Based on what we saw and heard on Sunday, it may be a bad idea to go against Javier López in a trivia contest.
López, a relief pitcher from 2003-2016 who now works as an analyst for the San Francisco Giants, showed off his memory during the broadcast of Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies.
The NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast touted López’s numbers against Helton and his fellow HOF Class inductees Adrián Beltré and Joe Mauer. López is not a Hall of Famer, but his numbers against the three are quite impressive. Just as impressive, though, were the specifics in a story he shared later in the inning.
While López was pitching for the Giants, he was managed by Bruce Bochy and opposing Todd Helton. Earlier in his career, though, López was a teammate of Helton’s and going against Bochy, who was then managing the San Diego Padres. One matchup against his future manager came on the final day of the 2003 season, which López recalled with precise detail.
“Last game at Qualcomm, 2003, they intentionally walked Todd Helton, and he was .00-whatever to pass, I think it was Pujols at the time, for the batting title,” López recalled. “Boch came over and apologized. He had gotten run out of the game, Boch did. He got tossed earlier in that game. And he came back and he apologized to Todd for not at least having a chance to get the hit.”
“Is that true?” asked Dave Flemming.
“Yeah,” López confirmed. “I remember that clear as day.”
“So Boch was not in the game and whoever was the acting manager is the guy who ordered the intentional walk?” Flemming clarified.
“Yeah,” López said. “I’m trying to remember who that was. And he needed a hit. Who knows if he would have got it?”
“So Pujols won the batting title?” Flemming asked.
“I think it was Pujols,” López said. “That’s a long time ago, I can’t remember now — 2003 is a long time ago. But I do remember Bochy coming over in the tunnel, last game of the year, and apologizing to Todd.”
Javier López shares an interesting story about Bruce Bochy apologizing to new Hall of Famer Todd Helton for the Padres intentionally walking him on the last day of the 2003 season. pic.twitter.com/8mZnJyWZ8F
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 21, 2024
There’s a lot to that story. So, we hope López doesn’t mind if we do a little fact-checking.
For starters, the Padres did indeed host the Rockies for the final MLB game played at what was then known as Qualcomm Stadium. Bochy was also not around to see the end of it.
Helton was intentionally walked in the top of the eighth inning in what would be his final plate appearance of the game and season. But could he have won the batting title?
Officially, Albert Pujols hit .359 in 2003, a full point better than Helton’s .358.
And…
López (who was the winning pitcher of the game in question) is spot on.
– It was the last game of the 2003 season and the last game at Qualcomm.
– Helton was intentionally walked in his last at-bat.
– Albert Pujols narrowly edged Helton for the batting title. pic.twitter.com/6qtM8uOksP— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 21, 2024
But breaking it down further, it’s closer. Pujols finished the season 212-for-591, which works out to .35871. Helton, on the other hand, was 209-for-583, or .35849. If the Padres pitched to Helton in that final at-bat and he got a hit, he would have finished the season 210-for-583 for a batting average of .35959.
So, every memory López randomly pulled from a completely meaningless final game of the season between two losing teams was on the money.
[Baseball Reference, 2003 season, CBS8 San Diego/YouTube Photo Credit: NBC Sports California]
