Garciaparra retires as a Red Sox

[Reno Paul]

Longtime Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra announces retirement - ESPN Boston

Updated: March 10, 2010, 12:29 PM ET
Nomar: A dream to retire with Red Sox





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

“ Everywhere I go I get so many [Red Sox fans] come to me and tell me 'Thank you. We miss you. We still love you.' And it's so genuine and the feeling is mutual. Hopefully from my actions throughout my career in that uniform and hopefully my actions today again tell them what it means to me.
” -- Nomar Garciaparra

"I've always had a recurring dream, to be able to retire in a Red Sox uniform," Garciaparra said at a press conference at City of Palms Park. "Thanks to Mr. [John] Henry, Mr. [Tom] Werner, Mr. [Larry] Lucchino and Theo [Epstein], today I get to fulfill that dream and retire as a Red Sox.
"Earlier today, I did sign a minor league contract to be a part of the organization once again. I was getting choked up then, and I'm getting choked up now. I've got the chills.
"But to be able to have that dream come true, I really just can't put into words because of what this organization has always meant to me, meant to my family, the fans. I always tell people Red Sox Nation is bigger than any nation out there, and to be able to tell people that I came back home to be back to Red Sox Nation is truly a thrill."
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.
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.

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He stressed Wednesday that fan support was one of the biggest reasons why it was so important to him to retire in a Red Sox uniform.
"Everywhere I go I get so many [Red Sox fans] come to me and tell me 'Thank you. We miss you. We still love you,'" Garciaparra said. "And it's so genuine and the feeling is mutual. Hopefully from my actions throughout my career in that uniform and hopefully my actions today again tell them what it means to me."
Lucchino echoed those sentiments from the team's perspective.
"We welcome you home," Lucchino said at the press conference. "It gives us enormous pride to recognize the respect you have to the organization, the connection you feel to the organization, the connection you feel to our fans and Fenway Park, and I'm here to fell you the feelings are mutual. When the history of the Boston Red Sox is written again, there will be a very large and important chapter devoted to Nomar Garciaparra."
Garciaparra said he decided to retire when he realized this offseason that due to a condition that has limited him over the years, he "just couldn't work out the way I like to work out, and that really was my ultimate decision."
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"There was a time this offseason when I was getting ready and I remember coming home and looking at my wife and going 'My tank is empty,'" Garciaparra said. "And that for me was an absolute thrill to be able to say that. I really just gave everything I could to this game."
Garciaparra's wife, former soccer star Mia Hamm, attended the press conference with the couple's twin daughters.
Garciaparra was famously traded to the Chicago Cubs by general manager Theo Epstein at the trade deadline during the 2004 season, a controversial 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.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona's experience with Nomar bookends the beginning and end of Garciaparra's time with the Red Sox. Francona managed Garciaparra in the Arizona Fall League in 1994, after Garciaparra's first season with the Sox organization, and was managing the Sox when Nomar was traded in 2004.
"The time I had him in the Fall League was one of the highlights of my career,'' Francona said Wednesday. "[In 2004,] I think he was kind of Boston'd out. It kind of wore on him for whatever reasons. Sometimes it's just time to move on.''

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The biggest thing that caught Francona's eye in the Fall League? "A 20-year-old kid personally passing out Christmas cards three weeks early. I hadn't even bought my family presents yet.
"He wasn't pulling the ball yet, everything was to right-center, but you could see it coming.''
Francona recalled a meeting he had with Kevin Kennedy, who was managing the Red Sox at the time, and Tim Johnson, one of his coaches, and being asked whether he thought Garciaparra could play second base.
"I said I don't know who you have at short, but whoever it is you might want to move him.''
In 1997, when Garciaparra made it to the big leagues, new manager Jimy Williams did just that, prompting a brief walkout from camp by John Valentin, who reluctantly gave up short and played second and third.
Francona, who was in his first season as manager with the Red Sox, said he didn't fully realize how iconic Garciaparra was in Boston until after the trading-deadline deal that sent Nomar to the Cubs.
"When it was over, I remember laughing with Theo [Epstein], 'I was behind you every step of the way, not in front of you.'''
Gordon Edes covers the Red Sox for ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter.

[Dirty]

Damn shame he was hurt so much... he was a future Hall of Famer and I think he still needs to be considered for what he did as a shortstop

[AK]

Very good baseball player. Cool for him to do a 1 day contract also.

what other job can you do and get paid that kind of money for 2 hours of your time? oh ok, Yes your right dirty could be a Jigalo.

[Dirty]

It takes way more than 2 hours of your times..a game lasts 3+ hours and they don't show up at the park at 6:30 for a 7 pm game... they are there at lunch... lots more goes into it than most even know about

Less then 1% of all players that play baseball make it to the Big Leagues.. Less then 5% of all Minor Leaguers every make it to the Show.....They are the best of the best in their profession and deserve to be paid whatever their bosses will pay them

[66Days]

Yea this was a classy move for both sides. Its kind of sad in a way. At the time when they traded him I think the situation was more of a player who had lost a step but wouldnt face it yet. Obviously it was from injury because he was great before that but I think the psychological side of it had a factor too. Leaving Boston crushed Nomar, I just think at the time he was too proud to admit it. The team was trying to win a world series and I appreciate that, I just always wished Nomar could have stayed and taken a diminished role and pay cut. maybe in a couple years we will see him back as a positions coach or hitting coach who knows. Bitter sweet memorys for the sox though.