Steve Swisher

Catcher

Born: August 9, 1951 (age 65)
Parkersburg, West Virginia

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

June 14, 1974, for the Chicago Cubs

Last MLB appearance

September 26, 1982, for the San Diego Padres

MLB statistics

Batting average

.216

Home runs

Runs batted in

124

Teams

Career highlights and awards

All-Star (1976)

Steven Eugene Swisher (born August 9, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Diego Padres from 1974 to 1982. Swisher was elected to the 1976 National League All-Star team with the Cubs but did not play in the game. He is the father of first baseman Nick Swisher.

Swisher attended Ohio University for a degree in education and played baseball. During his freshman season, the team went to the College World Series. Swisher was named an all-Mid-American Conference player for three of his seasons.

Swisher was drafted in the first round in June 1973 by the Chicago White Sox. He was traded to the Cubs in December, along with pitchers Ken Frailing and Steve Stone and a player to be named later, for third baseman Ron Santo. Swisher was selected as the Cubs' representative for the 1976 MLB All-Star Game; he hit .236 that season with five home runs and 42 runs batted in. In a 2014 piece for ESPN.com, Jim Caple listed Swisher as one of the "five worst players named All-Stars".

Swisher, who had appeared in 109 games in his All-Star season, saw his playing time drop to 74 games in 1977, while batting just .190 with five home runs. In December 1977, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in a four-player deal and played sparingly over the next three seasons. In late 1980, he was sent to the San Diego Padres in a multiplayer trade. Swisher never appeared in more than 45 games in a season with the Cardinals or Padres. He was granted free agency after the 1982 season and never played in the major leagues again.

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Wikipedia