NOMAR GARCIAPARRA

'Anthony Nomar Garciaparra' (born July 23, 1973, in Whittier, California) is a Mexican-American baseball player who currently plays third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He previously played first base for the Dodgers, and shortstop and third base for the Chicago Cubs, after several years as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox.
Garciaparra was part of the so-called "Holy Trinity" of shortstops that debuted in the mid '90s, which also included Alex Rodriguez (now a third baseman) and Derek Jeter, who were considered the best shortstops in baseball. Of the three, only Jeter remains a shortstop.
Garciaparra is a six-time All-Star (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006). In five postseason series he has batted .323 with a slugging percentage of .625. Garciaparra holds the unofficial record for most home runs and highest batting average on a player's birthday. Alex Rodriguez has the second most home runs on his birthday.

Contents

Early years

Major League Baseball career

Boston Red Sox (1994-2004)

The end of Garciaparra in Boston

Chicago Cubs

Los Angeles Dodgers

Style of play

Getting his start

Personal life

See also

References

External links

Early years

Garciaparra attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California and was a letterman in football, soccer, and baseball. His teams won high school league championships in 1990-91 and he won the league MVP honors in 1991, his last year of high school. St. John Bosco High School retired Garciaparra's baseball jersey.^[1] St. John Bosco High School's Activities Office window is home to an area dedicated to Garciaparra's baseball career both at the school and with the Dodgers.
Garciparra attended Georgia Tech, where he helped the Yellow Jackets reach the College World Series national championships in 1994, where they lost to Oklahoma. Former Boston teammate Jason Varitek was also a member of that team. He was an Atlantic Coast Conference All-Star and a first team All-American twice in 1993-94.

Major League Baseball career

Boston Red Sox (1994-2004)

Garciaparra was a first round pick of the Red Sox in 1994 following a successful career at Georgia Tech. He played in the Red Sox minor league system for three years (1994-Sarasota 1995-Trenton, 1996-Pawtucket).
He made his major league debut on August 31 1996 as a defensive replacement against Oakland. His first major league hit was a home run off of Oakland pitcher John Wasdin on September 1.
At the time, Boston's starting shortstop was John Valentin, who finished ninth in MVP voting in 1995. By late 1996, Nomar won the job. Garciaparra's talent was enough to displace Valentin, who was moved to second base (then third base) to make room for young Garciaparra, who batted .241 with 4 home runs, 16 RBI, and 5 stolen bases in his initial stint with the club near the end of 1996. As a rookie in 1997, he hit 30 home runs and drove in 98 runs, setting a new MLB record for RBIs by a leadoff hitter. His 30-game hitting streak set an A.L. rookie record. He was named Rookie of the Year in a unanimous vote, competed in the Home Run Derby, and finished eighth in MVP voting. He also won the immediate admiration of Red Sox fans, who referred to him in Boston accents as "Nomahh". With his hard work and idiosyncratic quirks, his popularity easily stretched well beyond Red Sox Nation.
From 1998-2000, Garciaparra emerged as the one of the better hitters of the Holy Trinity of shortstops, with the highest career OPS of the three by the conclusion of this period. He finished with 35 home runs and 122 RBI in 1998, and placed as the runner-up for AL MVP. Garciaparra then led the American League in batting average for the next two years, hitting .357 in 1999 and .372 in 2000, finishing in the top ten in MVP voting both years. He is one of the few right-handed batters to win consecutive batting titles, and the first since Joe DiMaggio.
In February of 2001, Garciaparra appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, with the headline "A Cut Above... baseball's toughest out". The week after the issue hit newsstands, Garciaparra reported to spring training with a serious wrist injury, which essentially aborted his season. He recovered by the start of the 2002 season and drove in 120 runs while hitting a league-leading 56 doubles. However, he had a difficult time playing as strongly defensively as before, and his batting average dipped substantially.

The end of Garciaparra in Boston

Before the 2002 season, a new ownership group purchased the Red Sox. The baseball operations staff, led by Theo Epstein, stressed on-base percentage on offense and strong defense, the two areas where Garciaparra was about to decline precipitously from his pre-2001 levels. Still, Garciaparra was able to recover from an injury-filled 2001 season and bat .310 with 24 home runs and 120 RBIs in 2002. The star shortstop was up for a contract extension following the 2004 season and hoped for a deal before that deadline. Garciaparra, still considered one of the best shortstops in baseball, hoped to receive salaries in the ballpark of peers Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. A four year deal worth $60 million was agreed to in principle, but fell apart during the 2003 season.
In 2003, Garciaparra ended a solid but unspectacular season with a miserable September, closing with a career-low .301 batting average. He then followed that with a poor post-season, contributing zero home runs, one RBI and ten strikeouts in 12 games vs. the Oakland Athletics and rival Yankees, who eliminated the Red Sox in seven games.
Meanwhile, new stars and cult heroes, led by David Ortiz and Kevin Millar, began to emerge in Red Sox Nation. Millar coined the catch phrase "Cowboy Up" in 2003, and convinced nearly every player on the roster other than Johnny Damon and Garciaparra (whose wedding with Mia Hamm followed the season) to shave his head. For his part, Garciaparra became more reclusive and isolated as his star slowly faded in the new, more team-oriented era of Red Sox baseball. To a similar extent, the demise of Boston's star culture for a populist approach also alienated pitcher Pedro Martínez, another holdover from the late '90s Dan Duquette regime which encouraged a different set of standards for star players, particularly Martinez and Garciaparra.
After the 2003 season, Red Sox management explored trading Manny Ramirez to the Texas Rangers for shortstop Alex Rodriguez. Details of this trade and the subsequent agreement that would send Garciaparra to the Chicago White Sox for Magglio Ordonez quickly became public. The mega-deal fell apart when the MLBPA refused to approve a restructuring of Rodríguez's contract, and Garciaparra returned to Boston as a lame duck for 2004 in the final year of a contract he signed in 1997.
Garciaparra missed three months of the 2004 season with an injured Achilles' tendon when a foul ball hit him in spring training. Many critics felt Garciaparra exaggerated the injury since he was bitter that the Red Sox had tried to trade him and were now offering $12 million per year instead of $15 million per year. This was widely felt to be the final nail in Garciaparra's coffin in Boston. Garciaparra reportedly told a Red Sox trainer that he would have to miss much of August and September, causing Theo Epstein to decide that the struggling team needed a new shortstop. Despite being traded mid-season, Garciaparra received a World Series Championship ring as a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

Chicago Cubs

On July 31, 2004, at the MLB trading deadline, Garciaparra was traded from the Red Sox to the Chicago Cubs in a four-team deal, in which the Red Sox acquired Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. He expressed his appreciation to Red Sox Nation in a speech to media, and left for the Windy City. Despite losing a player with a lifetime average above .320, the controversial trade, along with the acquisition of Dave Roberts from the Dodgers on the same day, is often credited as giving the Red Sox the spark they needed to win the World Series in 2004.
In the 2005 season, a torn left groin forced him onto the disabled list yet again for more than three months. Garciaparra resumed play on August 5, 2005. Because Cubs regular third baseman Aramis Ramírez was on the disabled list for the last few weeks of the 2005 season, he temporarily played third base. Aside from his first game in the majors, in which he played second base, he had played shortstop in all of his other major-league games up to that point in his career.

Los Angeles Dodgers

In 2006, Nomar returned to his home town, signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Also on the team were former Red Sox players Bill Mueller, Derek Lowe, and manager Grady Little; however, early in May, Mueller suffered a serious knee injury that prevented him from playing a majority of the season.
While facing the New York Mets on June 6, 2006, Nomar hit a two-run home run on the first pitch he ever saw against former teammate and fellow Boston icon Pedro Martínez. Coincidentally, Derek Lowe was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers that day.
Though he was able to retain his original jersey number (5), he moved to first base in order to minimize the risk of injury, while the Dodgers signed Rafael Furcal from the Atlanta Braves to step in for the recovering Cesar Izturis at short. Healthy for the first extended period of time since 2003, he regained his offensive stroke, evidenced by a .370 batting average at one point, and by his remaining constantly productive. By the 2006 MLB All-Star Break, Nomar was tied with Pittsburgh's Freddy Sanchez for the lead among all MLB infielders and all NL batters with a .358 batting average, to go along with 11 home runs and 53 RBIs, carrying a 21-game hitting streak into the break.
He adjusted well to playing first base, having committed only 1 error through 588.2 innings played--a .998 fielding percentage. He also was elected to the 2006 NL All-Star Team as the National League All-Star Final Vote winner, receiving around six million votes. It was his sixth trip to the Midsummer Classic, and his first as a first baseman and as a Dodger. Unfortunately, a combination of oblique strains, knee injuries, and simple struggles caused Nomar's play to drop off dramatically in the second half. His .358 batting average steadily declined to just a hair over .300 by the end of the season. Despite Garciaparra's late season slump and injuries, Garciaparra did prevail in the clutch for the Dodgers during their playoff race with two walk off home runs. The first capped off one of the most amazing games of the season on September 18, when the Dodgers hit four consecutive home runs in the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres to tie the game. After the Padres scored a run in the tenth inning, Nomar hit a walk off two-run home run in the bottom of the tenth to win the game 11-10. Six days later on September 24, Garciaparra hit a walk off grand slam against the Arizona Diamondbacks to give the Dodgers a 5-1 victory with one week left in the regular season. Garciaparra's walk off home run against Arizona propelled the Dodgers to win their last seven games of the regular season, helping the Dodgers to make the playoffs.
On October 7, Garciaparra was named the National League's Comeback Player of the Year for 2006. He received 72,054 votes.
On November 20, 2006 the Dodgers resigned Garciaparra to a 2-year contract worth $18.5 million, keeping him with the team through the 2008 season.
On June 25, 2007, it was announced that Garciaparra would move from first to third base in order to make room for prospect James Loney.^[2]

Style of play

When making defensive plays, Garciaparra throws from a sidearm motion. This motion is often coupled with a seemingly off-balance running stride, which looks inefficient and even injury-prone, but which produces a throw with surprising accuracy and high velocity.
Garciaparra is also known for his idiosyncratic tics when batting. This habit includes an elaborate routine of glove adjustments and alternating toe taps on the ground prior to an ensuing pitch.

Getting his start

Garciaparra: "When I was really young, not really. But when I actually got to the big leagues, I was just really grateful that I had guys like Mo Vaughn, John Valentin – these were veteran guys that were on the club that I was playing with. And me being the rookie, being that quiet guy, these guys kinda took me under their wing, showed me the ropes, showed me unbelievable respect and helped me along. And I really, really appreciated that. I always said [to them], "How do I pay you guys back?" And they said, "Remember what we did and just pass that along."^[3]

Personal life

On November 22, 2003 Garciaparra married Olympian and World Cup Champion soccer star Mia Hamm. The couple have twin girls, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline, who were born on March 28, 2007 in Los Angeles.^[4]
Both he and Mia Hamm were on Olympic teams in their respective sports. Garciaparra was on the 1992 Olympic baseball team, and Hamm was on the 1996, 2000, and 2004 women's Olympic soccer teams.
Nomar uses the song "Low Rider" by War as his entrance music when he comes up to bat.^[5]
His unique name comes from his father's name, Ramon, spelled backwards. Derisive names for Garciaparra used by hecklers include "Nosemar," "Mr. Hamm," "Garciapopup," "Garciaerror" and "No Mas", meaning "No More" in Spanish.
Garciaparra is the cousin of Arturo Javier Ledesma, a Mexican soccer player who currently plays for Chivas de Guadalajara
Garciaparra's uncle is the legendary Mexican soccer goalkeeper, Javier "Zully" Ledesma
He wears the number 5, although for his first game as a Cub he wore the number 8 because catcher Michael Barrett already wore the number 5 on his jersey. He and Barrett then swapped numbers.
His brother, Michael Garciaparra, is also a ballplayer. As of the 2007 season, he is a second baseman for the Double-A Reading Phillies.
On the Kate Hudson/Radiohead episode on season 26 of Saturday Night Live, Nomar Garciaparra cameoed in a "Boston Teens" sketch.
On October 8, 2005, Garciaparra and his uncle Victor Garciaparra were alerted to the screams of two women who had fallen into Boston Harbor outside his condominium. One of the women sustained injuries to her head after hitting the pier on her way in. Garciaparra quickly jumped into the harbor and saved both women, who were later taken to the hospital.^[6]
WROR-FM's Tom Doyle spoofed the Lou Bega song "Mambo No. 5" for him, entitled "Nomar's Number Five." It went through several iterations until his departure from the team in 2004, at which point it was entitled "No More Number Five."
Boston ice cream maker JP Licks offered an ice cream called "Cherry Garciaparra", a take-off on Ben & Jerry's "Cherry Garcia" ice cream. When Garciaparra was traded by the Red Sox, JP Licks changed the name of the ice cream to "Cherry Ortiz".

See also

★ Batters with two grand slams in the same baseball game

★ Top 500 home run hitters of all time

★ List of Major League Baseball batting champions

★ Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game

★ Los Angeles Dodgers all-time roster

★ Boston Red Sox all-time roster

★ Chicago Cubs all-time roster

References

1. Nomar makes the rounds on Caravan
2. Notes: Nomar moving to third base - Dodgers make room for rookie Loney at first
3. CM Punk & Nomar Garciaparra: Superstar to Superstar
4. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20011841,00.html
5. The Official Site of The Los Angeles Dodgers: Fan Forum: Player Songs
6. Nomar rescues 2 women in Boston Harbor - Baseball

External links

★

★ Page at Baseball Library

★ NNDB Profile