Just how good was Nomar Garciaparra?

[bob burda]

Schwarber feels pretty close to a modern day Kingman.

Except Schwarber will take a walk. He‘s a 3 true outcomes guy, while Kingman was only a 2 outof 3 true outcomes guy.

Schwarber is also not a clubhouse cancer, supports other teammates, doesn’t harass female reporters for being female, doesn’t assault reporters by dumping a bucket of ice water on their head, and has a history of being a key contributor on contending teams. Neither one could or can field a lick, I’ll give you that.

 

[jmcc5400]

Floyd's Red Sox stop was fascinating. .935 OPS with 7 HRs and 21 doubles in in 190 plate appearances, yet had only 18 RBIs in that time because no one and I mean no one was on base in front of him. One of the oddest batting lines I can remember.

There was a big divide on SoSH at the time - a ton of grumbling that he wasn’t driving runs in. I think it was more than pre-SABR focus on RBI. There was parsing of his stats with runners on if I remember right.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

There was a big divide on SoSH at the time - a ton of grumbling that he wasn’t driving runs in. I think it was more than pre-SABR focus on RBI. There was parsing of his stats with runners on if I remember right.

Yes, I think that's right. I'm no RBI fan but the anomaly with the offensive figures he was putting up with power and the shockingly low RBI total made for interesting discussion.

 

[moondog80]

Another odd thing about Floyd is that he was traded from the Marlins to the Expos on July 11 and then from the Expos to the Red Sox on July 30. This was when there were rumors of the Expos being contracted, even though they had a halfway decent team led by Vlad Guerrero. They were 46-42 when they traded for Floyd but had slumped to 53-53 when they moved him to Boston, so I guess they decided to take a crack at it while there was a chance and then reassessed their odds at the deadline? They ended up with 83 wins and would on to play two more years in Montreal before moving to Washington for the 2005 season.

 

[brandonchristensen]

I remember exactly where I was when I learned about the trade and I was super excited.

Funny enough I have the same memory.

 

[Van Everyman]

Schwarber is also not a clubhouse cancer, supports other teammates, doesn’t harass female reporters for being female, doesn’t assault reporters by dumping a bucket of ice water on their head, and has a history of being a key contributor on contending teams. Neither one could or can field a lick, I’ll give you that.

Kingman didn’t merely harass female reporters, he sent one a live rat. I guess he also lived with his mother until he was middle aged and often refused to travel with his teammates and was with her instead.

Kingman was a weird dude. Certainly with women.

 

[Pilgrim]

I mean, we all saw the SI cover. And the time period...I don’t care one way or the other. Barry Bonds is far an away my favorite player of all-time. He has seemed to escape heat during that era

Sorry to dredge this up from pages ago but this has bothered me for 20 years.

WHY did people make a big deal about that SI cover. What were we expecting an elite shortstop to look like with his shirt off? Michael Cera?

I googled it to see if I misremembered- yep, pretty standard ripped guy. They could have done that picture with any top tier athlete- cornerback, swimmer, WR, soccer player, whatever. It would have looked pretty similar. He could have been on steroids, but what the hell was the big deal about that picture.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Sorry to dredge this up from pages ago but this has bothered me for 20 years.

WHY did people make a big deal about that SI cover. What were we expecting an elite shortstop to look like with his shirt off? Michael Cera?

I googled it to see if I misremembered- yep, pretty standard ripped guy. They could have done that picture with any top tier athlete- cornerback, swimmer, WR, soccer player, whatever. It would have looked pretty similar. He could have been on steroids, but what the hell was the big deal about that picture.

I think it was two fold:

1. Nomar seemed like a real lean and wiry guy when he came up. Like it appeared that he weighed 150 pounds. To see him jacked up was startling.

2. Boston still has an unconscious puritan streak running through it, especially 20 years ago. Nomar looking like a beef cake pinup rubbed a lot of people the wrong way (“Ted Williams never took a picture like that …”) and I think that some people (mostly newspaper and radio guys) were “concerned” that Nomar was getting too big for his britches. Or that this was a “Hollywood” move and not a Boston one.

It was dumb. Sportswriters write about the dumbest shit sometimes.

 

[GrandSlamPozo]

The first time I saw Nomar play was when he was at AA Trenton. I remember everyone around me at the park hyping up Nomar and Ryan McGuire.

Lots of familiar names on this roster. (I didn't realize Greg Blosser stuck around MiLB until 2008)

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=f31f1d34

Pork Chop Pough! Now THERE'S an ancient unlocked memory.

 

[Whoop-La White]

Floyd's Red Sox stop was fascinating. .935 OPS with 7 HRs and 21 doubles in in 190 plate appearances, yet had only 18 RBIs in that time because no one and I mean no one was on base in front of him. One of the oddest batting lines I can remember.

I remember that about 3+ weeks into his Red Sox tenure he had 4 home runs...and 4 RBI. Checking his game logs, his first RBI that didn't come on a HR didn't occur until August 30.

 

[tims4wins]

I remember that about 3+ weeks into his Red Sox tenure he had 4 home runs...and 4 RBI. Checking his game logs, his first RBI that didn't come on a HR didn't occur until August 30.

Two more interesting Floyd facts:
1) I had forgotten that he was traded from Florida to Montreal at the ASB... then traded again to the Sox a few weeks later
2) During the stretch you mentioned, from Aug 1 through Aug 26 (he missed a couple games between the 27th and 29th), he hit .307 with a .374 OBP and a .600 SLG - including 10 2B. It's basically unfathomable to have 10 2B and not drive in a single run.

 

[catomatic]

Chiming in with a non-sequitur noticed by the 10 year-old me that still lives in my middle-aged self: is Roman Anthony a cubically transformed, quasi-palindromic Anthony Nomar Garciaparra?

 

[Rovin Romine]

Chiming in with a non-sequitur noticed by the 10 year-old me that still lives in my middle-aged self: is Roman Anthony a cubically transformed, quasi-palindromic Anthony Nomar Garciaparra?

 

[catomatic]

Looks like a skilled apologist for the ambitious.

His hair marks him as more of a Bolognese, though, than a Roman.