So Long Nomah - Misfit's Blog

Misfit's Blog

So Long Nomah

Posted on March 11, 2010 at 10:21 PM.

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By now you've heard, Nomar Garciaparra has decided to hang-up the spikes. A player who at one point looked like a shoe-in for Cooperstown is done at age 36. He'll likely get a few votes five years from now when he becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame and will likely fare just as well as another big market star who faded too soon (Mattingly) and hang around for a few years but ultimately fall well short of enshrinement.

As a result, its easy to forget just how good Nomar was when he came up in 1996. He dazzled in the field with his range and his arm. His ability to cover so much ground and fire off quick, strong throws did lead to quite a few errors, but few would call him a liability. We're not talking about Omar Vizquel here though, so let's be honest, Nomar was known primarily for his bat. Few right-handed hitters to ever play the game demonstrated the same amount of bat control Garciaparra did. Red Sox commentator Jerry Remy would often gush about how everytime he examined one of Nomar's bats the barrel would be peppered with ball marks while the handle and end would be spotless.

Nomar was first and foremost a gap-to-gap hitter, a doubles machine who could carry a high average. He had a couple big homerun seasons where he hit over 30, but typically settled for 20-something homers and forty doubles. He garnered the reputation of being a Fenway hitter, but that wasn't the case. Fenway gives and it takes away, for a line drive hitter like Nomar that often resulted in more doubles at home, but fewer homeruns. Nomar's home and road OPS from '97 through 2003:

Home Away
.819 .936
.976 .920
1.061 .973
.884 .876
1.050 .687

I didn't include Nomar's injury shortened 2001, but as you can see he was mostly even at home and on the road save for 2003, when he was dreadful away from Fenway. His batting average splits are remarkably similar as well, my favorite being in 2000 when he hit .375 at home and .370 on the road. For lack of a better description, he was simply a hitting machine. Even after falling off a cliff during the 2003 season and never regaining his old stroke, he finishes his career with an OPS of .882, which is better than a certain New York shortstop.

I was teenager during Nomar's prime and prone to arguing with Yankees fans at school. In those days, Nomar and Pedro were the only things Red Sox fans had to gloat about. The Yankees were winning championships and the transplanted fans liked to remind everyone who wasn't of like mind. The only rebuttal that seemed to get under their skin was the old "Nomah's bettah," because quite frankly, it was true. Jeter's a great player and has the rings to back it up, but in head to head comparisons he was always coming up short (no pun intended) when matched up with the Boston shortstop. Nomar basically single-handedly kept Jeter from winning a batting title, though I'm sure he doesn't mind too much. It was fun to talk about the AL shortstops in that era though. Vizquel would get mention for his glove-work and throwback style. Tejada came along and showed all of the tools that excite fans and front offices execs alike. Jeter was (and is) of course, Jeter. Which just leaves Nomar and ARod. ARod would eventually get the title of best in baseball, but Nomar was right there. Because of his market and demeanor, Nomar was seen as the likable one. His batting stance was likely the most imitated and he was portrayed as a free-swinging line drive machine who just loved baseball. Over the years we would find out he wasn't so sunny behind the scenes, but it hardly mattered at the time. Nomar owned Boston.

Even with his injury-riddled final years his rate stats hold up with the best of them. He retired with a slash line of .313/.361/.521 and a wOBA of .376. For a shortstop, there's little comparison but unfortunately that's where Nomar's credentials end. His "counting" stats just won't hold up, especially considering he played in an offensive era. He didn't score 1000 runs, or drive in 100. He failed even to reach 2000 hits and finished his career with 229 homeruns. He'll forever be linked with Derek Jeter who won't match Nomar's OPS, but is sure to pass him in homeruns (he sits just five behind) and already has over 2700 hits, 1500 runs, and 800 RBI. If Nomar had played a major role on multiple championship calibre Red Sox teams he may have been able to build enough support to make the Hall. Even if he had just been able to squeeze out a few more seasons of average play relative to his career he probably would have a much stronger case. Instead he'll have to settle for an eventual induction into the Red Sox Hall of Fame and know that for a good six year period he captivated a region and provided countless memories.