Garciaparra Feeling Right at Home

They line up in the stands down the first base line during batting practice, sporting their Nomar Garciaparra jerseys and T-shirts while trying to grab the Boston Red Sox shortstop's attention.

Smiles and waves are exchanged.

In between taking his cuts in the batting cage and fielding grounders at shortstop, Garciaparra stops by the receiving line. But he doesn't sign autographs. He gives hugs. And that's good enough.

These fans, you see, are more than just fans. They're family.

Garciaparra, who grew up in a large and very extended yet tightknit Mexican-American family in Whittier, attracts as many as 300 of his closest family and friends to Edison Field whenever the Red Sox are in town to play the Angels.

"Guys would ask how many people I'd have here and they wouldn't believe me until they saw it themselves," Garciaparra said. "It's nice, it really is to be able to see family taking up one section and look over to another part [of the stadium] and see family taking up another section."

Glenn Wilburn, baseball information coordinator for the Red Sox, said the only other Boston player to attract a noticeable "hometown" crowd on the road is first baseman Brian Daubach in Chicago.

"But it's not like this," Wilburn said.

Jason Varitek agreed.

"This is his home and he's our superstar, one of the top dozen players in the major leagues," said the Red Sox catcher, who also was a teammate of Garciaparra's at Georgia Tech and on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team. "Everybody has their hometown and stuff but Nomar's just special in general. He'll never alienate anybody, especially not family."

Pedro Martinez said the phenomenon of the Garciaparra Lovefest at Edison Field has a relatively simple explanation.

"As Latins we're supposed to have more family," the Boston pitcher said. "We're normally like that. That's the tradition, to have one big happy family."

It was during Garciaparra's rookie season in 1997 that his mother, Sylvia, started to coordinate family outings to Anaheim. But with so many relatives involved, and the number growing, it became a logistical headache.

They quickly abandoned the idea, said Garciaparra's father, Ramon.

"Just one of my aunts has 13 children so you have to take into account all of their children, too," said Ramon, who was born in Guadalajara. "Two weeks before a game, it would get so hectic at home with all the organizing so we just gave up and told everyone we'd see them at the game."