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 How high can Nomar go? Boston's All-Star shortstop just keeps getting better
Posted: Tuesday July 13, 1999 12:25 PM
By John Donovan, CNN/SI ATLANTA -- The best shortstop in the American League -- well, maybe if you don't count that guy in New York -- is a kid, really, a 25-year-old slugger who hasn't yet played three full seasons worth of games and already is a baseball idol in Boston. Nomar Garciaparra can hit, he can hit for power, he can field a little and he can run (though he's gimpy at the moment). Garciaparra does everything, and he's done it so well so far that already baseball fans are wondering what he can do to top the standards he's set for himself. More home runs? More RBIs? A higher batting average? A World Series title for the historically hapless Red Sox? Just 390 games into a career with a Hall of Fame beginning, there's no telling how far Garciaparra can go. Certainly, Jimy Williams, the Red Sox manager and full-time Garciaparra booster, isn't telling. And just try to root a little prognostication from Garciaparra himself. This is a guy who was nicknamed No Nonsense Nomar -- when he was 6 years old. "I don't see anything as standards," he says. "I just go out there and play." There is one caveat when you're talking what Garciaparra is and what he can be. As good as his numbers are, to some people Garciaparra may not even be the best shortstop in the American League. Derek Jeter, another do-it-all shortstop, is putting up some stunning numbers for the New York Yankees this season (.371, 14 home runs, 60 RBIs). But Garciaparra edged him out in a late spurt of fan voting to get the All-Star start. And, really, it'd be difficult to argue too much with Garciaparra's credentials. Though he's missed his last nine games with a strained groin -- he still probably will play in Tuesday night's game at Fenway Park -- Garciaparra is hitting .366 with 14 home runs and 57 RBIs. He's already had a 24-game hitting streak this year and he's sitting on a 17-gamer once he returns. And this is far from extraordinary in Garciaparra's case. He hit .306 with 30 homers and 98 RBIs when he was named Rookie of the Year in 1997, then upped that to .322, 35 and 122 last year. He's only the fifth player in history to have 30 or more home runs in his first two seasons. "All he tries to do is help this team win games. Period," says Williams. "He's not into his own personal gratification -- advertising, exposure. He's just in there trying to be a baseball player." The question -- even if no one in a Boston uniform wants to answer it -- is whether Garciaparra can keep this early career tear into his 30s. How good can this kid get? Danny Hall coached Garciaparra in his final year at Georgia Tech, and was an assistant coach at Michigan when Cincinnati's Barry Larkin, now in his 14th year in the majors, played there. Larkin, a career .301 hitter who is hitting .312 with nine homers and 52 RBIs this season, will start Tuesday for the National League in his 10th All-Star Game. "I always said I'd never have another shortstop, or another player, like Larkin," Hall says. "But then I came to Tech and, really, after three or four practices [with Garciaparra] you could see, just watching him ... "They have a lot of the same attitudes. Both are very team oriented. They're both very quick. Nomar, I think, has more power," Hall said. "But I think he'll be an All-Star for a lot of years -- a consistent player for a lot of years." Despite the sudden impact Garciaparra has had in the league, it hasn't been all easy. He's been hurt, including ankle and knee injuries in 1996, a shoulder injury, hamstring problems earlier this season and now his sore groin. He's also starting to experience the pinch of fame in Boston, a city that takes its baseball very seriously. Before a recent game in Atlanta, Garciaparra talked about maniacal fans who try to follow him home and who often rush him for autographs. Garciaparra has managed to separate the fanatics from the regular folk, and he's been able to maintain his no-nonsense approach to the game. "I go out there and try to win. And that's it. Whatever happens, happens. I'm not even focused on any of that I have to do this or that," Garciaparra said. "At the end of the season I look back and say 'Did we win?' "If we have a World Series ring -- great year. If we don't, then I don't like it, and we'll get them next year."
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