A Nick Swisher Retrospective, Man

My affection toward Nick Swisher has been well-documented, while other fans’ feelings about him have also been duly noted. However, I really couldn’t care less about the latter. I am an unapologetic Swisher apologist, and with his time in pinstripes all but through I thought I’d write a mini retrospective of his four years in the Bronx. After all, he is one of Cashman’s greatest heists (if not the greatest).

This is by no means an exhaustive list of Swish Dog’s greatest moments as a Yankee, but these are the moments that spring to mind:

• 7/16/10; RIP George. Monster night including the game-tying homer off Joaquin Benoit in the eighth and the walk-off single off Rheal Cormier in the ninth to beat the Rays in the first game following the death of George Steinbrenner.
• 10/31/09; What, me struggle? Huge Game 3 of the 2009 World Series to help the Yanks take a 2-1 lead over the Phillies. Many (incorrectly) thought that that was beginning of a huge postseason surge for Swish. He even joked in the postgame presser, “Man, I finally got a hit!”
• 4/13/09; Cy Swish. CMW lasted only an inning-plus and the bullpen was taxed in Tampa. No big deal, bring in the lefty. Swish tossed a scoreless eighth (the only NYY pitcher to do so that evening) with one hit and a walk during a 15-5 loss to the Rays.
• 9/1/10; The souvenir that never was. He threw me the ball after recording the final out in the first inning of an early September game against the A’s. Unfortunately, I was so drunk that I tried to make the catch lefty and dropped it (I’ll take the high road and won’t blame it on the Bleacher Creature that elbowed me in the back as I tried to haul in the ball.)

Swisher greeting the Bleacher Creatures.

I asked my Twitter followers for their thoughts on Swisher’s greatest moment as a Yankee, and I was reminded of:

• His walk-off home runs on Sept. 8 of 2009 and 2010. The 2010 homer, off Koji Uehara, helped avoid a sweep at the hands of the Orioles and also gave us this extremely creepy video of Kim Jones as collateral damage during a pie celebration. So…that exists.
• His grand slam against the Red Sox in that incredible comeback win at Fenway earlier this year.
• This celebration.
• The “Tommy Bahama” commercial during the Send Swish campaign.

All things considered, I think we can agree that this was his finest moment in pinstripes. But feel free to leave your fondest memories of Nicholas in the comments section.

Having said all that, as much as I love noted cockblocker Nick Swisher I would have no problem booing him under certain circumstances.