ENCINITAS, Calif. – Two words baffled big league hitters for a generation: “Trevor Time.” And from the moment he started warming in the bullpen to when “Hell’s Bells” began blaring, there was little doubt of what it meant when the vaunted Friars closer entered the game.
Now Trevor Hoffman will be immortalized in a new mural going up in Encinitas.
The latest piece by Chula Vista artists Paul Jimenez and Signe Ditona of Ground Floor Murals is going up on the side of Hansen Surfboards at 1105 S. Coast Hwy 101. Outlined in red, it features the Hall of Fame closer with his signature high leg kick and wearing the team’s navy blue and orange uniforms from the 1990s and early 2000s.
“They would let everybody in after the 7th and you would just rush in and we would rush in there when it was a close game just to see Trevor, Trevor close it out,” Padres season ticket holder Eric Toboga said.
A new mural of San Diego Padres Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman courtesy of Ground Floor Murals is going up this week in Encinitas, Calif. (Aaron Eudaley, FOX 5) 
A new mural of San Diego Padres Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman courtesy of Ground Floor Murals is going up this week in Encinitas, Calif. (Aaron Eudaley, FOX 5) 
A new mural of San Diego Padres Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman courtesy of Ground Floor Murals is going up this week in Encinitas, Calif. (Aaron Eudaley, FOX 5) 
A new mural of San Diego Padres Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman courtesy of Ground Floor Murals is going up this week in Encinitas, Calif. (Aaron Eudaley, FOX 5) 
A new mural of San Diego Padres Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman courtesy of Ground Floor Murals is going up this week in Encinitas, Calif. (Aaron Eudaley, FOX 5)
Hoffman, 54, joins a who’s who of Padres history in being recognized by the work of Jimenez and Ditona.
In 18 seasons, Hoffman, who also played for the Marlins and Brewers, was a dominant relief pitcher who was a part of San Diego’s 1998 National League championship squad. He later became the first player in baseball history to reach both 500 and 600 saves. His all-time saves mark of 601 stood until 2011 when it was broken by Yankees legend Mariano Rivera.
He and Rivera remain the only two to have reached that milestone.
Other murals in the series include:
- Tony Gwynn: A depiction of the Padres legend appears on the side of an MMA gym on University Avenue between Marlborough Avenue and 42nd Street in City Heights;
- Fernando Tatis Jr.: The star shortstop appears outside AppleTree Supermarket on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach;
- Manny Machado: The team’s third baseman is honored on a wall at the old Vogue Theater on 3rd Avenue in Chula Vista;
- Joe Musgrove: Following Musgrove’s historic no-hitter, the artists quickly got to work. The moment now is immortalized at Musgrove’s East County alma mater, Grossmont High School; and
- Yu Darvish: The Padres ace, who was acquired last offseason in a trade with the Cubs, was painted on the side of a building on Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa.
