Nick Swisher & Yankees Win World Series – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Former Buckeye Nick Swisher will be getting a World Series championship ring. The sixth-year Major League Baseball veteran was the starter in left field for all 6 games as the New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-games-to-2, to claim the 2009 World Series crown.
Swisher is the fifth Ohio State Buckeye to play in a World Series, and he is the first to play on a World Series champion since Joe Sparma (lettered at Ohio State in 1962 and 1963) was a member of the champion Detroit Tigers team of 1968 that defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-games-to-3. Frank Howard (Ohio State letterman in 1956 and 1957) is the only other Buckeye to play for a world champion team. He was a member of the 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers team that swept the Yankees, 4-0.
Swisher was a Buckeye for three years, from 2000-02, before being selected in the first round of the MLB Amateur Draft in 2002 by the Oakland A’s. He played four seasons with the A’s before getting traded to the Chicago White Sox. He played the 2008 season in Chicago and was traded to the Yankees before the start of the 2009 season.
Ohio State Buckeyes in the MLB World Series
| Name (OSU Years) | Year | Team | Result | Stats/Notes |
| George Spencer | 1951 | N.Y. Giants | Lost to N.Y. Yankees | Pitched in two games |
| Johnny Edwards (1958) | 1961 | Cincinnati | Lost to the Yankees | Hit. .364 with 2 RBI |
| Frank Howard (1956-57) | 1963 | L.A. Dodgers | Won title over Yankees | Hit .300 in three games |
| Johnny Edwards (1958) | 1968 | St. Louis | Lost to Detroit | Played in one game |
| Joe Sparma (1962-63) | 1968 | Detroit | Won title over St. Louis | Pitched in one game |
| Nick Swisher (2000-02) | 2009 | N.Y. Yankees | Won title over Phillies | 5 RF starts; HR & 2B G3 |
