This weekend the San Diego Padres gave tribute to their 1984 team that reached the club’s first ever World Series. For Padres fans and players alike, the music of Glen Erath and Steve Vaus’s album Sounds of Success remains an integral part of the magic that was 1984.

Sounds of Success Album

^{Image Courtesy of Record Relics}

In 1984 the Padres broadcasts were on 760 KFMB. At the time, the KFMB morning show was hosted by San Diego radio giants Mac Hudson and Joe Bauer with sports updates from young Padres announcer Ted Leitner. Bauer would frequently tease Leitner with impersonations of First Baseman Steve Garvey and Manager Dick Williams. Padres Fan John Johnson of El Cajon remembers, “I couldn’t wait to get up in morning and turn on the radio to hear what they were going to do next.”

Often Erath would accompany the trio in the studio to perform timely, humorous songs about the Padres. Erath described the show as “a vehicle for entertainment.” In addition to Erath’s performances, Vaus would record and contribute his own songs. These performances quickly became the theme songs for the Padres’ 1984 season.

For Erath the inspiration to become a humorist through music came from reading a collection of Ogden Nash poetry as a student at San Diego State University. “I thought, ‘Man, that is what I want to do. I want to do fun, clever things with words.’”

Soon after, he started to perform humorist songs at La Posada Del Sol, a small bar in La Mesa, and gathered a following. He reflected, “Sometimes I would make up songs on the spot.” This became a skill that would come in handy for performing timely songs on the radio.

In 1980, while Erath was performing in La Mesa, Bauer came into the bar and offered to have Erath perform his music on the morning radio show. Ironically, for Erath the first song he performed on the radio was titled “I Hate a Baseball” as it made fun of the Major League Baseball players strike.

During the Chargers’ run to the AFC Championship that year Erath wrote the song “In Miami.” The song included an impression of Chargers Head Coach Don Coryell by Bauer. It became instantly popular in San Diego and sold over 5,000 copies with proceeds going to Children’s Hospital. The Chargers beat the Dolphins in Miami in what many consider the greatest football game ever played.

After the Chargers lost the AFC Championship game in Cincinnati the following week, Erath wrote a song thanking the Chargers for their great year. Erath and Bauer went to the stadium along with 30,000 fans to welcome the team home. The lyrics of Erath’s new song were displayed so the fans could sing along. Recalling the occasion, Erath thought, “Wow, I wrote this an hour ago maybe two. It is at the stadium and people are singing along with it. That’s kind of cool.”

In 1984 Erath experienced the same energy surrounding his music as he performed Padres-themed songs as a regular on the radio with Hudson and Bauer. It was then that musician Steve Vaus joined the creative team. Vaus recalls, “It was a whole lot of fun. I met Mark Larson who was then the afternoon host and program director. We got to talking about the Padres and I said maybe I could write a song. I wrote and recorded one song, then another, and another. It exploded like a 4th of July bottle rocket.”

As the Padres continued to win, the San Diego community’s support for the team grew to a fever pitch. Erath and Vaus continued to write and perform songs fueling the excitement. Vaus recalls, “It became a big, communal party. I just happened to write some songs that became the soundtrack for the party.”

The importance of the music for the Padres reached a high point as the team was at its lowest. The Padres had just lost the first 2 of a 5-game series against the Cubs in Chicago. As the Padres team arrived at Jack Murphy Stadium they expected to find an empty parking lot. Instead, they found tens of thousands of fans cheering the team on as Erath and Vaus performed their Padres songs.

Glen Erath

^{Image Courtesy of Glen Erath}

Erath credits Program Director Larson with the concept of throwing a welcome home party for the team despite the losses to the Cubs. “He was really instigating a lot of that kind of stuff that got the fans involved.”

The Padres went on to win three in row at home against the Cubs to advance to their first World Series. The Padres players have often credited the fans as the “10th man” that enabled them to turn things around against the Cubs.

At the end of the season Vaus produced the album Sounds of Success. It is a compellation of his and Erath’s songs along with Bauer’s impersonations. The album was then given away to Padres fans attending the second home game of the 1985 season.

Vaus has a special souvenir from the 1984 Padres players. “I still have very proudly hanging on my wall a baseball bat that all the Padres players signed for me as thank you for the lift that my music gave to them.”

Tim Flannery, a member of the 1984 Padres team, still enjoys Sounds of Success. Flannery reminisced, “The record and the songs I heard from that time mean more now than then. First, it is a ‘record’ and I still have a record player, but hearing the names and teammates, just touches my soul and reminds me of who I am. Lots of things change through the years, baseball is one of them, but those songs and that time are mine forever."

Today, Erath and Vaus still continue to perform music and entertain Padre fans as their creative lyrics and voices are behind many catchy commercials heard prominently during Padres broadcasts on Channel 4 and the Mighty 1090.

Vaus’s resume is just as impressive. A few of his clients include Barona Casino, DrewFord, Drew Hyundai, Horton Plazza, J&W Red Wood, and University Town Center. Vaus is also the creator of the Padres’ pre-game music on Channel 4 that received an Emmy nomination this year.