In The Dugout – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 20, 2002
Nick Swisher is not one to be bashful. It just isn’t in his personality.
Although he was raised on the farmlands of Parkersburg, W.Va., Swisher will not deviate from his upbringing now that he lives in the city. And he isn’t afraid to show it.
Take his music likes. While the vast majority of his teammates prefer rap or rock music, Swisher sticks to country. In fact, as he is introduced for each at bat, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” from the 1966 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name, blares over the PA system at Bill Davis Stadium.
“I decided to bring a little Clint Eastwood here, bring a little Western into the city of Columbus. Bring a little Western into this team,” Swisher said. “We’ve got a few country singer listeners, but not a lot. We’re just trying to influence people. I heard the song last year at Iowa, and I really liked it. They played it this year down at Mississippi State, and I’ll never forget Brett Garrard saying ‘Swish, there’s your song.’ From there on out, that’s what it came out to be.”
Because of his listening preferences, Swisher is viewed as a “hillbilly” by some of his teammates. Not that he cares.
“I could say people represent me as (a hillbilly),” Swisher said. “I’ve got my cowboy boots. I’ve got my cowboy hat. I’ve got my Wranglers. I took so much crap from all my buddies for picking that song. They thought it was really funny. If I give them a little laugh, that’s fine.”
While his selection of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” has drawn its share of derision from his teammates and friends, Swisher finds plenty of inspiration in the tune, as it takes him back to the serenity of life in the country.
“It’s kind of my getaway,” Swisher said of the song. “It puts me in the frame of mind of being back home with my family because that’s when I’m happiest. Being home with my family and being out here on the diamond, that’s the best time of my life right there. The biggest thing is that most people haven’t heard of Parkersburg, W.Va. I guess I’m doing my best to put Parkersburg on the map.”
But Swisher, in his typical outlandish fashion, finds another way to look at the song’s meaning to him.
“I don’t know: ‘The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly.’ Maybe you could say some days it’s good, some days it’s bad. And I’m always ugly,” Swisher said.
“When you go up to the plate, you want to hear something that represents yourself, something that kind of gets you going inside. Even though it’s a Western song, I picture it like this: It’s me and the pitcher. It’s a showdown between him and me. Nobody else is involved. So I put myself in that situation, saying ‘I’m going to win this fight because if I don’t, I’m dead.'”
