Athletes - Nomar Garciaparra

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	Athletes - Nomar Garciaparra

Anthony Nomar Garciaparra (born July 23, 1973, in Whittier, California) is an American baseball player. He most recently played shortstop for the Chicago Cubs, after being traded from the Boston Red Sox at the 2004 trading deadline, and, as of December 18th, 2005, signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a reported one-year contract with a base salary of $6 million, which could earn him up to $8 million in incentives, to play first base for the Dodgers.

Nomar was part of the so-called "Holy Trinity" of shortstops that debuted in the mid '90s, which also included Alex Rodriguez (now a third baseman) and Derek Jeter, who were considered the best shortstops in baseball.

Through the 2005 season, in 1071 games he has hit (.320/.367/.544/.911) (BA/OBP/SLG/OPS), with 191 HRs and 740 RBI.

Red Sox years

Garciaparra, whose middle name is the reverse of his father's name "Ramon", was a first round pick of the Red Sox in 1994 following a successful career at Georgia Tech. At the time, Boston's starting shortstop was John Valentin, who finished ninth in MVP voting in 1995. Garciaparra's talent was enough to displace Valentin, who was moved to second base (then third base) to make room for young Garciaparra, who batted .241 with 4 home runs, 16 RBI, and 5 stolen bases in his first tryout with the club, near the end of 1996. It was a tune up for his official rookie year in 1997, in which he hit 30 home runs, batted in 98 runs, led the league in hits, and was second in extra-base hits. He was named Rookie of the Year in a unanimous vote, and finished eighth in MVP voting. He also won the nearly-immediate admiration of Red Sox fans, who referred to him in Boston accents as "Nomahh". With his hard work and attitude, his popularity easily stretched well beyond Red Sox Nation.

Nomar improved on his rookie year in his following three seasons, furthering his status as a fan favorite. He finished with 35 home runs and 122 RBI in 1998, good enough for second in MVP voting. Nomar led the American League in batting average for the next two years, batting .357 in 1999 and .372 in 2000, finishing in the top ten in MVP voting both years. He is one of the few right-handed batters to win consecutive batting titles.

In 2001, Nomar suffered a bad wrist injury, which essentially aborted his season. He recovered well enough in 2002 and batted in 120 runs while hitting a league-leading 56 doubles.

With the Chicago Cubs

On July 31, 2004, at the MLB trading deadline, he was traded from the Red Sox to the Chicago Cubs in a four way deal, in which the Red Sox acquired Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. He expressed his appreciation to Red Sox Nation in a speech to media and left for the Windy City.

In 2005, he received a World Series ring from the Boston Red Sox, even though he was playing for the Cubs. The Red Sox felt that any player who played at least one game in the 2004 season deserved a ring.

2005 Season

In the 2005 season, a torn left groin forced him onto the disabled list for more than three months. Nomar resumed play on August 5, 2005. Because Cubs regular third baseman Aramis Ramírez was on the disabled list for the last few weeks of the 2005 season, he temporarily played third base. Aside from his first game in the majors, in which he played second base, he had played shortstop in all of his other major-league games up to that point in his career. There has been some speculation on him moving to the outfield for the 2006 season; he has said he intends to do whatever he can to help his team.

On October 8, 2005, Nomar and his uncle Victor Garciaparra were alerted to the screams of two women who had fallen into Boston Harbor outside his condominium. One of the women sustained injuries to her head after hitting the pier on her way in. Nomar quickly jumped into the harbor and saved both women, who were later taken to the hospital.

Style of play

When making defensive plays, Garciaparra throws from a sidearm motion. This motion is often coupled with a seemingly off-balance running stride, which looks inefficient and even injury-prone, but which produces a throw with surprising accuracy and high velocity.

Trivia

Nomar wears the number 5, although for his first game as a Cub he wore the number 8 because catcher Michael Barrett
already wore the number 5 on his jersey. He and Barrett then swapped numbers.
He is a five-time All-Star (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003).
In five postseason series he has batted .323 with a slugging percentage of .625.
Nomar holds the unofficial record for most home runs and highest batting average on a player's birthday. Alex Rodriguez
has the second most home runs on his birthday.
On November 22, 2003, he married soccer legend Mia Hamm
.
He graduated from St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California in 1991.

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