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OF Nick Swisher (All Star, World Series Champion)

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Swisher trying to find level of comfort with White Sox


May 20, 2008


By Joe Cowley Sun-Times News Group

The helmet already had been flung toward the dugout after the Saturday strikeout, and the bat was cocked back.
He wanted to do it.
Throw it.

Break it.Hit something.
That's Nick Swisher's nature, his therapy session.
''That's the thing that has always been difficult for me in this game,'' Swisher said. ''There's no place for you to take that anger and energy out. There's no one you can go out and hit.''
Long before Swisher was ''Dirty 30,'' the poster boy for Moneyball or even a first-round pick out of Ohio State, he was a strong safety at Parkersburg High School in West Virginia.
Life on the football field was simple. Mess up on a play? Mess up the opposing wide receiver.
Before coming through Sunday with a bases-clearing pinch-hit double in the eighth inning that led to a 13-8 White Sox victory over the San Francisco Giants, Swisher badly needed something to hit. Just one wide receiver across the middle.
He came to the South Side in a huge trade with Oakland, was given the leadoff duties and was the talk of the town. Quicker than he could dye his facial hair platinum blond, however, the slump settled in. Before his Sunday heroics, Swisher was hitting .178 over his previous 27 games and had been dropped to eighth in the order.
It admittedly has been a fight for him

Cont...
 
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Swisher lets his hair down over long struggle at plate

BY JOE COWLEY [email protected]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- He's gone through bottles of different hair dye for his ever-changing facial hair that has become his ''face art.''

And on Saturday, he unveiled his third different haircut of the season -- a sort of faux-hawk. Nick Swisher is searching, and he isn't even sure where to look.

''I don't know what else to do,'' Swisher said of his six-week slump. ''I mean, I feel good. The last couple of games we've faced some great pitching, but I guess this is just a fresh new start.

''The one thing I do know is, hopefully there's a lot of hits coming. I'm just counting on the law of averages. But just keep on battling, keep grinding it out. Don't try making up for a month in one at-bat, which I feel like I've done a couple of times.''
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Swisher lets his hair down over long struggle at plate :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: White Sox
 
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Swisher: From rock bottom to rockin'
Fun-loving 'icebreaker' has warmed to new role as a comfort-zone master
June 28, 2008
BY CHRIS DE LUCA [email protected]

Rock bottom for Nick Swisher's batting average came on May 6. That's the day an 0-for-4 dropped Swisher to .196. Maybe what hurt more, this was no longer big news in Chicago.

No longer being relevant might have been more of a wake-up call than the subterranean batting average.

Swisher was the big outfield acquisition of the offseason -- long before any of us paid much attention to Carlos Quentin. He was the fun-loving icebreaker in a clubhouse that needed to laugh again. He was the unselfish veteran who didn't mind stepping into the leadoff spot for the first time ever.

It was easy to like Swisher in April, when he seemed to be everything that the Sox needed. And it was just as easy to forget about him in May, when he suddenly represented everything that was wrong with the Sox' maddening offense.

There was even a point manager Ozzie Guillen considered benching Swisher.

''Oh, we think about it,'' Guillen admitted, ''but we don't have anybody else.''

The good press turned to bad press, the cheers to boos. Things had never been this bad with the Oakland Athletics, the only other team Swisher had known since the A's took him in the first round of the 2002 draft.

Of course, in Oakland, fans never cared this much about their team. In Oakland, the media never felt the need to put Swisher in the crosshairs. In Oakland, there was always someone else to stand on center stage.

Swisher was happy to be the sideshow.
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Swisher: From rock bottom to rockin' :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chris De Luca
 
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Swisher is without a doubt, my favorite player. This offspring when the Sox were out here in Tucson (where I'm stationed), Swish was very energetic in his games. He signed a few O-State items of mine, as well as a Sox pennant. When he would come out to stretch, he didn't miss a beat by responding loudly to my "O-H!" The guy is just a ball of energy and love that he's at a place where he can really show what he's made of. Go Swish and Go Bucks! :oh:
 
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8-year-old cancer survivor inspires Nick Swisher
By Mark Gonzales | Tribune reporter
July 2, 2008

Nick Swisher gladly took a back seat Tuesday to 8-year-old cancer survivor Adam Bender.

Adam and his family were guests of Swisher. The White Sox first baseman said he had drawn inspiration for his recent hitting from Adam, who plays catcher for his Little League team in Lexington, Ky., even though he lost a leg to cancer when he was 1.

"I'm getting nervous meeting him," Swisher said before greeting Adam in the Sox's clubhouse and giving him a jersey with Adam's last name and Swisher's No. 30 on the back. Swisher also introduced Adam to teammates and played catch with him.

Adam, in return, gave Swisher a stuffed horse that Swisher plans to keep in his locker, along with a story of Adam's courageous tale that has been taped to his locker for nearly a month.

Ozzie Guillen comfortable with Sox's roster "This is great, and he is a little awestruck," Chris Bender, Adam's father, said. "He's not normally very shy, but when there's something overwhelming, every kid turns shy. He's taking it all in right now and processing it, but it's all going to come out in a burst."
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8-year-old cancer survivor inspires Nick Swisher -- chicagotribune.com
 
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Just heard an interview with Nick Swisher. Seems like a great guy! He talked about how his dad is his best friend, and his dad couldn't be happier for him, even though he's playing on the South Side. :)

I hope Swisher does well this weekend but hope his team gets swept. :p
 
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Swisher likes playing for the White Sox
VISITS OAKLAND FOR FIRST TIME SINCE TRADE
By Joe Stiglich Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 08/15/2008

In a Chicago White Sox clubhouse that boasts such personalities as A.J. Pierzynski, Jim Thome and Ken Griffey Jr., it's still easy to notice the ever-vocal Nick Swisher.

In his first visit to McAfee Coliseum since being traded by the A's in January for pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Fautino De Los Santos and outfielder Ryan Sweeney, Swisher strutted around the visitors' clubhouse before Friday's game with his ever-present smile intact as he traded barbs with teammates.

Swisher was greeted warmly by the crowd in his first at-bat, a flyball to center field.

"It took me all of about 20 minutes (to get comfortable) when I came over here," the outfielder-first baseman said of the White Sox. "These guys are unbelievable, we have fun and we joke around so much.

"I heard about (the camaraderie) in Chicago, and it couldn't be more true. I think that's one of the big reasons why we've been so successful."

Swisher still owns the East Bay home he bought a month before he was traded.

"I guess you could say I've been anticipating (the return to Oakland) a little bit,'' he said. "To come back and see a lot of people that I haven't seen for a while is great. But half of the guys that I played with aren't here anymore."
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http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_10219114
 
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Nick Swisher looks for good ending
Hot streak would be sweet, wins sweeter
By Mark Gonzales | Chicago Tribune reporter
September 3, 2008

CLEVELAND ? With less than four weeks of the season remaining, Nick Swisher knows that reaching his career .251 batting average is close to impossible.

Swisher began Tuesday night's game in an 0-for-17 slump. Like Paul Konerko, he's hoping for a hot finish to help the White Sox reach the playoffs.

"I feel like I haven't been hot all year," Swisher said. "Hopefully, it comes up very soon. I feel good and I'm staying confident. It will turn around."

Swisher had one 7-for-15 streak with four home runs during a four-game stretch two weeks ago. But he began Tuesday batting .226.

"Right now everyone concentrates on numbers and this and that," Swisher said. "Numbers don't matter right now. Wins and losses matter. And [Monday] night was kind of an embarrassing loss for us, even though we went up against one of the best pitchers in the American League (Cleveland's Cliff Lee), no doubt about it. But we feel like we're a better team than that."
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Nick Swisher looks for good ending -- chicagotribune.com
 
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At the beginning of May, I was in Chicago for a trade show. I got invited to see the ChiSox play the Twins. The game, ambiance, and stadium were all great. It was one of those situations where a run was scored on an error, but the ChiSox pitcher still could have had no-hitter. That was deleted at the top of the 9th, but anyway... I recall really enjoying the hustle of Nick Swisher. I had no idea about his background or anything. I got home from the trade show, and I told my Dad about the game. I didn't realize that Nick had spent some time in Parkersburg, WV. Apparently, he just bought the one huge house in the city for his parents. I recall driving past it frequently when I'd go through Vienna to P-burg from Marietta. That info left an endearing feeling for Nick. And then I see today that he was a Buckeye!!! Killer stuff is being learnt on a daily basis. :biggrin:
 
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