Garces still fan favorite as he tries to return to majors

	Rich Garces would love to return to Fenway Park, but for now he'll have to settle for pitching up the road in Nashua, N.H. Damian Strohmeyer/SI

NASHUA, N.H. -- Sweet Caroline is belted in the middle of the eighth inning as New England's favorite rotund reliever warms in the bullpen. Geographically, Rich Garces is only 45 miles away from Fenway Park, but on this night, as he stretches down the right-field foul line of Holman Stadium, it's apparent that he's also five years removed from his unique stardom with the Red Sox.

The adoring crowds at Fenway used to exalt El Guapo, as Garces is affectionately known, with standing ovations any time he entered a game. His gregarious disposition, expansive waist line and quixotic nickname made him a cult hero; his fleeting brilliance as a setup man made him a Boston icon.

Attempting a comeback to professional baseball this spring with the independent league Nashua Pride, Garces is still an attraction, as evidenced by the Hispanic/Latino Night and poster giveaway held in his honor last week and the forthcoming El Guapo Bobble Belly doll promotion scheduled for July 26. He hasn't thrown a big-league pitch since 2002, but Sox fans still instantly recognize him. (It should be noted that no poster was actually given away last week. Garces, a Venezuela native, missed the season opener with visa problems, so fans were given a rain check to redeem their poster later in the summer.)

"There's a lot of people who want me to say hello, talk to me and to take a couple of photos," Garces, 36, says in between swigs of a pregame Red Bull. "It's not because I'm doing something out of what people normally do -- it's just me. It's probably because of my personality.

"I went to the gas station across the street from my house to pump a little gas in my van, and as soon as I know, a little lady was like, 'Are you El Guapo?' Right away, they know."

El Guapo (i.e. "the Handsome One") needed only nine pitches to notch his second save in as many opportunities, striking out Sussex's Jason Alcott on a curve in the dirt and getting a flyout and groundout from the next two hitters.

But the mass hysteria that his very presence in the bullpen used to incite in Fenway's right-field bleachers was replaced by a single acknowledgement from his wife -- La Bonita? -- and their one-year-old daughter, Rachelle, to whom Garces dutifully waved in reply. There were few fans paying attention to the game at this point. After all, WWE wrestler Triple H, a Nashua native, was holding a free autograph session on the concourse, which meant that no more than half the fans were even in their seats. There was an announced paid attendance of 1,531, though the actual crowd was hundreds less.