which handles the assets and financial affairs of the O’Malley and Seidler families.
“My tertiary career, if you want to call my role with the Padres my third career,” he said, “starts today and hopefully will go on for a long, long time.”
But whatever the qualifications of the man who used to share a bunk bed with his brother, Peter, and race him to and from school on their Schwinn Stingray bicycles with the banana seats be, it almost doesn’t matter.
The Padres are going to be run the way they have been run.
The three priorities John Seidler elucidated Wednesday were presented as a continuation.
“The first priority, it’s the product on the field,” Seidler said. “Our goal is to field playoff-caliber, World Series championship-caliber teams each and every year. I think we have a good handle on that. A.J. is doing a great job. Secondly, the experience in the stadium. We intend to keep delivering the best fan experience in professional sports. They’re the best fans in baseball, and the fans deserve it, and the players feed off it. … It’s a hostile environment for a visiting team. It’s a great environment for our team.
“And third, in the community. The Padres. Since the acquisition in 2012 the Padres have increased their contribution to the community about tenfold. … It’s gone from hundreds of hundreds of thousands to something (like) $3.6 million. We’re going to continue to do our best to make a positive impact on the community.”
Kutsenda will remain as an adviser to Seidler. It was under Kutsenda’s leadership that the Padres got back in alignment with MLB’s debt ratio rules, decreased payroll by $90 million and won 93 games in 2024, then increased payroll by nearly $30 million leading up to opening day in ‘25.
“I can’t say enough good things about Eric,” Seidler said. “Eric did an absolutely astounding job in difficult circumstances. He did it out of a love for Peter and has a debt of gratitude from the Seidler family as a whole. I think he did an amazing job working with Erik Gruepner in really optimizing some of the Padres business operations. Eric fills the same role at Seidler Equity Partners. He’s been the managing partner and does a tremendous job with their partner companies there as well.”
By all accounts, Greupner’s power expanded under Kutsenda. He and Preller received resounding endorsements from their new boss.
“(Greupner) is responsible for everything the Padres do on the business operations side,” Seidler said. “I don’t plan on meddling with his affairs. I plan on working with him, helping when I can, giving him whatever guidance I need to. But other than that, Eric will be running the business operations as he has been, and he’s been doing a tremendous job at it. … A.J. does a phenomenal job on the baseball operations side. I’m sure as hell not going to tell him who to draft, who to scout, who to cut, who to keep. He’s got, he’s got a gift for drafting and talent evaluation.
“It’s a privilege to be able to work with our leadership team. Erik Greupner has been with the Padres 14 years, and A.J. for 11. And they both do an outstanding job in the respective business and baseball ops departments. So I’m looking forward to working with them as we continue the Padres’ successful trajectory towards the World Series championship.”
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