Turn on NESN right now and you’ll see the press conference announcing the Red Sox signing Nomar Garciaparra to a one-day deal. He’ll immediately announce his retirement from baseball.
This is a bittersweet moment for me. I fucking loved Nomar. Like straight up idol worship. I did his toe-tap, batting glove thing when I was at the plate in baseball. I picked number five for all my numbers in any sport. My first aol screen name was rdsxltng5–for my initials, Nomar’s initials, and Red Sox. In 2000 probably, during the Ted Williams Museum Inauguration dinner, I ate dinner at the same table as Nomar. He saw I wasn’t eating my salad, and asked he he could eat it. Who was I to say no? To this day, I rank that as one of the top five moments in my young life.
Anyway, I was devastated when in 2004 he was traded. Like I was in shock. Grief, denial, the whole nine yards. Like I tried to rationalize it: “he’ll be back next year, this is just temporary.” I absolutely couldn’t believe it. When the realization that he wasn’t coming back finally set in, a little bit of my childhood died. Not even kidding. There’s something to be said about idolizing someone like that. Do kids get that with players these days? With the way players are traded now, so quickly, I don’t know. It’s a special feeling, Lloyd.
I think it’s fantastic that Nomar can retire in a Red Sox uniform. It doesn’t matter he will never play another game with the Sox, it’s the principle of it. Great move Theo. And thank you Nomar, looking forward to seeing you on ESPN.
Related posts:
- Nomar to retire? I put up more weight than Dustin Pedroia? “Nomar Garciaparra is the other remaining free agent; it’s widely...
- Jump into the weekend with these links These British guys jumped over a 100-foot pier… on a...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
