Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Nomar Chronicles

Topps SHB #12: 2008 Nomar Garciaparra, Los Angeles Dodgers

 Topps' contractual meddling will never cease to annoy me.

Takes them an extra 4 years to rope Alex Rodriguez in. Takes an extra 2 years to rope Hideki Matsui in. Then in 2006, we lose Nomar Garciaparra, they don't re-up with him til after he's retired. In 2009, Matt Wieters signs with Upper Deck and Panini, but not Topps, and they eventually get him in 2016. So now they have everybody, right? Well in 2018 they lose Madison Bumgarner, and now only Panini makes cards of him. However Topps keeps screwing this up, they're clearly good at it.

Because of this meddling, former Boston great Nomar Garciaparra's Topps legacy ends in 2006, with his Update card with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His career goes on for three more years, even if Topps doesn't seem to care.

My photo source only goes back as far as 2007, so for the purpose of this project, we start in 2008. Nomar Garciaparra is a charter member of the division-leading, NLCS contending 2008 Dodgers. Nowadays, that sort of thing would be depicted on a card, but Topps was led by Michael Eisner at the time, which should explain everything.

Nomar's 2008 season was marred by injuries from the start, but eventually he became a starting shortstop due to an injury to Rafael Furcal, and started heating up along with the team in August. He hit .264 in only 55 games in 2008, but was still a crucial member of the team, and a notable bench player in the postseason, hitting .429 in 7 at-bats.

Topps SHB #13: 2009 Nomar Garciaparra, Oakland Athletics

Nomar's 2009 season with the A's was an improvement on several levels, as he hit .284 in 65 games, and returned to his contact sensibilities with a very low-budget team. Again, he was used as a bench player, and slowly phased out in favor of players like Daric Barton and Jack Cust, but he was still a trusted veteran presence on a team that was very youth-based. It may not have been an ideal final season for Nomar, but he ended with dignity and respect, which is all that a Red Sox alum should ever want.

After that, Nomar hung up his cleats and switched to broadcasting, and has appeared in numerous Topps sets as a Red Sock. I doubt Topps will ever acknowledge Nomar's stints in LA or Oakland, or even Chicago, but I guess that's why I do this- to cover for Topps when they have these blind spots like this.

This reminds me...I have a ton of Matt Wieters cards to make for this project, don't I?