Nomar Returns
He’s bounced around so much since 2004 that I just sort of assumed that this had already happened, but apparently tonight is Nomar Garciaparra’s first trip back to Fenway since the 2004 trade.
One of the commenters to that story reminds us that Nomar turned down a four-year, $60 million contract that spring. I only vaguely remember that, but if that’s even close to being accurate, talk about a dodged bullet for the Sox.
FWIW, that is very close to accurate…as in, that was the exact offah Nomah turned down. Course, that contract was offahed just aftah Jeter and ARod got their ginormous contracts, making Nomah’s quite pale in comparison. Any idea how much money Nomar cost himself by not accepting that offer?
Either way, I expect a nice standing ovation for Nomar when he’s introduced at Fenway.
I’m betting Nomar gets one of the biggest Fenway ovations in memory. He deserves it, too, despite the sourness of his departure. He was the face of the team for almost a decade, and he was Teddy Ballgame’s favorite.
“Any idea how much money Nomar cost himself by not accepting that offer?”
About half of it. He was paid a little over thirty million by the Cubs and Dodgers (mostly the Dodgers) from ‘05-‘08.
Thirty million dollars is a lot of money… but on the other hand, thirty million dollars is a lot of money.