Nomar Garciaparra

Six-time All-Star shortstop and two-time AL batting champion.

Anthony Nomar Garciaparra is an American former professional baseball player who spent most of his 14-season Major League Baseball career as a shortstop for the Boston Red Sox. He is one of 13 players in MLB history to hit two grand slams in a single game, the only one to do so at his home stadium, and won back-to-back American League batting titles in 1999 and 2000.

Quick Facts

Position: Shortstop
Bats: Right
Born: 23 July 1973
Birthplace: Whittier, California, U.S.
Debut league: MLB
Debut date: August 31
Debut year: 1996
Debut team: Boston Red Sox

Facts from the source article.

Early years

Garciaparra, of Mexican-American descent, was born in Whittier, California, and attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower. His middle name, Nomar, is "Ramon" spelled backward, after his father. As a child, his father incentivized him to avoid strikeouts by offering 25 cents per hit in tee ball and fining him 50 cents per strikeout. At age 13, his father placed him in a batting cage against a college pitcher throwing 90 mph; after missing the first pitch, Garciaparra hit solid line drives on the next two.

He was nicknamed "No Nonsense Nomar" for his methodical preparation. Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the fifth round of the 1991 draft, he did not sign and instead attended Georgia Tech, where he played college baseball and helped the Yellow Jackets reach the 1994 College World Series title game, which they lost to Oklahoma. He was an Atlantic Coast Conference All-Star and first-team All-American in 1993 and 1994, batting .427 in his final season.

In 1992 he played for the U.S. Olympic Baseball team in Barcelona, and in 1993 he played summer ball for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, batting .321 and leading Orleans to the league championship. He was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2002.

Professional career

In 1995 he moved to the Double-A Trenton Thunder, batting .267 with eight home runs and 35 stolen bases in 125 games. After the season, he added 15 pounds of muscle through an off-season training regimen. In 1996 he played for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, batting .343 with 16 home runs and 46 RBI in 43 games, earning a late-season call-up. He made his MLB debut on August 31, 1996, as a defensive replacement against Oakland, going 0-for-1.

His first major league hit was a home run off Oakland's John Wasdin on September 1, a game in which he recorded three hits. He batted .241 with four home runs, 16 RBI, and five stolen bases in his initial stint. On September 18, 1996, he stole his first base against the Tigers on the same night Roger Clemens tied his own record by striking out 20 batters. In 1997, his rookie season, Garciaparra hit 30 home runs among 209 base hits (a Red Sox rookie record), drove in 98 runs (setting MLB records for RBIs by a leadoff hitter and most homers by a rookie shortstop), batted .306, had a 30-game hitting streak (an AL rookie record), stole 22 bases, and led the league with 11 triples.

He was unanimously voted Rookie of the Year, competed in the Home Run Derby and his first All-Star Game, finished eighth in MVP voting, and won the Silver Slugger Award for AL shortstop. Red Sox fans referred to him as "NO-mah!".

Retirement

On March 10, 2010, Garciaparra signed a one-day contract with the Red Sox to retire as a member of the team. He then took a position at ESPN, contributing to Baseball Tonight and select Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts, and also served as a lead analyst for ESPN's College World Series coverage. On May 5, 2010, the Red Sox hosted "Nomar Garciaparra Night" before a game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; he was given two official seats from Fenway by Johnny Pesky, one bearing his number 5 and the other Pesky's number 6.

He threw out the first pitch with his signature off-balance sidearm throw to former teammate Jason Varitek. On December 2, 2013, the Dodgers announced Garciaparra would join their broadcast team for the 2014 season, serving as a pre- and post-game analyst on SportsNet LA and teaming with Rick Monday on radio road games. A few months into the season, he was promoted from radio to the television crew, working with Charley Steiner and Orel Hershiser on road games.

On February 5, 2014, he was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame alongside Pedro Martínez, Roger Clemens, and Joe Castiglione. He had a gag cameo as himself on the October 14, 2000 episode of Saturday Night Live, which had previously referenced him in sketches called The Boston Teens. In 2016 he lived in Whittier and did commentary for Dodgers broadcasts; by 2020 he and his family were based in Manhattan Beach, California.

Personal life

Nomar Garciaparra’s younger brother Michael was a first-round pick by the Seattle Mariners in the 2001 MLB draft and spent his pro career in the minors through 2010. Garciaparra married soccer legend Mia Hamm, an Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion, on November 22, 2003. The couple has twin daughters, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline, born March 27, 2007, in Los Angeles, and a son, Garrett Anthony, born in January 2012. They first crossed paths at a 1998 Boston promotional event, where Hamm beat Garciaparra in a soccer shootout; she was married at the time but impressed by his passion for the game, and they stayed friends.

After Hamm’s 2001 divorce, they started dating. On the field, Garciaparra was famous for his meticulous pre-pitch routine, adjusting his batting gloves and tapping his toes alternately. Off the field, on October 7, 2005, he and his uncle Victor heard two women scream after they fell into Boston Harbor. Garciaparra jumped in and rescued both, one of whom had hit her head on the pier.

In November 2014, he became a minority investor in Los Angeles F.C. of Major League Soccer, and when LAFC won the MLS Cup in 2022, he became an MLS champion as part owner.