The San Diego Padres are set to honor relief pitcher extraordinaire Trevor Hoffman on Aug. 21st by retiring his uniform number 51. The ceremony will take place at Petco Park after the Padres afternoon (1:05 pm) game against the Florida Marlins. Hoffman played most of his 18-year Major League career with San Diego and retired in January as the Major Leagues’ career leader in saves with 601. He had 552 of them with the Padres and the other 49 with the Milwaukee Brewers (47) and Florida (2).
The 43-year-old Hoffman said he’s flattered and excited to have his number retired and said he might be more emotional during the ceremony than he was at his retirement press conference. He added that it’ll be hard not to get emotional when looking back at the past with his family in attendance and video highlights of his career etc. It’s expected that Hoffman’s family members, former teammates and friends will be in attendance at the ceremony as well as thousands of well-wishing fans.
Hoffman broke into the big leagues back in 1993 as a member of the Marlins after being drafted originally by the Cincinnati Reds in 1989 as a shortstop. Florida chose him in the Expansion Draft in 1992 and the rest is history. He played half a year with the Marlins in their inaugural season before being traded to the Padres as part of a deal for Gary Sheffield. He spent the next 15 seasons in San Diego before pitching his last two seasons with Milwaukee.
His playing career was nothing short of remarkable. He finished in the top six in voting for the NL Cy Young award a total of four times (runner up twice) and came in the top 10 in voting for the league’s MVP twice. He was also a seven-time all star. However, it’s his numbers that are the most amazing, especially considering he underwent shoulder surgeries during his career. Hoffman struck out 1133 batters in 1089 innings and his 601 saves came on 649 opportunities. He allowed only 378 runs for an ERA of 2.87 and also holds numerous other Major League records
Hoffman now works in the Padres’ front office where he’s a special assistant to Tom Garfinkel, the team’s chief operating officer and president. He’ll be the fifth Padre in history to have his number raised to the rafters. Other San Diego players who have had their numbers retired are number six Steve Garvey, number 19 Tony Gwynn, number 31 Dave Winfield, and number 35 Randy Jones. The number 42, worn by Jackie Robinson, was retired by Major League Baseball.
The Padres released a statement that thanked Hoffman for his contributions to the franchise and the city and called him an iconic figure in the club’s history who unquestionably deserves the honor. Hoffman also works closely with several charities in the San Diego area with his wife and three sons.
He has been honoured with the local Roberto Clemente Award a total of six times and received the Lou Gehrig and Teammates for Kids Award back in 2006. He was also honored with several other awards for humanitarian efforts and community service in the past seven years and in 1999 received the Padres Chairman’s Award.
