William Charles Swift (born October 27, 1961) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. Swift played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, and

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

Scholastic career

After graduating from South Portland High School, Swift attended the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Maine Black Bears baseball The Maine Black Bears baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of the University of Maine, located in Orono, Maine. It is the university's oldest athletic program, having begun play in 1881. It has been a member of the NCAA ...

team from 1981 to 1984, making four consecutive

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

appearances. Swift pitched for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team.

Professional career

Following Swift’s senior year at Maine, he was a first-round draft pick (second overall selection) by the Seattle Mariners in the 1984 MLB draft, making his MLB debut with the 1985 Mariners. In 1991, Swift was traded to the San Francisco Giants, along with pitchers Mike Jackson and Dave Burba, for

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

Kevin Mitchell and pitcher Mike Remlinger. The Giants immediately moved Swift from the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...

to the starting rotation, where he emerged as one of baseball’s best pitchers, leading the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(NL) with a 2.08

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) in 1992 and winning 21 games in 1993. Between 1995 and 1997, Swift played for the Colorado Rockies. While the Rockies had high hopes for him, he struggled with a shoulder injury, back pains, and the psychological difficulties of the thin air of Colorado, and never again put up numbers comparable to his days with the Giants. Swift was eventually released by the Rockies due to shoulder trouble and triceps tightness. In 1998, Swift returned to the Seattle Mariners. He struggled, posting an 11-9 record with a 5.85 ERA and 1.62 WHIP. Swift retired during spring training, the following season (1999). Swift's career numbers were extremely similar to those of 1930s pitcher Bill Swift.

After playing

On December 22, 1999, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' named Swift as one of Maine's best athletes of the 20th century. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the New England Baseball Hall of Fame on January 25, 2015. Swift and wife Michelle have three daughters, Aubrey, Mackenzie, and Brynlie; while the children attended Scottsdale Christian Academy in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

(and for years beyond), their father coached High School Baseball for the school. Following the end of the 2013 baseball season, Swift accepted the position of head baseball coach at Arizona Christian University; after five progressively successful seasons, he resigned following the 2018 season.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Bill 1961 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Baseball players from Cumberland County, Maine Calgary Cannons players Chattanooga Lookouts players Colorado Rockies players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Maine Black Bears baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics National League ERA champions Olympic silver medalists for the United States in baseball Sportspeople from South Portland, Maine Salem Avalanche players San Bernardino Spirit players San Francisco Giants players Seattle Mariners players South Portland High School alumni Baseball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in baseball 20th-century American sportsmen

Scholastic career

Professional career

After playing

References

Further reading

External links