OF Nick Swisher (World Champion New York Yankees)

[hawaiianbuckeye]

HAYN

[Buckskin86]

Swisher beaming after agreeing to new deal
Steve Kroner

Saturday, May 12, 2007

The Associated Press reported the deal is worth $26.75 million, with a $500,000 signing bonus, and yearly salaries that escalate to $9 million in 2011, the final year of the contract. The A's have a $10.25 million option for 2012, with a $1 million buyout.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...PG84PP2QR1.DTL

[ScriptOhio]

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Steve Swisher lived millions of fathers' dreams Saturday night when he chopped off his son's unruly long hair -- and Nick Swisher let it happen for charity.

Swisher

The Oakland Athletics outfielder had his locks snipped behind home plate about 45 minutes before a game against the San Francisco Giants. His father, a former big league catcher, wielded the scissors, removing three large ponytails made from the hair that fell to Swisher's shoulders while thousands of fans cheered.
Swisher's hair will be used to create a wig for cancer patients by a women's cancer research fund. Swisher's grandmother, Betty, died of brain cancer in 2005.

Entire article: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2876411

[ChicJanowicz]

Reds fans... Indians fans... fans in Buckeye Nation of any MLB team...

Please show support for one of our own by voting Nick Swisher to the All Star Game. Swisher has been having a great year and deserves the recognition.

He would also be the first Buckeye in the MLB All Star Game since Frank Howard in 1970, and we are overdue.

Show baseball, show future recruits, show the world that Buckeye Nation stands by its own!

Click here to vote.

[osugrad21]

Link

Former Gateman Swisher always been life of the party

If Nick Swisher had come to the Boston Red Sox instead of Johnny Damon, there probably wouldn't have been much of a perceived difference ? at least in terms of "personality."
Of course, we're talking about the 2004 Johnny. The one everyone east of Connecticut loved for his Jesus-like hair-do, his eccentricity and his proclamation that he was an "idiot."



Cont...

[OSUsushichic]

Dealt to White Sox...

ESPN - Rebuilding A's continue dealing -- Swisher to White Sox - MLB

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Link

Swisher adds swagger to the anemic Sox

January 26, 2008
BY JOHN MUTKA Post-Tribune senior correspondent


When White Sox critics analyze this team's free-fall they invariably rail about relief that was harder to swallow than your mother's favorite home remedy.
Go ahead and blame it on the bullpen, but a 90-loss season was more complex than to pin the tail on that donkey.
Try this shortcoming for size: The Sox scored 200 fewer runs than in 2006, dead-last in the American League. Amy Vanderbilt would have been a better table-setter than brittle Scott Podsednik and Darrin Erstad, who no longer figure into the equation.

Continued......

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Link

Swisher should give life to glum South Siders

There are, to the naked eye, five chains around the neck of Nick Swisher and a tangle of charms resting on his chest, visible beneath his South Beach-slick opened collar. One is an Italian horn. There is an eagle. There are two Christian crosses. He's chatting in a banquet room at the Palmer House hotel in downtown Chicago during the White Sox's offseason fanfest, his hair slicked back with enough product to wallpaper a living room. He laughs and declares, "I'm a funny guy! I got a big mouth, but I am a funny guy!" and adds that he spends 80 percent of his life smiling.
"What about the other 20 percent?"
"Sleeping," Swisher says.
This has been a gloomy winter for White Sox fans, who, after a lifeless 72-90 season in which just about everything went awry, listened hopefully as general manager Ken Williams promised them a "big fish." He then failed to land Torii Hunter. Or Kosuke Fukudome. Or Aaron Rowand. Williams has taken a pummeling in the local media and from those fans. But, spend even a few minutes with Swisher and you can't help mentally posing this question to South Siders: "Why so glum?"

Continued.....

[Buckskin86]

02/19/2008
Swisher brings love of game to camp
Energetic outfielder excited to get going with White Sox
By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Nick Swisher speaks, and one can almost hear the Chicago stardom developing for one of the White Sox newest acquisitions.
The 27-year-old is frenetic, energetic and infinitely entertaining. Judging from his first appearance at the Kino Sports Complex as part of the White Sox, where he spent time chatting with Jim Thome before heading to the back fields to work out, Swisher also seems to be the outstanding clubhouse fit projected by general manager Ken Williams when he pried him away from Oakland for three top prospects.

"I'm a guy, as you can tell, I'm pretty shy. It's tough for me to speak to people," said Swisher, having a little fun with his own wild persona during a Tuesday conversation with the media.

The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Swisher brings love of game to camp

Nick Swisher signs on for media jobs
By Teddy Greenstein, Tribune reporter. Tribune reporter Mark Gonzales contributed
February 20, 2008
Listen to him for 10 seconds and it becomes abundantly clear: Nick Swisher is as comfortable in front of a microphone as he is with a bat in his hands.

The White Sox's new outfielder touched off a bidding battle between WMVP-AM 1000 and WSCR-AM 670, and the Score won. The station plans to use him for weekly interviews with morning man Mike North, beginning in late March.

"He's the perfect fit for our station," program director Mitch Rosen said. "He has Chicago swagger."

Nick Swisher signs on for media jobs -- ChicagoSports.com

White Sox hope Swisher, Cabrera spark batting order
Sox hope newcomers lift lackluster lineup
By Mark Gonzales | Tribune reporter
February 23, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. - Two out, nobody on. That summed up the 2007 White Sox offense.

"We got in a hole last year, and we tried to climb out of a hole by getting three and four hits every at-bat," A.J. Pierzynski said. "It's the wrong approach. You do what you can do. Do your job and go from there."

With the addition of Orlando Cabrera and Nick Swisher and the development of Jerry Owens, the Sox seek considerable improvement from their major league-worst .318 on-base percentage and .243 mark with runners in scoring position -- including .219 with two outs in those situations.

White Sox hope Swisher, Cabrera spark batting order -- chicagotribune.com

White Sox in Brief: Guillen embraces Swisher's switch

February 20, 2008
BY JOE COWLEY jcowley@suntimes.com

TUCSON, Ariz. -- How's this for being welcomed with open arms?

''I used to hate this kid when he played against me,'' White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said Tuesday when asked about newly acquired outfielder Nick Swisher showing up to spring camp two days early.

Guillen then explained himself.

''Because he was good,'' Guillen said of the former Oakland Athletic. ''I like the cockiness, and we're missing that. We need people with a little flavor on the ballclub. When you're good, you have a tendency to hate the guy when he plays against you.

White Sox in Brief: Guillen embraces Swisher's switch :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: White Sox

[Buckskin86]

White Sox's Swisher fitting it
Swisher may rub some new Sox teammates the wrong way -- but his play won't
By Mark Gonzales | Tribune reporter
February 24, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. - It was a mix of old school and new school blending instantly.

The initial greeting that newcomer Nick Swisher received from veteran Jim Thome set an encouraging tone for the White Sox's mission.

As Swisher dressed in a Sox uniform for the first time and joked that he could get his dark uniform dirty without anyone noticing, Thome subtly grabbed a chair and starting discussing some of the more spacious parks in the American League.

"If you want to hit 35 homers or more in this league, you have to go to the 'oppo,'" said Swisher, using his slang for the opposite field.

White Sox's Swisher fitting it -- chicagotribune.com

[Buckskin86]

Nick Swisher impresses manager with voice, bat
Guillen glad to see new Sox calling out teammates
BY MARK GONZALES
March 12, 2008

SURPRISE, Ariz. - Nick Swisher scored points with White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen with his voice as well as his game-winning hit in Monday's victory over Seattle.

Guillen said Swisher expressed his displeasure in the clubhouse over the manner in which the Sox had blown a five-run lead in the top of the ninth inning before Swisher collected his game-winning hit for a 9-8 victory.

Nick Swisher impresses manager with voice, bat -- chicagotribune.com

Guillen appreciates Swisher's candid talk
By Scot Gregor | Daily Herald StaffContact writerPublished: 3/12/2008

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Nick Swisher should have been happy.

After all, his RBI single in the ninth inning Monday lifted the White Sox to a 9-8 Cactus League victory over the Seattle Mariners.

It was the second walk-off hit of the spring for Swisher, but he wasn't happy with his own heroics.

Rather, the Sox' outspoken outfielder was upset with some of his current teammates for letting an 8-3 lead slip in the top of the ninth.

"I love the way Nick Swisher reacted after the game,'' said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on Tuesday. "It was something we needed, not coming from me every day.

"When we're having a bad game and it has to come from the manager, it can get old. But when it comes from the players, it's something I appreciate.''

Daily Herald | Guillen appreciates Swisher's candid talk

[Buckskin86]

04/02/2008
Swisher settling in as leading man
Getting on base vital for success of offense
By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

CLEVELAND -- For a player who has made a solid living through middle-of-the-order run production during his short but successful career, Nick Swisher admitted to feeling a bit strange with his first at-bat as a leadoff hitter Monday afternoon at Progressive Field.
"It was different," said Swisher of his first game at the top of the White Sox order. "It was like, 'Oh, man. The first pitch. That's me. I better be up there.'

"I changed my routine some and just tried to get things done earlier. I was a little nervous and the adrenaline was flowing. I figured the best thing was to hack at the first pitch and break everything up a bit."

The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Swisher settling in as leading man

[Buckskin86]

Nick Swisher: I've always had a good eye
No 'Moneyball' needed for Swisher to take pitches
By Mark Gonzales | Tribune staff reporter
April 8, 2008

Nick Swisher insists he developed his knack for taking pitches and drawing walks well before that trait was publicized in a best-selling book that detailed a statistics-heavy approach to baseball evaluations.

"Everyone talks about the 'Moneyball' side of it," Swisher said Saturday after he drew three walks in a 5-3 victory in Detroit. "I think it's something I had my whole life. It has helped a lot in this game, and it's a good thing and a bad thing. Sometimes you feel like you know the zone too well and you get too particular with certain pitches."

Nick Swisher: I've always had a good eye -- ChicagoSports.com

Swisher, an unlikely source in an unlikely spot, has White Sox looking good It all starts at the top

April 8, 2008Recommend (9)

BY CHRIS DE LUCA cdeluca@suntimes.com
Nick Swisher is new to this leadoff-hitter thing. He hadn't done it even once in his career -- not in Little League, high school, the minors and certainly not the major leagues.

He just completed his first week as a leadoff hitter in White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's new-look lineup, and the key numbers were impressive: a .481 on-base percentage and five runs in six games.

Then came the hard part: His first home game as a leadoff hitter Monday.

''The hardest thing about batting leadoff in a home game is running all the way from center field, getting in, having to put on all of your stuff and then go hit,'' Swisher said, needing to take a breath after just recalling the routine. ''On the road, it's a little easier. Today, I was scrambling, trying to find my stuff. I was like, 'Hey, where's my helmet?'''

Swisher, an unlikely source in an unlikely spot, has White Sox looking good It all starts at the top :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chris De Luca

[Buckskin86]

Swisher fits in well with White Sox
By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports

CHICAGO ? The Dirty Cat Salon is open. Most of the Chicago White Sox know better than to get anywhere near it, for fear that their facial hair might turn out like that of the main proprietor.

It?s always something with Nick Swisher, to whom the spotlight gravitates as though magnetized, and his something this year is the goatee that covers the length of his jaw. It looks like Swisher went bobbing for apples in peroxide, and with a few of his other teammates on the whisker bandwagon, Swisher thought it might be fun to start a fake styling place. He calls himself ?Dirty Thirty,? the marriage of his number and unlaundered uniform, and closer Bobby Jenks is, in Swisher parlance, ?Jenksy Cat,? so he combined them to the pleasure of everyone searching for the perfect insight into the Tao of Swish.

?We should have T-shirts made,? Swisher said Monday night, and surely he was thinking of the ?Member of the Dirty Thirty? ones he had fashioned for his new teammates during spring training. It wasn?t even a month into Swisher?s stay with the White Sox after spending the first three years of his career in Oakland, and he already had taken over the clubhouse with the sheer force of his personality.

Swisher fits in well with White Sox - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

[Buckskin86]

Nick Swisher has bond with late grandmother
Derives inspiration from relationship with late grandmother
By Mark Gonzales | Tribune reporter
May 11, 2008

SEATTLE ? Nick Swisher believes Mother's Day should be celebrated more than once a year, and not simply for his own mom.

To prove Swisher's point, the initials "BLS" were tattooed on his left chest as one of several tributes to his late grandmother, who raised him after his parents divorced when he was in sixth grade.

"I'll never forget when I showed her the tattoo," Swisher said of his revelation three years ago after Betty Lorraine Swisher was diagnosed with cancer. "She didn't like tattoos and said, 'Whoa. Why did you do that?' "

Not only did Swisher want to show his appreciation for his grandmother, he got another tattoo last winter depicting her as an angel after her death.

"It gave me closure," Swisher said. "But she'll always be near and dear to me."

Nick Swisher has bond with late grandmother -- -- chicagotribune.com