Welcome back, Nomah

By adamg on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 5:11pm

So, standing O for Garciaparra tonight?

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Sports

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Red Sox

Nomar Garciaparra

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Comments

I hope so

By Ron Newman on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 5:51pm.

It's my impression that Red Sox fans initially cheer for opposing players who were once Red Sox -- unless they are now Yankees. I certainly plan to applaud him at tomorrow night's game.

I think most will do the right thing, but enough will boo for it to seem mixed. Reading through the Boston.com comments reminds me of why I've never felt much appreciation for Red Sox nation since moving to Boston. I'd been swept up by the Celtics and Patriots long before either won a title, but not the Sox. The team has a long history of running people out of town and kicking them on the way out, and its fan base tends to lap it all up. Nomar was just proof that nothing had changed in the era of Theo. I don't buy this notion that the team couldn't have won in 2004 with Nomar.

The revisionist history some people present is outrageous. Everyone whines that Nomar was greedy and quit on his team. NO ONE mentions the context for Nomar feeling alienated. Namely the team making a failed but extremely public attempt to dump Nomar to trade for A-Rod. And did the fans rally around Nomar, still in the prime of his career then? Nope. They rallied around A-Rod. No one wants to remember that.

I remembered that.

By Pete Nice on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 7:04pm.

And A-Rod is still 10X the player Nomar was or ever will be. But this was also before A-Rod became the league a-hole.

I think a lot of people think of Nomar as an idiot that didnt sign a fair contract that the sox offered him. And people have the right to be call someone names over that one. How much did money did Nomar end up losing out after that one?

Nomar won't be booed because there really isn't anything to boo him for. He probably did steroids, and that why his career kind of plummeted (in my opinion). But he wasnt a bad guy (except for the press), I dont think he quit, and he seemed to like to be here.

I say he gets cheered.

I think the standing ovation lasted about 3 minutes

By anon on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 9:14pm.

About three times as long as the hand Junior Griffey, who
never played for the Sox, got here on Saturday. And half
of what Mariano Rivera got on Opening Day in 2005.

Sorry to disappoint you, but Boston is a classy baseball
town.

Hardly Classy

By BStu on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 12:35am.

I'm glad the whiners got shouted down, but don't kid yourself. The petty, revisionist, Nomar-hate is very much renewed in plenty of quarters of Sawks Nation tonight. Even many cheering him are doing so while kicking him by declaring how noble they are for ignoring the way he left, making sure to point out their bitterness over the imagined slights from Nomar while he was being shoved out of Boston.

I think these Nomar-haters

By riggssm on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 8:17am.

I think these Nomar-haters are the same sheep that read and repeat Boston Dirt Dogs and Dan Shaughnessy's columns.

I refuse to read either, but did see the Shank's headline today ("Nomar was heart and soul, and Fenway faithful remember").

Seems to me, both Silva and the CHB tried their hardest to get rid of Garciaparra back in '04. For at least one of them to change tune on the last verse of the hymn is greasy.

I loved Nomar, no matter what his mood. I understood why he had to go that summer, but would welcome him back in a heartbeat. Maybe the Sox ownership will allow him to finish in a Sox uni (the way Glanville did with the Phillies) by buying his contract the day he retires.

BStu can you tell me why I should cheer for him?

By Pete Nice on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 2:03pm.

Just because he played for the redsox? I didn't like his attitude at the end of his career here, and I never liked the smug arrogant look on his face anytime someone in the media asked him a question. And I think a lot of other redsox fans felt the same way. Just because he could hit the ball well doesn't mean he deserves our respect (see manny). He was overated at the time of his contract renewal and did not deserve more than what the sox offered him. And guess what, other teams felt the same way.

Even though it might have been petty for the team to release the truth about Nomar (how he really wasn't liked by his teamates), I think fans deserved the truth. Red sox fans are fans of the red sox first, and players second.

Don't forget how other past players who weren't that good get cheered here (Roberts, Pedro,).

I think he did good things

By mixylplik3 on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 11:02pm.

I think he did good things here and aside from any issues at the end, he deserves an ovation because...well that's what we do for the most recent past players.

2004 changed everything.

Manny did amazing things here. I am so torn with him as he once was my favorite player. I want to boo, but his resume says otherwise. If he ever comes back to Fenway...

At the ballpark tonight

By fenwayguy on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 1:17am.

I heard no booing during the extended ovation. It was just a genuine moment between Nomar and those present -- a recognition of his athleticism and the great entertainment he gave us during his time with the Red Sox.

Why would anyone boo him

By Rob on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 9:30am.

Why would anyone boo him anyway? The time was right to deal him and they won the World Series in large part due to Cabrera and Doug Mientkwhatever. Worked out for all parties involved. I'm glad he got recognized last night for his great years here.

Interestingly, he also said he'd like to come back. He'd be an excellent acquisition to fill in if Lowell is out for an extended period of time. Just sayin...

So why didn't Nomar play tonight?

By Ron Newman on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 11:19pm.

I went to tonight's game and was happy to see the Sox win, but sad that Nomar did not play for Oakland. I had wanted to cheer him.

Handed the loss

By Kaz on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 12:20am.

Beckett is a right-handed pitcher. Normally, a right-handed pitcher has more trouble pitching to a left-handed batter than a right-handed batter (and Beckett is no exception to this rule). Garciaparra is a right-handed DH and Jack Cust, who played DH tonight, is left-handed. So, Oakland started Cust instead of Garciaparra to take advantage of the left-handed chances against Beckett.

Bench guy

By fenwayguy on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 1:07am.

Remember, Nomar's not an everyday player with the A's. That he played last night was presumably Bob Geren's decision, with respect to his history here.