- Nomar Garciaparra, 2002 - Dlz28
By signing a one-day minor league contract, Garciaparra was able to finish his 14-year Major League Baseball career where it began. He'll now embark on a career in broadcasting with ESPN.
Red Sox Hero to a Generation
In August 1996 the Red Sox called up Garciaparra, the 22-year-old former Georgia Tech star and '94 first round pick. There was plenty of consternation over putting the youngster at shortstop, as it forced fan favorite John Valentin to third base.
That was quickly forgotten in 1997 when Garciaparra led the American League in hits and triples, made the All-Star team, won Rookie of the Year honors and was eighth in Most Valuable Player balloting.
The club had lost Roger Clemens the winter before, and with Pedro Martinez still a year away, Garciaparra was Boston's new star alongside partner-in-crime Mo Vaughn. A generation of young fans took to Garciaparra in a way the team and city hadn't seen in years.
He completed the troika of incredible young American League shortstops at the time; Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Garciaparra helped grow the game in the wake of the 1994 strike. There was a time when Garciaparra was considered the best of the three shortstops, even by observers outside New England.
In 1998, Garciaparra socked 35 homers, drove in 122 runs, finished 2nd in MVP voting and led the Red Sox to a Wild Card berth. The next year, he won his first batting title by hitting .357. On May 10, he experienced the best game of his career by hitting three homers (two of which were grand slams) and knocking in 10 runs against Seattle at Fenway Park.
Garciaparra's Boston legend reached its zenith in 2000 when he hit .372, winning the batting title with the highest single-season batting average of the decade. A wrist injury forced Garciaparra to miss all but 21 games of the 2001 season, and although he turned in superb campaigns in '02 (24 HR, 120 RBI, 56 2B) and '03 (28 HR, 105 RBI, .301 BA), Garciaparra was never truly the same.
Disagreements over a new contract led to a fallout with Red Sox management, and Garciaparra was famously dealt to the Chicago Cubs at the 2004 trade deadline. In return Boston acquired Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz, two key pieces of the squad that eventually brought the city its first World Series Championship since 1918.
The players of the 2004 title team voted Garciaparra a full playoff share and a ring as a show of gratitude for all his efforts during a stellar career in Boston.
Injuries Abound after '04 Trade
Garciaparra would never play in more than 122 games in any season after the trade from Boston due to dozens of nagging injuries. After a season and a half in Chicago, he returned to his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers, where in '06 he hit 20 homers with 93 RBI.
But he was a shell of his former self, spending more time in trainer's room than on the field. Garciaparra finished out his playing career in '09 with the Oakland Athletics. The proudest moment came on July 6, when Garciaparra was showered with a long ovation upon his first Fenway at-bat in nearly five years.
It would have been hard to imagine 10 years ago that Garciaparra's career would end in a malaise of injuries, with no call from Cooperstown likely to come in five years. But at the very least, he got to say goodbye with the Red Sox, in front of the many fans to whom he'll always represent the beginning of a lifelong love of baseball.
(Source: baseball-reference.com)
Jake O'Donnell - I'm Jake and I'm a writer. I focus my writing mostly on my passions: sports, music and politics, but I'll dabble in other topics like pop ...
