His first name
1. His full name is Anthony Nomar Garciaparra, but he was supposed to be Monica Garciaparra. Sylvia Garciaparra was pregnant with her first child, and her husband, Ramon, was sure that the baby was going to be a girl. They both liked the name Monica. His mother still felt like it could be a boy, but they couldn’t settle on a boy’s name. Ramon did not want to make his son a junior, and he wanted something distinctive. A graphic artist, Ramon, as usual, found his answer by using his pen. He wrote his own name backward on a piece of paper, liked how it looked, and handed it to his wife across the table.
“That’s what it’s going to be if it’s a boy.”
“Oh, no, it’s not,” Sylvia shot back.
“Yes, it is,” Ramon said. “And he’s going to make it famous.”
He was called Anthony until kindergarten. That’s when he encountered three other Anthonys in his class, and every time he heard the name called, it seemed to be for somebody else. He came home one day and said, “Mom, I want to be Nomar.”
Nomar on wife Mia Hamm
2. “I’m ugly! I’m lucky that my wife thinks that I’m good looking. Maybe she doesn’t, but she keeps telling me that she thinks I’m good looking, and that’s enough for me.”
Mia on Nomar
3. “What you see is what you get with Nomar. He is someone who is very conscientious about everything, I think sometimes to a fault, where he cares what everyone thinks rather than differentiating between what he should take in and what he shouldn’t.”
How they met
4. At a promotional penalty-kick shootout at Harvard in 1998. She won. They began dating in 2001 after her first marriage ended in divorce. They were engaged a year later. They were married Nov. 22, 2003, at a seaside hacienda in Santa Barbara, Calif., reciting vows they had written themselves.
Learning to field
5. When Ramon worked with Nomar on his fielding skills, he had him keep his soccer shinguards on so he wouldn’t hesitate to get right in front of the ground balls.
Family footsteps
6. Michael Garciaparra, 21, who was drafted by the Mariners in 2001, bears a strong resemblance to his older brother, not to mention that he wears the same number 5 (their father’s favorite number) and plays the same position.
Charity work
7. Nomar 5 Fund supports causes around Boston. The fund has doled out more than $600,000 in four years and had its fifth Nomar Bowl fundraiser this year.
Favorite movies
8. “Rocky I through V. You can’t go wrong.”
Even Rocky IV?
“Even Rocky IV. If you like `em, you like `em all. Take the good with the bad. They’re all good to me.”
Favorite TV show
9. Comes on once every four years: Soccer’s World Cup. “I will record all the games. I will watch all the games.”
Favorite food
10. French toast.
