This is a semi-irrelavent article. If you are from Boston and lived the Nomar era then I'm sure its worth a read.
When he left in 2004, I couldn't help but feel that it was our fault. The fans fault. We wanted SO badly to get A-rod and Maggs, in exchange for Nomar and Manny. So badly. As well we should have, we would have gotten prospects with them. Imagine if those things had happened. Well, they didn't. And Nomar was never the same playing in Boston.
Sure he was injured. Sure he struggled to get back on the field even when he was healthy. But that summer, two things stuck out. One, he would not talk to us. We didn't know anything about his issues and when they would be resolved. Two, he was clearly upset. We hurt him. Boston, the place that he gave himself to for his short but great (so far) career, was ready to flip him away for one of his rivals. (This was bigger than people saw. He was from the west and probably wanted deep down to go out there, until he played for us. Then it all changed, we always sort of expected him to be ours.)
Remember at that time, there was one big question in the AL. Who is the best SS? Jeter was winning rings, A rod was winning MVPs, and Nomar had more character than all of them. That being said, he was OUR guy. He was Nomar! HE loved Boston (not the media, but the fans) and we loves him.
Then a few things happened. He suddenly shut down. When he felt unwanted, he turned unmotivated. Which made everyone in Boston turn on him (an unthinkable situation a year earlier). Pokey was playing alright, so we didn't mind not feeding him the "aww are you ok?" and "your still our guy" crap.
He was sitting in the duggout during big games and big rallies. He wasn't giving us one single tid bit about himself or anything for that matter. He even went as far as to accuse the grounds crew of "messing up the dirt" in front of him so he would make errors and they could justify running his name around the league to trade. (rediculous by the way)
After all that, I want him back. Cabrerea was good for half a year, Rentaria was not, Gonzo got it done, and Lugo looks good so far. I don't care.None of them are as fun to watch as Nomar. None of them have that sense of hero in them like Nomar.
Since they dealt my childhood hero I have tried to avoid this whole situation until this year. I thought I was over it. Then a few things fell into place. I watched an old 2003 game on MLB.TV, I drafted him on my fantasy team, and I was reading "Now I Can Die In Peace" for the 4th time. The stars aligned and I re-examined the whole thing. You know what? I miss him. Boston should miss him. You can point to that trade as the piece that won us the series. And I wouldn't trade that for the world. Look now though, Doug M is on the Yanks, Cabrerea was gone before he settled in, and we have had 4299 short stops in 3 years. In hindsight, yeah, it had to happen to win it all. But anyone is lieing if they tell you they wouldn't want to see Nomar back here at SS.
I miss you buddy, don't rule out a comeback.
When he left in 2004, I couldn't help but feel that it was our fault. The fans fault. We wanted SO badly to get A-rod and Maggs, in exchange for Nomar and Manny. So badly. As well we should have, we would have gotten prospects with them. Imagine if those things had happened. Well, they didn't. And Nomar was never the same playing in Boston.
Sure he was injured. Sure he struggled to get back on the field even when he was healthy. But that summer, two things stuck out. One, he would not talk to us. We didn't know anything about his issues and when they would be resolved. Two, he was clearly upset. We hurt him. Boston, the place that he gave himself to for his short but great (so far) career, was ready to flip him away for one of his rivals. (This was bigger than people saw. He was from the west and probably wanted deep down to go out there, until he played for us. Then it all changed, we always sort of expected him to be ours.)
Remember at that time, there was one big question in the AL. Who is the best SS? Jeter was winning rings, A rod was winning MVPs, and Nomar had more character than all of them. That being said, he was OUR guy. He was Nomar! HE loved Boston (not the media, but the fans) and we loves him.
Then a few things happened. He suddenly shut down. When he felt unwanted, he turned unmotivated. Which made everyone in Boston turn on him (an unthinkable situation a year earlier). Pokey was playing alright, so we didn't mind not feeding him the "aww are you ok?" and "your still our guy" crap.
He was sitting in the duggout during big games and big rallies. He wasn't giving us one single tid bit about himself or anything for that matter. He even went as far as to accuse the grounds crew of "messing up the dirt" in front of him so he would make errors and they could justify running his name around the league to trade. (rediculous by the way)
After all that, I want him back. Cabrerea was good for half a year, Rentaria was not, Gonzo got it done, and Lugo looks good so far. I don't care.None of them are as fun to watch as Nomar. None of them have that sense of hero in them like Nomar.
Since they dealt my childhood hero I have tried to avoid this whole situation until this year. I thought I was over it. Then a few things fell into place. I watched an old 2003 game on MLB.TV, I drafted him on my fantasy team, and I was reading "Now I Can Die In Peace" for the 4th time. The stars aligned and I re-examined the whole thing. You know what? I miss him. Boston should miss him. You can point to that trade as the piece that won us the series. And I wouldn't trade that for the world. Look now though, Doug M is on the Yanks, Cabrerea was gone before he settled in, and we have had 4299 short stops in 3 years. In hindsight, yeah, it had to happen to win it all. But anyone is lieing if they tell you they wouldn't want to see Nomar back here at SS.
I miss you buddy, don't rule out a comeback.
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