Hoffman thrills San Diego crowd with record save
When AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” echoed at Petco Park, it meant one thing: Trevor Hoffman was about to shut the door.
By Sept. 24, 2006, he’d already slammed it 478 games before. But with a clean ninth inning that day, Hoffman secured his 479th career save, passing Lee Smith to become Major League Baseball’s all-time saves leader.
“I really wanted to set the record at home, at Petco Park before Padres fans,” Hoffman told MLB.com. “Padres fans had become part of the journey the whole time. And as I approached the record, I kept thinking back to Tony Gwynn. Tony’s 3,000th hit deserved a better stage than coming before 5,000 (fans) in Montreal. I wanted to do it at home.”
And he didn’t waste the opportunity. Hoffman completed the feat in San Diego’s 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates – the Padres’ final home game of the season.
Hoffman retired the first two batters of the inning via a strikeout before inducing a ground out to secure the save. Following the final out, bedlam erupted. As 41,932 fans roared in celebration, teammates and coaches poured out onto the field to congratulate the future Hall of Famer.
“When you think about it, a save is really a team statistic,” Hoffman said. “For a closer to get a save, the offense has to get a lead and the pitchers leading up to the eighth or ninth have to do their jobs. So, I needed a lot of things to fall into place on Sept. 24 for me to break the record at home.”
And they did. For the second consecutive game, the Padres led 2-1 entering the ninth and Hoffman did the rest. As the Padres were in the thick of a pennant race, the timing couldn’t have been better.
“What could have been more perfect?” Hoffman said. “Going for it at home in the middle of a pennant drive in a one-run game.
“My thing was to stay focused and not get swept up in the moment.”
Hoffman floated his signature changeup by Pittsburgh first baseman Ryan Doumit for a called third strike before throwing an 88-mph fastball past third baseman José Bautista for the second out of the inning. Pinch-hitter Freddy Sánchez followed with a chopper between third and short.
As San Diego shortstop Geoff Blum went far to his right into the 5.5 hole, Hoffman thought to himself: “No problem, Blummer, eat it and we’ll get the next one.”
But Blum came up throwing.
“I’m wondering why Blummer is throwing the ball from the hole?” Hoffman said.
What he didn’t know was that Sánchez stumbled out of the batter’s box – but Blum did, and he capitalized. Blum delivered a strike to first baseman Adrián González to close out save No. 479.
“It took a split second to set in because I wasn’t expecting Blum to throw the ball,” Hoffman said. “I heard the crowd before I turned to see González record the out. The crowd actually reacted a split-second before I did, which when I looked back at that moment later, made it all the more special.”
“It was so great to tie and set the record at home. I kept thinking, ‘I wish Tony had had his chance to enjoy his milestone like this.’”
While Gwynn – who recorded his 3,000th hit in Montreal in 1999 – didn’t have that chance, Hoffman cherished his.
“It was great to address the crowd afterward,” he said. “Everything played into it. The emotion, the energy, the crowd, the situation and magnitude of those games.”
Hoffman finished his career with 601 career saves. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
Noah Douglas was the 2025 communications intern in the Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development
