Nomar Garciaparra, arguably the greatest shortstop the Boston Red Sox have ever had, retired yesterday as one at the age of 36 with a one-day contract with Boston. All I could think about when I first heard the news was how bad I felt for him that he never got the World Series title he deserved.
I wasn't living in the United States during the 1990's, when Garciaparra had his golden years with the Sox. However,I learned a couple of things about the game when I started following it in the Summer of 2003. First and foremost, the shortstop is the most important player on the team. Then, out of all the shortstops in the majors, there was a "Holy Trinity" of the very best of them. composed of New York Yankees' shortstop Derek Jeter, the Texas Rangers' Alex Rodriguez, and Garciaparra.
Then I learned about the Red Sox's "Curse of the Bambino" and how they hadn't won a World Series since 1918. I saw Garciaparra's team come apart in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series as they squandered a three-run lead late in the game and Aaron Boone hit that walk-off homer in extra innings to propel the Yankees to the World Series (which they would promptly lose to the Florida Marlins hehe).
Nomar embodied Boston's pain and desperation as that elusive championship kept slipping away. Then, in the Summer of 2004, Nomar's .321 batting average wasn't enough to keep him around as he was traded to the Chicago Cubs to give way to shortstop Orlando Cabrera.
We all know what happened after that...The Red Sox pulled off a miraculous comeback against the Yankees in the ALCS, "Big Papi" and Johnny Damon become heroes, and Boston finally gets the World Series title 86 years in the making. They would wiin yet again in 2007.
Garciaparra may not have gotten to celebrate those two titles, but make no mistake about it, he was as integral to that success as anybody on the field. He was a great shortstop that was never linked to PED's and played the game the right way, and he should have been able to lead a parade through Boston at least once in his career. It's a shame he didn't get to.
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