Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Boston Herald: Nomar a Happy Camper in 1st Spring with Cubs

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Recreation & Sports » Baseball Group Donate to DU
 
CubsFan1982 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-13-05 02:59 PM
Original message
Boston Herald: Nomar a Happy Camper in 1st Spring with Cubs
A separate peace: Nomar a happy camper in first spring with Cubs
By Howard Bryant
Sunday, March 13, 2005

MESA, Ariz. - Outside Hohokam Park, the Chicago Cubs ' expansive spring training stadium, a man leans against a wrought-iron gate, peering down an empty concourse at the cold metal door of the Cubs clubhouse. He is wearing a blue T-shirt with a No. 5 on the back. It is 7:22 a.m.
Inside, there is Nomar Garciaparra, the object of affection for a new group of fans. The number is the same, but the colors are different. So is the state. For the first time in his career, spring training brings Garciaparra to Arizona, not Florida. The former Red Sox star begins his first full season as a member of the Cubs with a full sense of the past and with a future that holds the kind of promise and change that can energize a motivated athlete like Garciaparra. He is distant from Boston in miles and mentality -- for he is all about the business of helping Chicago do what the Red Sox did last year -- but the emotions of Boston still stir, close to the surface, both easily aroused and inflamed.
``When you spend so much of your life in one place, it matters. As far as that city goes, those fans, they always embraced me,'' Garciaparra said before last week's exhibition against Texas. ``I tried to do everything I could. I will always appreciate them.
``After everything that happened, I realized I have a big heart. There will always be a place for them there. Just because I'm not there doesn't mean I'll forget them. They were out there on my birthday, singing `Happy Birthday.' Not just once, but every year. It was incredible. How many other players does that happen to?''
With Garciaparra, there is life outside the Hub. He looks great. He still walks fast, as if to avoid being noticed, still moves in his fastidious way, and is still wary of the spotlight, but the cloud is gone. That thousand-watt smile now is running at full power.
``This guy is the ultimate,'' said Ken Macha, the Oakland A's manager who skippered Garciaparra in the Red Sox minor league system. ``He can play on any team of mine, any day of the week, any time of the year. He only cares about one thing: winning ball games. That's it. Winning. How can you not like a guy like that?''
Out of the fish bowl
During his years in Boston, there were moments when Garciaparra's misery was palpable. It resulted in cold war with the press and the front office. Garciaparra was not comfortable then with the added responsibilities of being a public face, of being a megastar. Garciaparra wanted the impossible. He wanted to simply fit in and stay to himself, but when you're Nomar Garciaparra, that kind of detachment is not possible. Garciaparra's talent in this baseball world means he'll never be just one of the guys. Yet he now seems more at ease, as if in Chicago, because he is no longer the icon of a six-state region but just a member of a team of very good players, he can be himself.
``The one thing about Boston is that I can look in the mirror,'' he said. ``Was I perfect? No. There were a lot of things that I could have done differently, a lot of things that I would do differently. But I know that I gave them everything that I have, everything that I possibly could.''
The only certified future Hall of Famer in the Cubs clubhouse is Greg Maddux. Sammy Sosa is gone, and the tension that once existed within the inner sanctum is now gone. The Cubs are now understated, as quiet as Todd Walker, the former Sox second baseman whose locker resides next to Garciaparra's.
``We've got a great bunch of guys here. Everybody has a job to do, and I have one, too,'' said Garciaparra. ``I have to prepare every day to do this. There's not a single day or a single opponent where you can say, `Oh, this one will be easy.' Everyone is asking me if I'm now the face of the team. The face of the Cubs is that cute little bear.''
Still connected, driven
Although he is no longer a fixture in New England, Garciaparra maintained his offseason youth clinic at Stonehill College in North Easton. It is a special project for him, and has no plans of shutting it down now that he's in Chicago.
The way his Boston career ended remains in mind, the lingering Achilles injury a reminder. He said he still isn't fully recovered, yet is encouraged by how good he feels now. He is a creature of habit, and certainly could have tested free agent market where shortstop money flowed like water (from David Eckstein's three-year $10 million deal with St. Louis to Edgar Renteria's four-year, $40 million pact with the Red Sox. But Garciaparra has something to prove. He signed a one-year, $8 million deal to remain with the Cubs.
``I don't think we saw the real Nomar last year,'' Cubs GM Jim Hendry said of the 43 games Garciaparra played with the Cubs after his trade. ``He's a real quality guy. He made it clear he wanted to stay here and we wanted to keep him. He understands that we were limited in terms of length because of the injury, but also that if he comes back healthy we're more than interested in continuing the relationship.''
Every time Hendry hopped on a Web site or read the newspapers or talked to people inside the game about Garciaparra, it always came with some form of qualification.
``I had to walk up to him one day and ask, `What's all this they're saying about you?''' Hendry recalled. ``And he's been great. He's a professional.''
To understand Nomar Garciaparra is to accept that there is the game and there is the business. The game of baseball is still unspoiled. It is what he knows. He's comfortable and being hurt tore at him.
``To not be able to do the things you're so used to doing is hard,'' said Garciaparra, who played in just 38 of a possible 103 games for the Sox prior toi his trade last season. ``It's different in this sport. People say you'll be out for a week. Well, that's still seven games. In other sports, it might be one game or two or three.
``People ask me if I'm 100 percent. Most players haven't been 100 percent since they were 5 years old. There are aches and pains. The ones harder to deal with are the one where you just don't know what it is.''
Three-ring circus
The business is another story. Garciaparra is stinging now because of an odd controversy that occurred last week when a Web site owned by the Boston Globe irresponsibly ran a story that said Garciaparra didn't want his championship ring for the Red Sox. It turned out the story was a hoax. But on a recent ESPN broadcast, commentators Rick Sutcliffe and Gary Thorne cited the report of Garciaparra not wanting his ring, which prompted the shortstop to call the booth and clarify that it was a hoax.
``I was saying, `Wait a minute. Time out.' Are you kidding me?'' he said of the Red Sox ring flap. ``I was so happy for those guys. And I couldn't tell you how I felt when the guy calls me and asked me for my ring size. My ring size? I mean, that was awesome. I got all excited, because I didn't even know my ring size. When they called me and told me they were giving me a share? I mean, come on. That whole thing, when you think about it, makes you say, `Well, if this happened, how many other times were stories written or things said that weren't true?' All these stories about me taking a day off or not wanting to play or faking injury. Things were written about things I did or didn't do when I wasn't even physically there, things that couldn't have happened because they were impossible.
``I never watch the World Series. There are only two times I've watched the World Series. The last one (before 2004) was in 2000, because Jay Payton was my roommate in college, and he was my boy,'' Garciaparra said. ``You have to watch your boys when they're in the World Series. I'm watching the Red Sox, and these guys are my boys, too. Pedro (Martinez) and D-Lowe (Derek Lowe ).
``When they were down, 3-0, to the Yankees, I told my friends that if the Yankees didn't sweep, the Sox were going to win it. They said, `How can you predict that?' and I said, `Because I know my boys.'''
The business is another matter. When Nomar Garciaparra thinks of Boston thse days, he does not think of the front office, Theo Epstein, Larry Lucchino or John Henry. Not a great poker player, the mention of the Sox front office produced a grimace from Garciaparra that suggested he didn't want his day or his memories ruined. For him, Boston is about the teammates, the winning and the fans.
``I love them all regardless,'' he said. ``Pedro, D-Lowe, we felt like kings out there. What won that World Series was that there were guys out there who are now part of a tradition of guys who came before. I didn't just learn to be a professional. It came from Mo (Vaughn), from Val (John Valentin) and from Roger (Clemens). It came from Tim Naehring, and (Jim) Rice and Yaz (Carl Yastrzemski).
``Now these guys have it. They've got something to hand down now.''
Refresh | 0 Recommendations Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
KitchenWitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-13-05 11:42 PM
Response to Original message
1. Glad to hear Nomar is happy!
Nomar seemed like he was a fan favorite while at Boston, and management so botched the trade for A-Rod, I think that contributed to Garciaparra being unhappy in Boston.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sun Dec 22nd 2024, 10:19 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Recreation & Sports » Baseball Group Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC