Remember when "Nomaah" was the darling of old Back Bay?
Those were the days, all right, when he was making spectacular plays deep in the shortstop hole, and coming through with big hits.
At the peak of his performance in a Boston Red Sox uniform, Nomar Garciaparra looked like a sure shot for the Hall of Fame. It seemed to be only a matter of letting his career play out.
Somewhere along the way to Cooperstown, though, Garciaparra ran into a roadblock which might be called "The Curse of Leaving Fenway."
Is there such a thing? Of course not, but when you look at what happened to Garciaparra, Mo Vaughn and Pedro Martinez after they left the Red Sox, you might begin to wonder about this recent phenomenon.
Some players seem perfectly suited for the intense pressure that comes with playing in dear old Fenway. Garciaparra and Vaughn reveled in it.
They looked like stars who could be Red Sox players for life, following the tradition of Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Doerr and Jim Rice.
So what went wrong?
Well, start with free agency. It took Vaughn away, even though it was obvious that he loved playing for the Red Sox, and thrived in the electric atmosphere of Fenway Park. He made the mistake of letting megabucks override what was in his heart, and fled Boston for the west coast.
Right from the start, Mo didn't look right in a Los Angeles Angels uniform. He looked even more out of place when he went on to New York to don the blue pinstripes of the Mets. It was almost as bad as it would have been to see him wearing those other pinstripes.
With the Angels, Mo stumbled down the dugout steps trying to catch a foul fly, injured himself and was never the same. The fearsome slugger who hit 230 homers and won an MVP award in seven seasons with the Red Sox lasted only four more, finished at the age of 35.
Martinez stayed with the Red Sox long enough to win a world championship, but his career changed for the worse after he took big bucks from the Mets. Apparently, he's now thinking about signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers at age 37.
As for Garciaparra, Sox general manager Theo Epstein traded him to the Chicago Cubs as part of a deadline blockbuster which helped the 2004 Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918.
Like his pal Mo, Nomar wasn't the same once he wore those other uniforms. He became injury-plagued, leading to so-so performances with the Cubs and later the Los Angeles Dodgers.
You'll now find him with the Oakland Athletics as a utilityman, hoping for playing time at the corner infield spots. Just another overpaid ballplayer trying to stay in the game.
The Curse of Leaving Fenway? Something to think about, eh?
Those were the days, all right, when he was making spectacular plays deep in the shortstop hole, and coming through with big hits.
At the peak of his performance in a Boston Red Sox uniform, Nomar Garciaparra looked like a sure shot for the Hall of Fame. It seemed to be only a matter of letting his career play out.
Somewhere along the way to Cooperstown, though, Garciaparra ran into a roadblock which might be called "The Curse of Leaving Fenway."
Is there such a thing? Of course not, but when you look at what happened to Garciaparra, Mo Vaughn and Pedro Martinez after they left the Red Sox, you might begin to wonder about this recent phenomenon.
Some players seem perfectly suited for the intense pressure that comes with playing in dear old Fenway. Garciaparra and Vaughn reveled in it.
They looked like stars who could be Red Sox players for life, following the tradition of Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Doerr and Jim Rice.
So what went wrong?
Well, start with free agency. It took Vaughn away, even though it was obvious that he loved playing for the Red Sox, and thrived in the electric atmosphere of Fenway Park. He made the mistake of letting megabucks override what was in his heart, and fled Boston for the west coast.
Right from the start, Mo didn't look right in a Los Angeles Angels uniform. He looked even more out of place when he went on to New York to don the blue pinstripes of the Mets. It was almost as bad as it would have been to see him wearing those other pinstripes.
With the Angels, Mo stumbled down the dugout steps trying to catch a foul fly, injured himself and was never the same. The fearsome slugger who hit 230 homers and won an MVP award in seven seasons with the Red Sox lasted only four more, finished at the age of 35.
Martinez stayed with the Red Sox long enough to win a world championship, but his career changed for the worse after he took big bucks from the Mets. Apparently, he's now thinking about signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers at age 37.
As for Garciaparra, Sox general manager Theo Epstein traded him to the Chicago Cubs as part of a deadline blockbuster which helped the 2004 Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918.
Like his pal Mo, Nomar wasn't the same once he wore those other uniforms. He became injury-plagued, leading to so-so performances with the Cubs and later the Los Angeles Dodgers.
You'll now find him with the Oakland Athletics as a utilityman, hoping for playing time at the corner infield spots. Just another overpaid ballplayer trying to stay in the game.
The Curse of Leaving Fenway? Something to think about, eh?
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