A Cappuccino Toast to Padres : Baseball: Fans encounter new beverage, new sausage, new smoking ban and new mascot at 1992 home opener.

First it was hot dogs, peanuts and beer. Then it was hot dogs, peanuts, beer and sushi, a break from tradition grandly spoofed from Chicago to Calexico. And Thursday, at packed San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego assaulted baseball’s menu one more time:

Hot dogs, peanuts, beer, sushi and cappuccino.

To hear some patrons at the sold-out ball park, the upscale, $3 cup of Joe was well-received.

“Mmmm . . . it’s wonderful . . . that vanilla stuff is good,” said 42-year-old Debbie Higgins, of her latte, which was mixed with a squirt of amarretto syrup and topped with a dose of vanilla powder. Joining in agreement was her cappuccino-toting mother, Marie Patton, 69, both of whom live in San Diego.

And so it went Thursday as a throng of nearly 60,000 showed up for the home opener against the reviled Dodgers and helped initiate the Padres 1992 season.

There to greet them was a new mascot, the team’s first since the famous San Diego Chicken strutted through the stadium.

The new mascot looked like a dog in a Padres uniform with its hat on backward, perhaps a distant cousin of Walt Disney’s Goofy. No one was quite sure what the unnamed mascot was supposed to be. Padres spokesman Andy Strasberg described it as simply a “mascot.”

“There is no name . . . it’s what the fan wants it to be,” Strasberg said. “We wanted to be a little bit more creative.”

But Chicken fans seemed reluctant to embrace the new mascot.

“It looked like a dog . . . I guess,” said John Todd, 38, of San Diego. “Nothing is ever going to compare to the Chicken. . . . It was a legend in this town, and you can’t expect anything to live up to Chicken.”

And then there were the venerable tailgaters, people like Gary Aptaker, 48, of Del Mar, and Jack Thompson, 48, of San Diego, who donned tuxedos for their festivities, which included sipping German champagne from a pair of plastic flutes.

“It’s opening night, and we’re celebrating the beginning of a summer of good times at the ballpark,” Thompson said.

Although other fans such as Allen Narcisse took a more traditional approach to the pregame event, all appeared united in their support for the Padres.

“I’m with them if they win or lose,” the 36-year-old San Diegan said. “It’s my home team, and I’ve been following the Padres since 1969.”

In preparation for the Padres’ 1992 season a host of changes were made, ranging from the stadium’s appearance to this year’s food items, souvenirs and services, such as the addition of a pair of automated teller machines in the area behind home plate for fans who need a quick cash boost.

It’s all part of an effort to make it more convenient, comfortable and affordable to attend a game, even though suppliers this year raised their prices to Padres concessionaires, who plan to absorb the increases.

So, a family of four can take in an evening with the Padres this season for about an average of $83.50, which covers the cost of tickets, parking, hot dogs, cokes, beers and souvenirs.

But for fans who plan to spoil their taste buds, available for consumption this season (at $3.75 per) will be the new Jody Maroni sausages, one with fennel-spiked Italian chicken and a Louisiana hot-link version made of a rice-beef-pork mixture.

But fan’s had mixed reactions to the new sausages.

“I’m from Chicago, so I know what real hot dogs at ball games are like, and they don’t have them here, but it’s a good substitute,” said George Schultz, 40, of San Diego. “It’s better than a regular hot dog, but the bun is a little dry.”

Rubio’s will also offer a fish burrito and a carne asada burrito at their pair of kiosk concessions, where they peddle an average of 1,500 of their immensely popular fish tacos each game.

Meanwhile, ticket prices this year will range from $5 for general admission to $11 for field, plaza and press-level seats. For another $9.50, fans can sit in the loge level. And a new $7 ticket price has been added this year for some seats on the sides of first and third base.

Dave Gilmore, director of ticket operations for the Padres, said the new seating area was created to give fans another chance to buy advance tickets for any of the Padres’ 81 homes games this season.

As of last Friday, season ticket plans were up 8% from last year as sales reached 15,837, Gilmore said. Padres officials hope that figure will hit 10%.

Padres souvenirs are also expected to tempt crowds, who will have about 40 extra All-Star Game items to browse through, ranging from a $1 button to sweat shirts with the All-Star Game motif selling for $28.

Souvenir sales jumped by 30% last season when the Padres switched team colors from brown and orange to the more appealing combination of navy blue and orange, said Chuck Gleghorn, merchandising manager for Service America.

The Major League All-Star Game in July has Gleghorn banking on a 15% increase in sales this year and, to meet that goal, two souvenir stands have been added to two existing ones, 15 portable carts, a gift shop and about 25 vendors working the stands.

Doused with a fresh coat of paint, the stadium has been designed to dazzle fans and at the same time make it easier for them to move around the stadium without getting lost. The levels have been color-coordinated in shades of purple, gold, teal, burgundy and navy blue, to match entrance ramps.

A new smoking ban will also kick into effect this season and will apply to stadium seats and adjacent aisles, but smoking will be permitted just about everywhere else.

“We think it’s going to be positive,” said Doug Duennes, director of stadium operations. “The whole change is in response to how fans feel about the issue, and we feel that we’ve responded to what their needs are.”

But not everyone favored the new ban.

“If the stadium was closed it would be a different story. . . . I could understand it,” said David Watson, 47, of Chula Vista. “But it’s an open air stadium, so this isn’t right.”

Watson, along with his wife, Donna, 49, retreated to the concession area on the stadium’s outer perimeter to grab a smoke.

They said the new ban may make their first Padres game their last, just before dashing back into the stadium to catch the player introductions.

To ensure that fans who choose to light up don’t miss any baseball action, nine television monitors have been set up in key locations throughout the stadium, and monitors have also been added to the stadium’s five handicapped seating areas.

A shuttle service serving the outer regions of the parking lot has also been added this year to whisk disabled and elderly Padres fans to the main gate.

San Diego Transit’s Padres Express bus will again transport fans from stops at Market Place at the Grove, Grossmont Trolley Station, El Cajon Transit Center and downtown Hillcrest. A round trip ticket costs $4, with a one-way fare $2.50.

An emergency road service will be offered this year through the Automobile Club of Southern California.