Minor leagues Following his career at Georgia Tech, Garciaparra was a
first-round draft pick of the
Red Sox in 1994, and entered the Red Sox farm system. He began his professional career in Class A Advanced, as a member of the
Sarasota Red Sox following his
NCAA season. Since the season was already well underway by the point Garciaparra joined the team, he only appeared in 28 games. However, he batted .295 and hit his first professional home run. In 1995, Garciaparra moved up to join the Double-A
Trenton Thunder. In 125 games, he batted .267 with eight home runs and again walked more than he struck out. He also showcased his speed, stealing 35 bases, and continued gathering experience at shortstop. After the 1995 season, rather than go home, Garciaparra embarked on an ambitious off-season training regimen to add 15 pounds of muscle. When he returned in 1997, Garciaparra set the league on fire in his rookie season. He hit 30 home runs among his 209 base hits (a Red Sox rookie record), and drove in 98 runs, setting a new MLB record for RBIs by a leadoff hitter and most homers by a rookie shortstop. He also batted .306, and his 30-game hitting streak set an A.L. rookie record. Garciaparra also stole 22 bases, and his 11 triples led the league. He was named
Rookie of the Year in a unanimous vote, competed in the
Home Run Derby as well as his first
MLB All-Star Game, finished eighth in MVP voting, and captured the
Silver Slugger Award for AL Shortstop. He also won the immediate admiration of Red Sox fans, who referred to him in Boston accents as "NO-mah!".
1998–2000 In the spring of 1998, Garciaparra and the Red Sox signed a five-year contract worth $23.25 million. The deal also included two team options (for 2003 and 2004) that, if exercised, would boost the deal to $44.25 million. At the time, it was unprecedented for a team to sign a player who had just completed his rookie season to a long-term contract. Once the 1998 season started, Garciaparra moved down in the batting order, typically batting third or cleanup. He finished with 35 home runs and 122 RBI in 1998, and was the runner-up for AL MVP. His batting average of .323 was good for sixth in the AL among qualifiers. Both he and teammate
Pedro Martínez were instrumental in leading the Red Sox to the postseason. Though the team lost to the
Cleveland Indians in the
1998 American League Division Series, Garciaparra had an outstanding postseason debut in the series, batting .333 with 3 homers and 11 RBI in the four-game loss. He hit a memorable three-run home run in the fifth inning of Game 1, the only game in the series the Red Sox won. Garciaparra then continued to come into his own in 1999, winning the batting title by hitting .357 (including .400 against left-handed pitchers). He reached the century mark in RBIs once again, with 27 home runs and 104 batted in over the course of only 135 games. On May 10, he hit three home runs, including two grand slams, and drove in 10 RBI in a game against the
Seattle Mariners. He was named an
MLB All-Star in 1999, earning the right to start at shortstop and bat second for the game which took place in front of his hometown fans at Boston's
Fenway Park. Again, he led the Red Sox to the postseason, where they defeated the Indians in five games in the
1999 American League Division Series, and Nomar was again a key cog, despite battling injury as he hit .417 in the four games he was able to appear in. Garciaparra became the first player in MLB history to hit safely and score a run in the first five games of his post-season career (1998–99), a feat completed in Game 1 of the 1999 ALDS. He is since joined by
Ian Kinsler (2010) as the only other player to start his post-season career in that manner. Against the
New York Yankees in the
1999 American League Championship Series, Garciaparra was again at his finest, hitting .400 with two home runs, but the team lost in five games. After the season, he finished seventh in MVP voting. The year 2000 was a year of transition for the Red Sox, but very little changed for Nomar. By the end of June, his average was sitting at .396, prompting some to speculate he might be the first batter to hit .400 since
Ted Williams. Indeed, Garciaparra did reach the mark, batting .403 as late in the season as July 20. However, as the summer went on, Garciaparra's batting average slipped from those lofty heights. He finished the season with a .372 batting average, which was the highest batting average by a right-handed batter in the post-war era. Garciaparra also easily won the American League batting title, becoming the first right-handed batter to win consecutive titles in the
American League since
Joe DiMaggio. He also homered 21 times and drove in 96 runs. Despite the strong individual play, the Red Sox missed the postseason in 2000.
2001 In February 2001, a shirtless and muscular Garciaparra appeared on the cover of
Sports Illustrated, with the headline "A Cut Above... baseball's toughest out".
Sports Illustrated later described the cover photo as "controversial", adding that it "forever fueled the inevitable speculation of steroid usage". Baseball fans looked forward to see if he might challenge the .400 mark, and Red Sox fans hoped he would lead them back to the postseason with new acquisition
Manny Ramirez. However, the week after the issue hit newsstands, Garciaparra aggravated an old wrist injury and had to start the season on the disabled list. He did not play in his first game during 2001 until July 29, though he hit a memorable home run on his return in that game. However, by the end of August, the wrist acted up yet again, and Garciaparra missed the rest of the season due to the injury. He only saw action in 21 games, batting .289 with 4 homers and 8 RBI during the shortened campaign. Many believe that the wrist injury not only ruined his season, but altered the trajectory of his career. Before the 2001 season,
Scott Boras had run a statistical study of Garciaparra for his own client (
Alex Rodriguez) predicting that by age 40, Nomar would hit 513 home runs, have 3,581 hits, and have .336 career batting average. In 2003, Garciaparra had another productive All-Star
season. On April 20, he hit a
walk-off home run to give the Red Sox a 6–5 win over the
Toronto Blue Jays. He batted .319 over the season's first half, earning yet another
All-Star selection, but a late season slump caused him to finish at .301. His 28 home runs were the most he had hit in a single season since 1998, and he drove in 105 runs. He appeared in 156 games again, tying his career high from the previous year. The Red Sox returned to MLB's postseason for the first time since 1999, largely due to a potent lineup that featured Garciaparra,
Manny Ramirez, and
David Ortiz. Additionally, new stars and cult heroes, led by
Kevin Millar, began to emerge in
Boston. Garciaparra's September slump (he batted .170 during the month) followed him into the postseason. While he hit .300 in the
2003 American League Division Series against the
Oakland Athletics, he did not drive in a run. The Red Sox won the series in five games to face the rival
Yankees in the
ALCS, where Garciaparra fared even worse. In the tense seven-game series, Garciaparra batted only .241 with just one RBI and an uncharacteristic eight strikeouts. However, he did record a memorable hit in Game 6, tripling and scoring on an error in the top of the seventh inning. At the time, Boston was down 6–4 and facing elimination, but the hit started a rally that saw the Red Sox come back and win 9–6 to force a Game 7. However, the Red Sox lost that game and the series on
Aaron Boone's infamous extra-inning walk-off home run. With Garciaparra's contract situation still not settled, Red Sox management explored trading
Manny Ramírez to the
Texas Rangers for shortstop
Alex Rodriguez after the 2003 season. Simultaneously, the team had exploratory talks with the
Chicago White Sox about trading Garciaparra for
Magglio Ordóñez if the Alex Rodriguez trade was finalized. The Nomar talks had been intended to be covert but quickly leaked out, angering Garciaparra and his agent. In the end, the
MLB Players Association objected to Rodriguez' willingness to sacrifice a huge amount of his $250 million contract to facilitate a deal to Boston, so both deals were shut down. After Aaron Boone injured his knee playing off-season basketball, it was the rival Yankees who instead acquired Rodriguez. Garciaparra thus returned to Boston for the start of the 2004 season in the final year of the old contract from March 1998, without an extension, and it quickly became clear that he was displeased with the team's handling of the situation. It was believed by Red Sox brass that Nomar would not return to Boston when his contract expired after the 2004 season.
2004 The 2004 season began with Garciaparra's future in Boston unresolved. Complicating matters was an Achilles' injury that kept him out until June. When he returned, Garciaparra continued to hit well, batting .321 with five home runs and 21 RBI in 38 games. On July 10, 2004, in a 14–6 win over the
Rangers, Garciaparra went 4-for-5 with three runs batted in and fell a triple shy of the cycle. However, his defense saw a significant decline, primarily in his fielding range, which was believed to be due to the effects of his injury. General Manager
Theo Epstein believed defense was the team's weak point, and felt he needed to improve it for Boston to have any shot at winning a
World Series. Additionally, the nature of Garciaparra's injury required him to get frequent days off, which meant his bat was not even guaranteed to be in the lineup every day (and thus the weaker bats of the backup players would be during a pennant race). Finally, at the July 31, 2004, trading deadline, Boston decided to trade away Garciaparra. Garciaparra finished his Red Sox career with a .323 average, 178 home runs, and 690 RBI over parts of nine seasons. Boston would go on to win the 2004 World Series.
Chicago Cubs (2004–05) 2004–05 On July 31, 2004 (the MLB trading deadline), Garciaparra was the key player involved in a four-team deal that sent him and
Matt Murton to the wild-card-leading
Chicago Cubs. The Red Sox received shortstop
Orlando Cabrera from the
Montreal Expos and first baseman
Doug Mientkiewicz from the
Minnesota Twins. Nomar expressed his appreciation to Red Sox fans in a speech to the media and left for
Chicago. At first, Garciaparra was assigned jersey number 8, because Cub catcher
Michael Barrett wore number 5, but a few days later, they switched numbers. Garciaparra drove in three runs in his first three games as a Cub. However, he continued to battle his Achilles' injury down the stretch, and in 43 games after the trade, he hit .297 with 4 home runs and 20 RBI in Chicago. Combined, his 2004 totals were a .308 average, nine home runs, and 41 RBI. The
Cubs led the wild card until mid-September, but finished the 2004 season with 89 wins and out of the playoffs. Meanwhile, the
Red Sox finally overcame the
Yankees en route to a
World Series sweep of the
St. Louis Cardinals, after which Garciaparra's former teammates voted to give him a
World Series ring and three-fourths of a
playoff share ($167,715).
Curt Schilling noted that if not for Garciaparra, the Red Sox might not have been in a position to win at all, clearly referencing the role Garciaparra's ascension as a player had in drawing talent like
Pedro Martínez,
Manny Ramirez, and even himself to Boston. After the season, Garciaparra was unable to get the long-term contract he had hoped for. His injury was the most significant reason why, as it was apparent he could still hit when healthy. So in the offseason, Garciaparra signed a 1-year deal worth $8.25 million to remain with the Cubs. Garciaparra "flatly denied" having used steroids and called the speculation "ridiculous". Garciaparra resumed play on August 5, 2005, and almost immediately began raising his batting average. In late August, when Cubs regular third baseman
Aramis Ramírez went on the disabled list for the remainder of the
2005 season, Garciaparra volunteered to play third base, and Cubs manager
Dusty Baker agreed. Aside from his first game in the Majors, where he played second base, Nomar had played shortstop in all of his other Major League games up to that point in his career. Garciaparra finished 2005 with a .283 average, nine homers, and 30 RBI, and again became a free agent.
Los Angeles Dodgers (2006–08) 2006 In 2006, Garciaparra returned to his hometown, signing with the
Los Angeles Dodgers, near Garciaparra's childhood home in
Whittier. The contract was again a one-year deal that Garciaparra hoped would lead to a multi-year offer following a strong season. The contract was worth $6 million, with another $2.5 million in performance bonuses. Also part of the lure of the Dodgers was that former
Red Sox players
Bill Mueller and
Derek Lowe, and former manager
Grady Little, were already with the team. Though he was able to retain his original jersey number (5), he moved to first base, as the Dodgers had also signed
Rafael Furcal from the
Atlanta Braves to step in for the recovering
César Izturis at shortstop. Healthy for the first extended period of time since 2003, Garciaparra regained his offensive stroke. On June 6, while facing the
New York Mets 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. Just days later, on June 9, Garciaparra's batting average stood at .370. On June 25, he hit his 200th career home run against the
Pittsburgh Pirates. By the
MLB All-Star Break, Nomar was tied with Pittsburgh's
Freddy Sanchez for the lead in batting average among all MLB infielders and all
NL batters with a .358 batting average, to go along with 11 home runs and 53 RBIs, and carrying a 21-game hitting streak into the break. It was the second highest batting average entering the All-Star Break by a Dodger since they moved into
Dodger Stadium in 1962, with the only higher mark being held by
Mike Piazza (.363 in 1996). Garciaparra was rewarded for his strong first half with his sixth
All-Star selection. The selection came as the National League
All-Star Final Vote winner, as he received about six million fan votes to earn the honor. It was his first All-Star appearance since 2003, and his first selection at any position other than shortstop. Nomar adjusted well to playing first base, only committing one error through his first 588.2 innings played, and finishing with four for the entire season. However, his lofty batting average steadily declined to .303 by the end of the season as nagging injuries returned. Despite this, he prevailed in the clutch for the Dodgers during their playoff race with two game-winning home runs. The first capped off one of the most remarkable games of the season on September 18, as 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, Garciaparra hit a game-winning, two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to win the game 11–10. Six days later on September 24, Garciaparra hit a game-winning grand slam against the
Arizona Diamondbacks to give the Dodgers a 5–1 victory with one week left in the regular season. The Dodgers went on to win their last seven games of the regular season, qualifying for the postseason. For the season, Garciaparra batted .303 with 20 home runs and 93 RBI, and struck out only 30 times, in 122 games. On October 7, Garciaparra was named the
National League's Comeback Player of the Year for 2006. He received 72,054 votes. Ultimately, the Dodgers were swept by the
New York Mets in the
2006 NLDS. Garciaparra batted only .222 in the series, but did drive in 2 runs. On November 20, 2006, the Dodgers re-signed Garciaparra to a two-year contract worth $18.5 million, keeping him with the team through the 2008 season.
2007–08 Garciaparra got off to a strong start in 2007, batting .307 in April, but did not hit for power as he usually did, with only 1 home run during the first two and a half months of the season. On June 25, 2007, Garciaparra volunteered to move from
first to
third base in order to make room for rookie
James Loney. He missed time in August and September due to injury, but still appeared in 121 games. His numbers were down, however, as he batted .283 with just 7 home runs and 59 RBI. During 2008
spring training Garciaparra suffered a microfracture to his hand after a hit-by-pitch. That forced him to start the
2008 MLB season on the Disabled List. Rookie
Blake DeWitt played third base in the meantime. On April 16, he started his first game against the
Pittsburgh Pirates, only to suffer a strained left calf muscle nine days later, resulting in another trip to the DL. He returned July 4, playing at shortstop for the first time since 2005 due to an injury to
Rafael Furcal. On August 1, Garciaparra was placed on the DL to make room for
Manny Ramirez, who had been acquired in a trade. Garciaparra had sprained his knee in a July 27 contest against the
Washington Nationals after being slid into spikes-first at third base as Garciaparra had attempted to field a throw and tag the runner,
Lastings Milledge. He returned on August 12, and continued seeing time at shortstop through the end of the month. On August 13, he hit a walk-off home run against the
Philadelphia Phillies, giving the Dodgers a 7–6 win. Garciaparra actually saw more time at shortstop during 2008 than any other position to accommodate other players on the Dodgers. But by September, he was back to seeing time at first base and third base, and being used as a pinch hitter. Despite the return to the position he enjoyed the most success in his career, it was a difficult season for Nomar. He hit .264 for the year, with 8 home runs and 28 RBI, as he appeared in only 55 games. The Dodgers met the Phillies in the
2008 NLCS once the postseason started, and Garciaparra hit well, going 3-for-7 (.429) with 1 RBI in the series. However, he did not appear in Game 1, and subsequently did not play the entirety of any game in the series, as he was either used as a substitute, or was replaced as the game went on in Games 2–5. The Dodgers were defeated in the fifth game by the Phillies, who eventually moved on to win the
2008 World Series.
Oakland Athletics 2009 On March 6, 2009, Garciaparra signed a one-year deal with the
Oakland Athletics. With the acquisition of
Matt Holliday from the
Colorado Rockies in the off-season, Garciaparra was not granted his accustomed number 5, instead wearing number 1. Immediately after Holliday's trade to the
St. Louis Cardinals,
Eric Patterson was called up and given number 5. Garciaparra and Patterson subsequently switched numbers. In his final season, Garciaparra batted .281 with three home runs and 16 RBI in 65 games with Oakland.
Career statistics In 1,434 games over 14 seasons, Garciaparra posted a .313
batting average (1,747-for-5,586) with 927
runs, 370
doubles, 52
triples, 229
home runs, 936
RBI, 95
stolen bases, 403
bases on balls, .361
on-base percentage, and .521
slugging percentage. He finished his career with an overall .975
fielding percentage. In 32 postseason games, he was productive, batting .321 (36-for-112) with seven home runs and 24 RBI. ==Retirement==