They’re Not Stopping Short of Saying He’s Best

It has been a homecoming weekend for Nomar Garciaparra at Anaheim Stadium.

More than a hundred or so friends and relatives of the Boston Red Sox shortstop attended each of the first two games of the series with the Angels, many wearing Red Sox T-shirts or uniform facsimiles with “Garciaparra” on the back.

His is a name that also has begun to be seen in the Red Sox and American League record books.

In fact, it’s difficult to believe in August there ever was a question in March as to who would play shortstop for the Red Sox.

No disrespect to John Valentin, a pro who has played second base and third base since losing that controversial shortstop debate in the spring, but Garciaparra put a stranglehold on the position and hasn’t looked back.

The rookie from Whittier who went to Georgia Tech and was Boston’s No. 1 draft choice in 1994, has raised his team and league’s freshman standards for the position, improving and improvising--in many ways--on the first seasons of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

He is a lock for rookie of the year, and a candidate for most valuable player.

Some historical perspective? A call is placed to Johnny Pesky, now 77 but active as a part-time infield instructor with the Red Sox.

“He’s the best shortstop I’ve ever seen and the best we’ve ever had,” Pesky says.

Not bad. Pesky’s frame of shortstop reference with the Red Sox spans Joe Cronin and Vern Stephens and Luis Aparicio and Rico Petrocelli, among others.

Pesky was a standout at the position himself during much of the Ted Williams era.

“I’d have been on the bench if Nomar had been playing when I was,” he said, laughing.

“I remember his first spring with us and I was hitting him some grounders and [Boston Globe reporter] Nick Cafardo said to me, ‘What can you tell the kid, Johnny?’ and I said, ‘Nick, there’s nothing I need to tell him. He knows the position and knows the game.’ ”

The defense is not a surprise. His arm, glove and range were why the Red Sox drafted him and contributed to his starting role with the 1992 Olympic team as a freshman walk-on. AL scouts have a catalog of their favorite Garciaparra plays. Teammate Mo Vaughn calls him Spider-man, a reference to his defensive tentacles.

It’s his hitting, however, that has surprised people--particularly pitchers--and helped earn him an All-Star selection.

The Boston leadoff batter is hitting .313 with 33 doubles, 10 triples, 24 home runs, 79 runs batted in and 18 stolen bases.

He leads the American League in hits, multihit games, runs and triples. He is third in extra-base hits.

With a 25-game hitting streak, he holds the Boston rookie record and is one shy of the AL rookie record.

His home run total, including three in the first two games of the current series, is a major league rookie record for shortstops, and he is the first Boston player since Jackie Jensen in 1956 to reach double figures in doubles, triples, homers and stolen bases.

At 6 feet and 180 pounds, Garciaparra doesn’t appear to be a typical power hitter but says, “when you hit line drives, some of them go out.”

Perhaps it’s the carne asada that Ramon and Sylvia Garciaparra make sure their son gets, his grandmother recently delivering some to Boston. Maybe it’s the 15 pounds he added to a stick frame at a Florida baseball academy after the 1995 season.

Whatever, Ted Williams is among those who have been most impressed. Williams arranged to speak with Garciaparra by phone recently, discussing hitting and agreeing with Pesky that the 24-year-old rookie may be Boston’s best-ever shortstop.

Garciaparra won’t allow his head to be turned.

He was nicknamed No-Nonsense Nomar as a youngster in the Whittier park leagues, and he begins all interviews by saying he won’t discuss statistics or the possibility of awards, insisting he doesn’t watch TV, read papers or set goals.

Could he have anticipated this kind of offensive explosion?

“It’s weird,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect. My attitude was, I can only do what I can do, and I think that’s helped. I’ve tried to take something out of every game, and the thing I’m proudest of is that I’ve been able to adjust. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but most often it has, and I’m happy about that.”

Garciaparra also has a familiar shoulder to lean on. Ramon (that’s Nomar backward) Garciaparra coached his oldest son in baseball and soccer throughout his younger years. In fact, when the senior Garciaparra isn’t at the Whittier-area print shop he operates with his wife, he is the varsity pitching coach and junior varsity soccer coach at Rosemead’s Don Bosco Tech, and there’s that business about father knowing best.

“It’s a matter of getting back to basics,” the Boston shortstop said of his occasional calls home for advice. “Who knows me better?”

As a senior at Bellflower’s St. John Bosco High, Garciaparra was drafted in the fifth round by the Milwaukee Brewers. He weighed that and a football (as a kicker)/baseball offer from UCLA before opting for Georgia Tech as his parents reached for an atlas.

“I just had a gut feeling it was the right choice,” he said.

Boston Manager Jimy Williams had more than a gut feeling when he tabbed Garciaparra as his shortstop in the spring.

“He couldn’t have been more consistent,” Williams said of his rookie’s summer. “He’s been fun to watch. I mean, he looks like a guy playing to reach a higher league.”

In the process: Change the cap that Vaughn insists has five layers of sweat or the underwear that Vaughn says has about two strands left or that ESPN “SportsCenter” favorite in which he adjusts both batting gloves and does that intriguing toe tap before every pitch?

No chance. He may be a rookie, but he knows a good thing when he has it going.