Nick Swisher has announced his retirement, capping off a 12-year career as one of the more colorful characters in baseball’s recent memory.
There are some players who always seem to be having the time of their life whenever they step onto the field. For them, the game of baseball appears to have never evolved beyond its simple, innocent schoolyard version. Nick Swisher was one of those players. And after 12 years and more than a few laughs, the former outfielder and first baseman has decided the hang up the spikes. He will join FOX Sports as a studio analyst for its 2017 Major League Baseball coverage.
Swisher officially made the announcement in an essay for The Players’ Tribune. Fans may have guessed his playing days were likely over when the Yankees revealed earlier this week that Swisher would be joining them in spring training as a guest instructor. He discussed the reasoning behind his decision in his piece:
"“This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I mean, your body tells you when it’s time to call it quits. And this off-season, my body was screaming, ‘The dream is over, baby!’ And I can’t argue with that. My dream was to play until I was 40 years old, and to be honest, I’m 36 now, and I’m lucky to have played as long as I did.”"
Swisher cites the two knee surgeries he underwent in 2014 as a major hurdle that set his career on the path toward its end. After averaging 148 games per season from 2005 to 2013, he appeared in a total of 178 between the 2014 and 2015 campaigns. Swisher signed a minor league deal with the Yankees last year, but was never called up from Triple-A.
Drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Oakland A’s, Swisher made his debut as a 23-year-old in 2004. Two years later he belted 35 homers and drove in 95 runs; both would remain as career highs. Before the 2008 season, Swisher was traded to the White Sox. He spent a tumultuous year there before being dealt to the Yankees, where he would enjoy the most successful seasons of his career, both individually and as part of a team.
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In four years in New York, Swisher slashed .268/.367/.483 with 105 home runs and 349 RBI. His unique brand of carefree attitude seemed to cut through the Yanks’ traditionally straight-laced culture. Though never much of a postseason performer, Swisher helped the Yankees capture their 27th World Series title in 2009. That year also saw him make a memorable emergency relief pitching appearance in a blowout loss to the Rays in April. In his Players’ Tribune piece, Swisher boasts that he owns a lifetime 0.00 ERA and a strikeout.
He made his lone All-Star team the following season as a Final Vote candidate, edging out Red Sox rival Kevin Youkilis. A surfboard-wielding, Tommy Bahama-clad Swisher produced a campaign video urging fans to send him to the game in Anaheim. Because of course he did.
Though still a fan favorite, the Yankees let Swisher go in free agency following the 2012 season. It proved to be the right decision. The next year with Cleveland would be the last time Swisher appeared in over 100 games in a season, and his OPS also dropped from .837 to .763. In 2014 and 2015, he slashed a paltry .204/.291/.326 with a combined 14 homers and 67 RBI while struggling to stay on the field for the Indians and Braves.
The energetic Swisher should be a natural fit for television, though this is not exactly his first rodeo: He previously sat in the FOX studio during the 2014 World Series. (Can you imagine him next to a surly Pete Rose?) The family man will also enjoy spending more time with his wife, actress JoAnna Garcia Swisher, and their two daughters.
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Some might roll their eyes at a grown man who can’t help but include the word “bro” in every other sentence. Others can’t abide the jokester antics in the Great American Pastime. That’s okay. Baseball means different things to different people.
But Nick Swisher’s love for the game can never be put in doubt. He was like the Little Leaguer who actually got a chance to make the bigs and was always aware of how lucky he was. Though the numbers and career marks won’t distinguish him much, that’s not a bad legacy to leave behind.