Nomar to retire as Red Sox player, join ESPN

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Longtime Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra will announce his retirement from baseball on Wednesday morning, signing a one-day contract with the Red Sox in order to retire as a member of the team.

Upon his retirement, Garciaparra will join ESPN as a baseball analyst. He will be seen primarily on Baseball Tonight but will also serve as an occasional game analyst.

"After years of enjoying the privilege of playing this great game wearing Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, and A's jerseys in front of truly amazing fans, today I've decided to end my playing days," Garciaparra said in an ESPN news release. "I've been blessed to have had a long career as a player and feel fortunate to continue this great journey as a member of the ESPN team."

Garciaparra will make it official at a 10:30 a.m. press conference the Red Sox have called at City of Palms Park.

The 36-year-old Garciaparra spent the first nine seasons of his 14-year career in Boston, where he developed into a fan favorite, a perennial All-Star and the best shortstop in team history. He won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1997 and won batting titles in back-to-back seasons in 1999 and 2000.

His career average with the Red Sox stands at .323, with 178 homers and 690 RBIs.

Garciaparra was famously traded to the Chicago Cubs by general manager Theo Epstein at the trade deadline during the 2004 season, a move that resulted in the addition of Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera, who helped to spark the team to its first World Series title in 86 years.

Garciaparra re-signed with the Cubs in 2005, but injuries limited him to just 62 games that season. He played with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006-2008 and was a part-time player with the Oakland Athletics last season.

He currently resides in Los Angeles with wife Mia Hamm and their twin daughters.

If only steroids were still legal. . .

^lol, exactly what I was thinking. I guess this is Nomar's way of trying to stay relevant since he retired 6 years ago.

JohnnyMac said:

If only steroids were still legal. . .

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no way, not nomar! no red sox ever did PED's, just ask the Mitchell Report :lol:

Nice Career Nomar. Too bad you didn't discover steroids sooner!

http://www.themlbnation.com/2013/09/07/nomar-garciaparra-hall-famer/

[h=1]Is Nomar Garciaparra a Hall of Famer?[/h]September 7, 2013 7:58 AM0 comments
Eligible for the ballot next year, it will be interesting to see how many votes Garciaparra gets. Although many people will say that he didn’t stick around long enough, and that he is linked to the use of PEDs, there should be no arguments that keep Nomar out of the hall of fame.
A career .313 hitter, Garciaparra was as good as any player offensively over the last few decades. In his first full season, Garciaparra had 30 homers, 22 stolen bases, 98 RBI, .306 average, and a league leading 11 triples and 209 hits. His stats in 1997 were good enough to win him American League Rookie of the Year, Silver Slugger, and an All-Star game selection, all before finishing eighth in MVP voting.
He would only improve in years to come. In 1998, he finished second in MVP voting after hitting 35 homers, driving in 122 runs, and hitting .322. Nomar’s averages of .357 and .372 in 1999 and 2000 respectively won him back to back batting titles. Garciaparra also posted an OPS greater than 1.000 in both of those seasons.
After posting league leading numbers for Boston almost every season, Garciaparra was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2004, the year that Boston won the World Series. Upon reaching Chicago, injuries started to pile up and Garciaparra saw his power and speed diminish.
After 2005, Nomar Garciaparra signed with his hometown team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. He seemed to revive his career in 2006 after hitting .303 with 20 home runs and 93 RBI, en route to his last All Star Game selection. After an injury riddled 4 years with the Dodgers, Garciaparra signed a contract with the Oakland Athletics, as it provided him the opportunity to play Designated Hitter. He hit .281 and retired following the season.
Looking back on Garciaparra’s career, his short but sweet resume should give the Hall of Fame voters enough to look at. He was a Rookie of the Year, five time all-star, and two time batting champion. He had a career .313 average, 229 home runs, and 936 RBI. If injuries are ignored and his stats are averaged, he averaged 26 home runs and 106 RBI per 162 games. In each season that he played at least 100 games, he never posted a batting average lower than .283. While he may not be a first ballot hall of famer, Garciaparra’s career resume should be appealing enough to the BBWA and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in Cooperstown one day.

Fuck NO. Part of being a HOFer is staying healthy.

Until Barry Bonds is in the Hall of Fame then it don't really matter about Nomar or anyone else...Why? Bonds was a Hall of Famer before all the steroid stuff and Bonds was a Hall of Famer after all the steroid stuff......What am I saying? Bonds was one of the best when people were supposedly more clean and he was clearly the best when majority of baseball was on it......Therefore, Bonds is clearly a Hall of Famer because no matter what the era (clean and less clean) he still dominated and that is a Hall of Famer.

Well-Seasoned said:

Until Barry Bonds is in the Hall of Fame then it don't really matter about Nomar or anyone else...Why? Bonds was a Hall of Famer before all the steroid stuff and Bonds was a Hall of Famer after all the steroid stuff......What am I saying? Bonds was one of the best when people were supposedly more clean and he was clearly the best when majority of baseball was on it......Therefore, Bonds is clearly a Hall of Famer because no matter what the era (clean and less clean) he still dominated and that is a Hall of Famer.

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I'll even go as far to say that Bonds on steroids is still better than any other baseball player in history on steroids or one in the past that would have taken it if available..

I'll take Bonds on steroids over Babe Ruth on steroids simply cause one is in a lot better shape and I think Ruth would be too lazy to work out like that LOL.

Good guy, good player....not a HOF'r tho.

there's 40-50 guys out there just like Nomar within the same era who'll never get in either. When you think even a guy who put up numbers like Bert Byleven had to wait 18 years to get in..

Agree, his career - on the field - was too short. HOFer's dominate and do it for a long time. Agree w/ Top Shelf, there are several other players w/ similar numbers that won't even get a sniff. But he was a hell of a shortstop.