A few weeks ago, I went to a sports card shop that I hadn’t been to for like 6 months. Thankfully, the owner still remembers me and we did talk a little bit. Well, I didn’t really look for something. I just wanted to go to that shop and have a look. In the end, I grabbed 2 packs of 2022 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary.
After ripping the first pack, I saw an interesting card. It’s a Toile White/Orange refractor card. On the front of the card, we can clearly see the photo of Nomar Garciaparra. And this card is numbered to 25. This card looks pretty cool. While looking at this card, I began to think about Nomar Garciaparra’s career. In particular, I just talked to a friend, who’s a huge fan of Nomar Garciaparra.
Nomar Garciaparra spent 14 seasons in the majors. In his career, he slashed .313/.361/.521 with 229 home runs and 936 RBI over 1434 games. Additionally, he had 95 stolen bases. He won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1997 and was a 6-time All-Star. Moreover, he won the batting title twice. Nomar Garciaparra’s career wasn’t a bad one. However, those numbers aren’t enough to become a Hall of Famer.
Nonetheless, if we take a look at his numbers in some years, there’s something interesting.
Nomar Garciaparra made his MLB debut in 1996, but he only played 24 games in 1996. In 1997, he became the everyday shortstop of the Red Sox. In 1997, he hit .306/.342/.534 with 30 home runs and 98 RBI. From 1997 to 2003, Garciaparra slashed .325/.372/.557 with 169 home runs and 653 RBI. His OPS was over .900 from 1997 to 2003.
At the same time, there were several great shortstops in the MLB. Alex Rodriguez blasted 300+ home runs in those 7 seasons and collected 800+ RBI. Additionally, he had an OPS over .900 as well. Meanwhile, Derek Jeter smashed 100+ home runs and had 500+ RBI in 1040 games from 1997 to 2003. During those 7 seasons, Jeter had a batting average over .300 and an OPS over .800. In the meantime, Miguel Tejada made his MLB debut in 1997. From 1997 to 2003, he crushed 100+ home runs and collected 600+ RBI. Moreover, Hall of Famer Barry Larkin had an OPS over .800 from 1997 to 2003.
Looking at the stats from 1997 to 2003, among the top shortstops, Alex Rodriguez was the only player who blasted more home runs than Garciaparra did. In the meantime, Alex Rodriguez collected more RBI than Garciaparra did. Alex Rodriguez’s numbers were truly unbelievable in those 7 seasons. Nevertheless, we all know what happened later in his career. Furthermore, taking a closer look, Derek Jeter and Barry Larkin each had an OPS over .800 from 1997 to 2003. Those 2 players were later selected to the Hall of Fame. Nonetheless, Nomar Garciaparra had been playing well over those 7 seasons. He blasted 100+ home runs and collected 600+ RBI in those 7 seasons. Without doubt, Nomar Garciaparra’s numbers looked very impressive during those 7 seasons. However, after the 2003 season, Nomar Garciaparra never played at least 150 games in a single season.
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