Nomar Garciaparra

Anthony Nomar Garciaparra, born July 23, 1973, in Whittier, California, is a former Major League Baseball infielder and current analyst for SportsNet LA. Over 14 seasons, he primarily played shortstop for the Boston Red Sox before shifting to third and first base with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Oakland Athletics. He is one of only 13 players to hit two grand slams in a single game, and the only one to do so at his home ballpark.

Garciaparra was a six-time All-Star (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006) and won the American League Rookie of the Year and Silver Slugger Award in 1997. A career .313 hitter, he posted the highest single-season batting average by a right-handed batter in the post-war era (.372 in 2000) and won consecutive AL batting titles in 1999 and 2000, the first right-handed hitter to do so since Joe DiMaggio. His career was hampered by injuries, beginning with a wrist problem in 2001. He was also known for his long, quirky batting stance, which he said helped him focus.

Of Mexican-American descent, Garciaparra attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California. His first name, Nomar, is “Ramon” spelled backward, after his father. As a child, his father paid him 25 cents for each hit in tee ball and fined him 50 cents for each strikeout. At age 13, his father put him in a batting cage against a college pitcher throwing 90 mph; after missing the first pitch, he hit solid line drives on the next two. He was nicknamed “No Nonsense Nomar” for his meticulous preparation.

Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the fifth round in 1991, Garciaparra did not sign, instead attending Georgia Tech. He helped the Yellow Jackets reach the 1994 College World Series title game, which they lost to Oklahoma. He was an ACC All-Star and two-time first-team All-American (1993–94), batting .427 in his final season. In 1992, he played for the U.S. Olympic baseball team in Barcelona. In 1993, he played summer ball for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, batting .321 and leading the team to a championship; he was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2002.

The Red Sox selected Garciaparra in the first round of the 1994 draft. He began his pro career with Class A Advanced Sarasota, appearing in 28 games and batting .295 with his first professional home run. In 1995, with Double-A Trenton, he hit .267 with eight homers, walked more than he struck out, and stole 35 bases. After the season, he added 15 pounds of muscle through an ambitious off-season regimen. In 1996, at Triple-A Pawtucket, he batted .343 with 16 homers and 46 RBI in 43 games, earning a late-season call-up.

He debuted on August 31, 1996, as a defensive replacement against Oakland, going 0-for-1. His first hit was a home run off John Wasdin on September 1, a game in which he had three hits. He finished 1996 batting .241 with four homers, 16 RBI, and five steals. On September 18, he stole his first base the same night Roger Clemens tied his own record with 20 strikeouts.

In 1997, Garciaparra exploded as a rookie: 30 homers, 209 hits (a Red Sox rookie record), 98 RBI (an MLB record for a leadoff hitter), a .306 average, a 30-game hitting streak (an AL rookie record), 22 steals, and a league-leading 11 triples. He was unanimous Rookie of the Year, played in the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, finished eighth in MVP voting, and won the Silver Slugger. Red Sox fans cheered him as “NO-mah!”

In spring 1998, he signed a five-year, $23.25 million contract with two team options that could bring the total to $44.25 million—unprecedented for a player with just one season. That year, batting third or cleanup, he hit 35 homers and drove in 122 runs, finishing runner-up for AL MVP.