The Pride of Parkersburg
Swisher has not forgotten his roots
By DAVE POE [email protected]
POSTED: November 25, 2009
Nick Swisher speaks to United Way Board members after being presented with a plaque from The Parkersburg News and Sentinel publisher Jim Spanner of the Swisher poster that appeared in the paper after the New York Yankees were crowned World Series champions.
PARKERSBURG - He's a world champion and the toast of New York, but Parkersburg native Nick Swisher never has forgotten his roots.
Swisher was the guest of honor at Tuesday's board of directors meeting of the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley, where he was recognized for his $10,000 donation.
Making a special presentation to Swisher was the group's executive director, Joyce Mather.
"Having a Major League Baseball player from your hometown is neat,'' she said. "Having a member of the New York Yankees, that pretty much rocks.''
Mather noted that Nick's father, Steve Swisher, and his wife Christy, who accompanied Nick to the ceremony along with his girlfriend, actress Joanna Garcia, had been long-time givers to the local charity.
Mather noted as a result of gifts like Swisher's, 22,839 children's lives were touched in a positive way, including 8,733 children who participated in recreational programs.
Swisher, who was presented with a giant container of Hershey's Kisses, cited the example of his parents.
"It's great to be part of a family that has instilled giving in me,'' he said. "I do my best to represent Parkersburg. It's not the biggest place, but to me it's home. I want to keep this going. It is a wonderful thing you guys are doing.''
Exclusive: Yankee Slugger Nick Swisher Heads to 'HIMYM'
By Josef Adalian
Published: December 10, 2009
The Yankees are coming... to "How I Met Your Mother."
Actually, just one member of New York's evil world championship team is coming to CBS's hit Monday comedy. And that would be switch-hitter Nick Swisher.
Swisher has been cast as himself on an upcoming episode of "HIMYM." The plot: When Swisher drops by MacLaren's bar, the women all swoon-- putting a major crimp in bachelor Barney's game.
Nick Swisher shines on "How I Met Your Mother"
by Sam Alipour
Eric McCandless/Fox
Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher is a ladies' man on Monday's episode of "How I Met Your Mother".
Nick Swisher just gave us another reason to dislike the New York Yankees.
They'll snake your girl.
That's exactly what the Yanks outfielder will do -- unwittingly, anyway -- Monday night on "How I Met Your Mother." In the episode airing on CBS, Barney's (Neil Patrick Harris) pursuit of "the perfect week" -- seven girls in seven days -- is disrupted when Swisher, playing himself at a New York City bar, catches the eye of Barney's latest prey.
The gang runs interference to help Barney preserve his streak, but it's a tall order.
In the 2-1-2, a Yankee can have any lady he desires, right?
"That's a myth," said Swisher, who is dating Gossip Girl's Joanna Garcia. "We're normal, man. The only difference between us and everybody else is we work at Yankee Stadium, and our job just happens to be on TV. We put our pants on one leg at a time, too. The same rules apply to everybody."
Does Nick Swisher ever get shot down?
"Oh, yeah. Absolutely!"
A losing record?
"No," he laughed. "I don't have a losing record."
New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher looking to take his hitting to the next level
By Anthony Mccarron
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Saturday, February 20th 2010
Sipkin/News
After having his swing exposed during the postseason, Nick Swisher devotes offseason to rediscovering his hitting stroke.
TAMPA - To get an idea how much everything changed for Nick Swisher last year, consider his new off-season home - Los Angeles. Before last spring training, he had just spent the winter living in his father's basement in West Virginia, a no-frills existence dedicated to re-discovering his hitting stroke.
Now he's a world champ with an actress girlfriend - Gossip Girl's Joanna Garcia - and even did his own television work, doing a cameo on the CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother." But while Swisher may have a bit more glamour in his life, he still spent much of the winter doing the same thing - working on his hitting.
Swisher and Yankee hitting coach Kevin Long huddled for two weeks in Arizona in December deconstructing Swisher's swing. Long stressed that Swisher find a comfortable hitting position with balance, so Swisher tweaked his stance to what he called "a no-stride stance - wait til you see it" and is hoping for even bigger things this season.
"I feel like (Long) understands me and when you run into coaches like that, you really need to lock in with those guys," Swisher said Friday as he dropped his equipment off at Steinbrenner Field in preparation for Tuesday's position-player report date. "I said, 'Hey, man, let's try to take this thing to the next level.'"
The 29-year-old Swisher had an OPS of .869 last season with 29 home runs and 82 RBI and finished second in the AL with 97 walks, all a "drastic improvement," he said. He stumbled in the post-season, though, batting .128 with just one homer and two RBI and striking out 15 times in 47 at-bats.
