COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman never played for the Red Sox, but he grew up with them as a frequent visitor to the McCoy Stadium and Fenway clubhouses when older brother Glenn played shortstop for the Red Sox and where former Pawtucket Red Sox president and co-owner Mike Tamburro nicknamed him “Trouble.’’
“Mr. [Jim] Rice reminded my kids yesterday that I was the kid he used to slap in back of the head for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,’’ Hoffman recalled. “What a great experience for an 8-, 9-, 10-year-old kid to be able to grow up in that atmosphere in a big league locker room with all of those great players. It was great having a brother who was 10 years older and I got to experience from him what the major league life was like.
“I was around Boggsy, and Rice and Yaz and Dwight. It was a pretty special moment that took me back more than 30 years ago when Glenn was breaking through, playing with the Red Sox. You don’t lose those bonds in the game,’’ he said.
Hoffman grew up in Anaheim. His dad was an usher at Anaheim Stadium who also sang the national anthem before games. The singing usher with a booming voice.
Hoffman, who will be inducted at ceremonies for his extraordinary career as a closer, mostly for the Padres, said, “I remember those days with the Red Sox vividly. I don’t think I listened very well, but when they came through the players would tell me to stay at my locker and don’t move. They all went out for batting practice and I was in the locker all by myself. I could see the candy aisle and all that other stuff over there. To see a few generations ago when a lot of guys stayed with their teams, to watch Yaz go by and Rice and Carlton Fisk and all of the guys Glenn came up with like Boggsy and [John] Tudor and Hursty and Gedman. It’s pretty cool.’’
He said Dave Stapleton “indulged me a little bit. Marty Barrett was very nice to me. I was the “little brother’’ for sure. When they’d come through Anaheim, Mom would make a big lasagna dinner and a lot of them would come over for dinner. It had a very unique feel for a professional baseball team. It was like they were back in minor league ball and like they were staying with a host family. We had our vacations where we’d go back to the Boston area and visit Glenn. At first it was Pawtucket. I was actually at Fenway when Yaz hit his 400th home run and then we drove in Pawtucket to McCoy Stadium and that’s where I got nicknamed “Trouble’’ by Mike Tamburro and Ben Mondor, the late owner of the PawSox. We always had a good time going back East.’’
One reporter backtracked on the slap on the back of the head that Rice gave him.
“I think I would have remembered if he gave me a good whack. He hit pretty hard so it was a loving tap like ‘Little man, you need to go back to your place,’ but all I remember is it couldn’t have been a better experience for a kid — the smell of the pine tar, all of the nuances of the game were heightened by being in the Red Sox locker room,’’ Hoffman said.
He experienced a similar situation with his own sons, who got to be in major league clubhouses while he played for the Marlins, Padres, and Brewers with 16 of those seasons coming in San Diego, where he went relatively unnoticed because of the market size and the West Coast. Hoffman saved 601 games, second most in MLB history (to Mariano Rivera, who is expected to be a first-ballot selection next season). Hoffman is the first closer to reach the 500-save milestone and the 600-save milestone. He’s also second all time in games finished — 856.
He said his own kids got to rub elbows with the great Tony Gwynn and other Padres — Ken Caminiti, Steve Finley, Wally Joyner, and others.
Not in Trevor’s wildest dreams did he ever believe he’d be a Hall of Famer. He spoke, in fact about how hard it was to live up to Glenn’s high school career and then his major league career. Glenn played for the Red Sox from 1980-1987, then he was traded to the Dodgers. He played for the Dodgers and for his hometown California Angels. He hit .242 over his nine-year career and then he stayed in baseball as a coach for the Dodgers and Padres and was a finalist for the Red Sox managing job that Terry Francona got. Glenn was a second-round pick of the Red Sox in the 1976 amateur draft out of Savanna High School in Anaheim.
Trevor was an 11th-round pick by the Reds as a shortstop in the 1989 draft out of the University of Arizona, but when he couldn’t hit enough he was converted to pitcher. He became a seven-time All-Star and the rest is history.
“I don’t think it’s hit me yet, but it’s starting to,’’ Hoffman said.
Glenn has taken time off from his Padres’ coaching job to be with his little brother at Sunday’s induction ceremony.
They will certainly reminisce about how it all started — as “Trouble’’ in the Red Sox clubhouse.
Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.
