Nick Swisher – One of the Best Dudes in Baseball

By Alex Cohen-Smith

The public has this perception of athletes that many of them are narcissistic, rude and stubborn meatheads that have no interest in dealing with fans and are playing only to earn a paycheck. For some athletes…that’s probably true. However Nick Swisher is definitely not one of those athletes.

Every time I watch a Yankee game and they show clips of the Yankee dugout, I see Nick Swisher smiling. I figured when I met him that there was no way this guy was this much fun. Not a chance. I was 110% wrong.

While Swisher signed baseballs, helmets and photos we watched the start of the Twins-Tigers game. This is the game that would decide who Swisher and the Yankees would meet just 24 hours later. Swisher kept an eye on the game, but concentrated on the signing. I couldn’t resist asking him who he wanted to face and he couldn’t risk giving me a quick response, “I don’t care”. The answer had a certain tone to it. That tone showed that Swisher was confident no matter who was victorious in this game, the Yankees would be there waiting and they would be ready.

Swisher shed some more light on the Yankees Fantasy Football league which I alluded to earlier in my interview with Brett Gardner. I was under the impression that Gardner was in the league, which he wasn’t. Because he is a rookie, it was Gardner’s job to put the picks up on the big board while all the veterans and coaches drafted. Ouch…no wonder he didn’t mention that. Swisher said that he and his partner, Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long, were a dismal 1-3 four weeks into the season. “We both work out in Arizona in the offseason,” Swisher explained. “So we had to take the best wide receiver in the game Larry Fitzgerald with our 1st pick. By the time it came back to us again Kurt Warner was the best QB left.” Arizona”s offense has struggled mightly so far this year…as has the Swisher/Long squad. I didn’t get too much information on who was winning the league, but it sounded like the team of Derek Jeter and Eric Hinske was near the top.

Swisher did divuldge a bit into his own memorabilia collection (he describes some of his own possessions in the video below). It’s always cool to hear what the athlete’s themselves are collecting. It shows that in some ways they’re just like us, fans of the game. Also it’s good to see what they’re collecting because who can judge talent and worth of a signed ball of another athlete better than someone who plays with them (or against them) on a daily basis!

When I asked Swisher if he’d take a picture with me after the interview, he seemed almost enthusiastic (I must be getting famous). If you ever want to meet an athlete who is just another real dude I encourage you to seek out Nick Swisher. Something tells me he won’t be hard to find.

Shocker or Gang Sign? You decide

Author’s Note: Watch 7 seconds into the interview as Swisher almost bursts out laughing at me while I’m interviewing him. I guess my “interview face” is just a sight to behold.