Nomar And The Holy Trinity of Personalities

Last week I was reading The Wall Street Journal's very interesting full-page article titled "Whatever Happened to Nomar?"

A decade ago, the talk was all about the "Holy Trinity of Shortstops": Nomar Garciappara, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Miguel Tejada would soon join that group, but the talk was all about those top three. Who would you want to have on your team? Derek Jeter, the leader of the Yankees who was cool in the clutch and would have 4 World Series rings in his first 5 seasons? Alex Rodriguez, who looked like he was well on his way to being one of the all-time greats as well as challening for the home run crown? Or Nomar Garciappara, "the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year, a six-time All-Star once considered the best right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio".

Well in 2001, A-Rod signed a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers and Derek Jeter signed a10-year, $189 million contract with the New York Yankees. In 2003, the Red Sox offered Garciappara a four-year, $60 million extension. He turned it down seeing the money that his fellow peers had received and confident he could make more on the open market. He got injured in 2004, was traded away, the Red Sox got his championship, and Nomar never got the contract he was looking for. He played one more year for the Cubs, then three with the Dodgers and is now a spare part for the Athletics who may or may not be on the move today (maybe to the Phillies?)

But one thing that struck me about this article was describing Garciappara's personality as an introvert:

Ex-teammates Mr. Lewis and Mike Benjamin went so far as to use the word "introverted" when describing Mr. Garciaparra, though each wrapped it in a compliment. "He did his own thing," said Mr. Benjamin. "He didn't try to put on this image that wasn't him." Mr. Lewis described being impressed by the shortstop's "intellect" and "humbleness." Mo Vaughn, Boston's first baseman for Mr. Garciaparra's first three years with the team, says the introvert description is accurate, "but there's nothing wrong with that. I sometimes wish I could have shut up and just gone about doing my job, like he did."

Well, don't we say the same thing about A-rod as a Yankees as Mo Vaughn said about himself? In some ways the Holy Trinity of Shortstops had three distinct personalities as well: Nomar, the introvert who just went about doing his job and didn't try to project an image that wasn't him (except maybe this Sports Illustrated cover I copied on the right) who was married to soccer star, Mia Hamm; Derek Jeter, the consummate bachelor who always says the right things and does the right things and wins championships; and, A-Rod, the man stuck in the middle of the two, the introvert who has tried to change his image and be so many other people, the man who was married with a family but wanted to go out and be Derek Jeter, dating Madonna and now Kate Hudson, still without the championships or the happiness.

But as The Wall Street Journal article suggest, Nomar has seemed to find his happiness in Oakland this year. Derek Jeter, after two down season, is having one of the best seasons of his career and somewhat of a renaissance. And after the whole steroids mess for A-Rod, he vowed to go about doing his job this season and not be a distraction, he's kept to his word and seems to be his most comfortable (physical ailments aside) since he joined the Yankees.

I'm not saying it will happen, but imagine if the Yankees went out and got Nomar today as another veteran bat to throw on the bench for the playoffs. And imagine if the Yankees went on to win the World Series with all of the Holy Trinity on the team. Three shortstops, three great players, three very different personalities.