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

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. Swift played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

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

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

, and Colorado Rockies.

Scholastic career

After graduating from South Portland High School, Swift attended the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

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 D ...

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 an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

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 First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1984 Major League Baseball draft. Other notable players * Jeff Blauser†, 1st round (secondary phase), 4th overall by the Atlanta Braves *Greg Maddux‡, 2nd round, 31st ...

, 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 David Allen Burba (born July 7, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, and Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseba ...

, 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 c ...

Kevin Mitchell and pitcher Mike Remlinger. The Giants immediately moved Swift from the bullpen to the starting rotation, where he emerged as one of baseball’s best pitchers, leading the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

(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'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' 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 ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

(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 Arizona Christian University is a private Christian university in Glendale, Arizona. History Founded in 1960 as Southwestern Conservative Baptist Bible College, Arizona Christian University's original campus was located at 2625 E. Cactus ...

; after five progressively successful seasons, he resigned following the 2018 season.

References

External links

Bill Swift
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Bill 1961 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Baseball players from 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 Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists 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 Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games

Scholastic career

Professional career

After playing

References

Further reading

External links