The Nomar Retirement: Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Yesterday, Nomar Garciaparra shocked the Nation by retiring from baseball as a Red Sox. By all appearances, it was a great day for Nomar and the Red Sox. He will now join other Sox greats like Yaz, Rice and Williams and forever live in Red Sox lore. A proud moment for Nomar and his family and a moment that will be cherished by all the fans. Wait a second, this is the same Nomar Garciaparra that hasn’t been on the Red Sox for six years!

I bet Nomar never thought he would have to sign a one day minor league contract to retire as a Red Sox. Instead of a run of the mill press conference, it seemed more like a publicity stunt that would have made the Balloon Boy’s dad proud. It was ironic to see Nomar sitting next to Larry Lucchino and Theo Epstein, the same people who traded him in 2004 and same people he had to call to ask if he could retire as a Red Sox. Nomar was once the proud face of the franchise; he was consistently mentioned in the same sentence as Derek Jeter and A-Fraud in the late 90s. Now he retires with his dignity barely intact.

It’s a shame Nomar retired not at the top of his game, but at the very bottom. He played sparingly in Oakland last year, a franchise that barely draws more fans than an Arena League Football game. His body, which some believe was enhanced by steroids, betrayed him yet again with injuries. When he became a free agent this year, teams didn’t notice the former Rookie of the Year and Triple Crown threat. The only thing they saw was a broken down, shell of a player with his best days light years behind him. In an attempt to help resuscitate his pride, Nomar decided to go back to the team that tried to replace him with A-Fraud. It was a sad attempt at pomp and circumstance, for there wasn’t a Nomar Garciaparra Day at Fenway Park or a video retrospective of his career highlights. It was just Nomar in front of a Funai TV advertisement in the city of Palms Park, Florida, with a couple of reporters and cameramen.

One thing you can say about Nomar’s legacy is that it’s debatable. Some fans love the guy, others think he’s scum. I liked Nomar because the Red Sox finally had a real superstar that I could root for. Nomar was my Carl Yastrzemski, and to see his fall from grace was disheartening. Nomar wasn’t even around to help the Red Sox win the World Series, which he will always be reminded of whenever he looks at the World Series ring the team gave him as a consolation prize.

Nomar claimed that by retiring as a Red Sox, he was “coming home.” I never thought that his coming home would be so awkward.

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