Nomar Garciaparra wanted to end his career as a player with the Red Sox, but he settled for the next best thing with a ceremonial deal. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The last couple of years, Nomar Garciaparra had put in calls to Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein about whether there was any possibility of returning as a player. Theo did a great job of keeping it under wraps, but this was something that he’s always wanted: to return to the city of Boston and play once again for the Red Sox.

It couldn’t happen the last couple of years, but this was one way for him to do it. Nomar is signing a one-day minor league deal with the Sox and will announce his retirement at a press conference Wednesday morning. He will now begin a new career as a baseball analyst with ESPN.

This offseason, Nomar actually thought he was feeling a lot better. His calf was a lot better, and he was interested in playing opportunities. He worked out with a doctor who thought that he had solved the problem.

Then he woke up one day, re-tweaked the calf, went and saw the doctor and realized at that point that it probably wasn’t getting any better. This was going into his interview about a position with ESPN.

Nomar wanted to keep his options open before ironing something out. He liked working with ESPN. He decided, “My body is kind of failing me at this point. It’s time to move on. I have a great opportunity in the media, and sometimes it’s about timing.”

He just felt like working for ESPN was something he couldn’t pass up. It was at that point that they started talking about how they wanted to go about announcing his retirement. Nomar put a call in to Theo. Theo thought it was a good idea and to see if there was anything he and the Red Sox could do, and they agreed to keep things quiet and between them.

Then ESPN and the Red Sox planned this press conference where they’re going to announce both his retirement as a member of the Red Sox and his next step at ESPN. This has been in the works for a couple of weeks now.

Nomar felt that it was important to him to come full circle and retire as a member of the Red Sox. Theo gave him that opportunity, and I know he’s very thankful to Theo. He always talked about how great it would be one day to possibly finish his career here. Even though it wasn’t on the field, he’s still retiring as a member of the Red Sox.

I think right when he left Boston, there was maybe a bad taste in his mouth with the way everything went down at the end of his Red Sox career. But over the following years, when he never played at Fenway Park, and then when he finally got that opportunity to return to Fenway as a visiting player last year, I think he realized what playing for the Red Sox meant for him. I think he learned a lot, and he’ll even admit that there are some things he could have done differently, especially dealing with the media.

I know a lot of fans have sour grapes with him, but I think if you look back at how you felt about Nomar Garciaparra in 1997, when he came up, and ’98 and ’99, you remember the kind of player this guy was. He hustled and did everything you’d ever want as a player. Some of that went away from fans’ minds toward the end of his career, but I choose to always remember that guy who was one of the most dominant players in the American League, if not baseball.

It was fun to watch. Here was this guy who refused to take pitches, and everybody said he needed to wait for strikes, yet he was still hitting .350 and .370. There were years when even his outs were hard-hit line drives. It was amazing to see the guy go out there and be a two-way player, make highlight plays in the field and also do it with the bat. That four-, five-, six-year stretch with Boston, I’m not sure that anybody who ever put that uniform on had a better start to his career.

I know how much it meant to him the last couple of years to think about the possibility of coming back to Boston. Now, he gets that opportunity to retire as a member of the Red Sox.

12 Comments for “Nomar’s career comes full circle”

1. Lou&NomarSittinginaTree Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 12:18 pm

   LOUIE!

   What are you guys doing tonight to celebrate? I’m betting it’ll resemble the gimp scene from Pulp Fiction but one of you will be dressed as the Ultimate Warrior and Carl Everett will be prominently involved.

   Are you guys planning on dressing like Star Wars characters at your wedding? Nomie is totally the Butch and you are taking it like a champ, champ!

   You should bottle the tears that were shed writing this column and sell them on eBay – it’ll be worth the cash! Just think, you can get another gold chain and maybe some sweet gold #5 rims for your Iroc! YAY!

2. Brian P. Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   Put it this way: He did get a ring with the Red Sox, and did contribute to our 2004 championship. What a way for a guy to go. Very surprised and glad that this happened this way. Great piece, Lou!

3. DJ Kuul A Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 4:37 pm

   The cynics need to remember that if Nomar hadn’t gotten hurt, he would’ve been a lock for the Hall of Fame. He was better than Derek Jeter in pretty much every way until his wrist got smashed.

   Yeah, woulda, coulda, shoulda, but let’s remember the good times instead of dwelling on the bad.

4. DJ Kuul A Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 4:37 pm

   OK, maybe not better than Jeter when it came to dealing with the media. . .

5. eric Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 4:39 pm

   why are we celibrating a has been/ never was that cared more about playing soccor with his manwife than the boston red sox? FUCK NOMAR

6. Johnny Mac Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 6:08 pm

   Eric – two words for you….Spell Check.

   Two more……illiterate prick.

7. Ed Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 8:20 pm

   Nomar quit on his team more than once late in the Red Sox portion of his carrer. He was offered $17 million per and turned it down in one of the great mistakes of that era of baseball. He never appoached that level again and got himself traded away from 2 WS championships. So sad.

8. tannerjack Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 8:40 pm

   Lou, of all people you should know we in the Boston area feel about Nomar because you’re from here. This guy pissed on the backs of every hard-working guy who had to scrape up $200 or more just to see ingrates like Nomar play live. I believe Ed is slightly exaggerating when he says $17 mil/year. I thought it was $60M for 4 years but no – that was not enough for this pig. Good riddance. I just lost what little respect I had for Theo.

9. Norman Gillespie Says:
   March 10th, 2010 at 10:58 pm

   What I’ll remember about Nomar was his hustle and pure enthusiasm for the game. NO ONE played harder than Nomar. And no, he was never the same after the wrist injury. I can still remember cringing when he was hit in the Orioles game. He was the epitome of what you wanted in a franchise player – he just had a tragic fault of not being able to deal with the media. So for all of you condemning him, remember he was a hero for thousands of Bostonians, and everyday when I went out on the field, I emulated Nomar. Sure, Nomar left on a low note. He’s not the only guy in the history to spurn big money and take a chance, and he’s definitely not the first player to have issues with the media. I don’t see hatred towards Williams and Rice, why Nomar? Let the guy retire in honor as one of the greatest Red Sox to ever play.

10. Chae Yi Says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 12:02 pm

    Norman, great response. I’m very happy Nomar retired as a Red Sox.

11. A REAL fan Says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    Nomar had 5-6 of the BEST years as a shortstop in the history of baseball. His postseason numbers are AMAZING. Look them up people. He WAS THE FRANCHISE for years. FOr a while it was just he and Pedro. Not many leave quietly from Boston…it’s a tough town. He never liked being the center of attention and that is heard in a market like this. He loves the fans, he loves Boston. Remember him for what he was…one of the best SS’s to ever suit up. If not for injury, he is a 1st ballot Hall of Famer.

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    August 30th, 2010 at 8:30 pm

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