Nomar Garciaparra

Full Name: Anthony Nomar Garciaparra	Primary Position: SS
Height/Weight: 6'0"/190	First Game: August 31, 1996
Birthdate: July 23, 1973	MLB Experience: 12 years
Birthplace: Whittier, California
Bat/Throw: Right/Right

Biography[]

Anthony Nomar Garciaparra (born July 23, 1973, in Whittier, California) is a baseball player. On December 18th, 2005, he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a reported one-year contract with a base salary of $6 million, which could earn him up to $8 million in incentives, to play first base. Before signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Nomar most recently played shortstop for the Chicago Cubs, after being traded from the Boston Red Sox at the 2004 trading deadline.

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), Miguel Tejada and Derek Jeter, who were considered the best shortstops in baseball.

Through the 2005 season, in 1071 games he has hit (.320/.367/.544/.911) (BA/OBP/SLG/OPS), with 191 HRs and 740 RBI.

Red Sox years[]

Garciaparra, whose middle name is the reverse of his father's name "Ramon", was a first round pick of the Red Sox in 1994 following a successful career at Georgia Tech. At the time, Boston's starting shortstop was John Valentin, who finished ninth in MVP voting in 1995. 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 first time up with the club, near the end of 1996. It was a tune up for his official rookie year in 1997, in which he hit 30 home runs, batted in 98 runs, led the league in hits, and was second in extra-base hits. He was named Rookie of the Year in a unanimous vote, and finished eighth in MVP voting. He also won the nearly-immediate admiration of Red Sox fans, who referred to him in Boston accents as "Nomahh". With his hard work and attitude, his popularity easily stretched well beyond Red Sox Nation.

Garciaparra improved on his rookie year in his following three seasons, furthering his status as a fan favorite. He finished with 35 home runs and 122 RBI in 1998, good enough for second in MVP voting. Garciaparra led the American League in batting average for the next two years, batting .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.

In 2001, Garciaparra suffered a serious wrist injury, which essentially aborted his season. He recovered well enough in 2002 and batted in 120 runs while hitting a league-leading 56 doubles. However, the toll of injuries left him unable to perform at the high level of years past.

With the Chicago Cubs[]

On July 31, 2004, at the MLB trading deadline, he was traded from the Red Sox to the Chicago Cubs in a four way 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.

In 2005, he received a World Series ring from the Boston Red Sox, even though he was playing for the Cubs. The Red Sox felt that any player who played at least one game in the 2004 season deserved a ring.

2005 Season[]

In the 2005 season, a torn left groin forced him onto the disabled list for more than three months. Garciaparra resumed play on August 5, 2005. Because Cubs regular third baseman Aramis Ramirez 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. There has been some speculation on him moving to the outfield for the 2006 season; he has said he intends to do whatever he can to help his team.

File:Nomar.bmp

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. Nomar Garciaparra quickly jumped into the harbor and saved both women, who were later taken to the hospital. (Sources: [1][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—which includes an elaborate routine of glove adjustments and alternating toe taps prior to an ensuing pitch.

Scouting Report[]

Statistics[]

Batting Stats[]

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	IBB	GDP
1996	BOS	A	24	87	11	21	4	16	.241	.272	.471	2	3	4	14	0	1	5	0	0
1997	BOS	A	153	684	122	209	30	98	.306	.342	.534	44	11	35	92	6	2	22	2	9
1998	BOS	A	143	604	111	195	35	122	.323	.362	.584	37	8	33	62	8	0	12	1	20
1999	BOS	A	135	532	103	190	27	104	.357	.418	.603	42	4	51	39	8	0	14	7	11
2000	BOS	A	140	529	104	197	21	96	.372	.434	.599	51	3	61	50	2	0	5	20	8
2001	BOS	A	21	83	13	24	4	8	.289	.352	.470	3	0	7	9	1	0	0	0	1
2002	BOS	A	156	635	101	197	24	120	.310	.352	.528	56	5	41	63	6	0	5	4	17
2003	BOS	A	156	658	120	198	28	105	.301	.345	.524	37	13	39	61	11	1	19	1	10
2004	BOS	A	38	156	24	50	5	21	.321	.367	.500	7	3	8	16	4	0	2	2	4
2004	CHC	N	43	165	28	49	4	20	.297	.364	.455	14	0	16	14	2	1	2	0	6
2004	Total		81	321	52	99	9	41	.308	.365	.477	21	3	24	30	6	1	4	2	10
2005	CHC	N	62	230	28	65	9	30	.283	.320	.452	12	0	12	24	2	0	0	0	6
2006	LAD	N	122	469	82	142	20	93	.303	.367	.505	31	2	42	30	8	0	3	9	15
2007	LAD	N	121	431	39	122	7	59	.283	.328	.371	17	0	31	41	0	0	3	5	6
Total	NL		348	1295	177	378	40	202	.292	?	?	74	2	101	109	12	1	8	14	33
Total	AL		966	3968	709	1281	178	690	.323	.370	.553	279	50	279	406	46	4	84	37	80
Total			1314	5263	886	1659	218	892	.315	.364	.526	353	52	380	515	58	5	92	51	113

Fielding Stats[]

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	AVG
1996	BOS	A	SS	22	21	190.2	35	50	1	11	.988
1996	BOS	A	DH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1996	BOS	A	2B	1	0	2	2	1	0	0	1.000
1997	BOS	A	SS	153	152	1344.1	249	450	21	113	.971
1998	BOS	A	SS	143	143	1255.1	228	402	25	68	.962
1999	BOS	A	SS	134	133	1171.2	232	357	17	72	.972
2000	BOS	A	SS	136	135	1185	201	402	18	65	.971
2000	BOS	A	DH	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
2001	BOS	A	SS	21	21	184	34	56	3	13	.968
2002	BOS	A	SS	154	153	1341	218	467	25	92	.965
2003	BOS	A	SS	156	155	1364.2	216	456	20	83	.971
2004	CHI	N	SS	42	41	364.2	69	94	3	17	.982
2004	BOS	A	SS	37	37	311.1	52	81	6	17	.957
2004	BOS	A	DH	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
2004	Total		SS	79	78	676	121	175	9	34	.970
2005	CHI	N	3B	34	34	295.2	20	65	6	1	.934
2005	CHI	N	SS	26	25	206	41	51	6	16	.939
2006	LA	N	1B	118	117	1017	1059	61	4	113	.996
2007	LA	N	1B	68	66	571	556	27	4	52	.993
2007	LA	N	3B	43	41	354.2	32	64	6	3	.941
Total			1B	186	183	1588	1615	88	8	165	.995
Total			DH	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Total			2B	1	0	2	2	1	0	0	1.000
Total			SS	1024	1016	8918.2	1575	2866	145	567	.968
Total			3B	77	75	650.1	52	129	12	4	.938

Transactions[]

Selected by Milwaukee Brewers in the 5th round of the free-agent draft - did not sign (June 3, 1991).
Selected by Boston Red Sox in the 1st round (12th pick overall) of the free-agent draft (June 2, 1994 - signed July 20, 1994).
Traded by Boston Red Sox with Matt Murton to Chicago Cubs as part of 4-team trade in which Chicago Cubs sent Brendan Harris, Alex Gonzalez and Francis Beltran to Montreal Expos; Montreal Expos sent Orlando Cabrera to Boston Red Sox; Minnesota Twins sent Doug Mientkiewicz to Boston Red Sox; and Chicago Cubs sent Justin Jones to Minnesota Twins (July 31, 2004).
Granted free agency (October 29, 2004).
Signed by Chicago Cubs (December 7, 2004).
Granted free agency (October 28, 2005).
Signed by Los Angeles Dodgers (December 19, 2005).
Granted free agency (October 30, 2006).
Signed by Los Angeles Dodgers (November 20, 2006).

Trivia[]

Garciaparra 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.
He is a five-time All-Star (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003).
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.
On November 22, 2003, he married soccer legend Mia Hamm.
- The couple have twin girls, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline, who were born on March 28, 2007 in Los Angeles.
He graduated from St. John Bosco High School]] in Bellflower, California in 1991.
Garciaparra is the cousin of Arturo Javier Ledesma, a Mexican soccer player who currently plays for Club Deportivo Guadalajara. His uncle is legendary Mexican soccer goalkeeper, Javier "Zully" Ledesma. His brother, Michael Garciaparra, is a baseball player, playing second base for the Double-A Reading Phillies.
Garciaparra uses the song "Low Rider" by War as his entrance music when he comes up to bat.

Garciaparra is 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.

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. Several callers and hosts on WEEI affectionately referred to him as "Nomie" when talking about him on the air.
On the Kate Hudson/Radiohead episode on season 26 of Saturday Night Live, 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.