Nomar returned to Fenway after a five year absense. I was able to catch his first at-bat on mlb.com, and it was quite a moment. The room clearly got a little dusty, and I imagine even J.D. Drew felt an emotional twinge. The once face-of-the-franchise fully deserved the standing ovation he received, and it clearly meant a lot to him. For the most part, I'll remember Nomar fondly. I recall one specific instance in the late 90s. The Red Sox closed out their last home stand of the year - they may have lost, I don't recall - and they were not headed to the playoffs again. [Remember those years? They weren't that long ago.] The game had ended, and Nomar came out of the dugout after the game, and applauded the fans. He walk around the infield clapping his hands and pointing to the patrons. I do not remember a single other player doing the same. I thought at the time, 'that is a classy move. The team didn't do much, but here's a guy who understands that the fans are the reason he plays baseball for a living.'Unfortunately, there's another indelible memory I have of Nomar - that of him sulking on the bench during a key Sox/Yankees game in 2004 refusing to play. He wants to rewrite history when it comes to how he left Boston. "I never left. I got traded... I never wanted to leave..." blah, blah, blah. Lest us not forget, Nomar ran himself out of Boston in 2004. Imaginary injuries, agent threats and uninspired performances ended his career. A number of his own teammates made comments about the negativity in the locker room that Nomar generated in that final season.
And now he's back. He made great comments about loving the fans and sad that he left; however, I would have liked to see him more contrite and bear some responsibility. Sure he's unhappy that he left. We won two World Series immediately including one before the door hit him in the rear end, and he's done nothing since. Here's what I would have liked to hear him say, "this is a business, and sometimes business gets messy. I let the business side effect the baseball side, and that was a mistake. With 20/20 hindsight, I'd have handled it differently, and I'm sure the Red Sox management would have too."
