Mike Sweeney signed a one-day contract with the Royals before officially announcing his retirement from baseball, the team announced.
Sweeney, 37, spent 13 years in Kansas City and represented the Royals in the All-Star Game from 2000-03 and in 2005. He'll retire with a career line of .297/.366/.486 in 16 seasons with the Royals, Mariners and Phillies. He appeared in the postseason for the first time last year and singled in the only playoff plate appearance of his career.
Sweeney ranks in the top six in Royals history in 17 offensive categories. He's second all-time in average (.299) and home runs (197). The Royals created the Mike Sweeney Award in his honor in 2008.
Kansas City drafted Sweeney in the 10th round of the 1991 draft, 262nd overall, as a catcher. He transitioned to first base and then DH, though the position shift didn't prevent him from making frequent DL trips. Sweeney earned nearly $73MM in his career, according to Baseball-Reference.
He retires with BA of 1.000 and OPS 2.000 for the postseason. Not many people can match that.
Yet another one fades to black. Just how many players have decided to hang up the ol’ glove & cleats in the past 5 months? Seems like more than usual.
He also played for Oakland in in 2008, albeit only 136 PA’s
He also played for Oakland in in 2008, albeit only 136 PA’s
He played for the A’s as well.
But only 136 PA’s
Sweeney had some very good years in KC. Happy retirement.
He only good player we had for most of those years.
Awesome player and guy. Congrats on a great career!
My favorite Mike Sweeney story involves me. A buddy and I drove down from Omaha to catch a couple of KC games back in 2001, when Sweeney was in his prime. It was a Saturday night, and we stayed after the game to get some autographs from players. We hung out near the players parking lot, and there were probably 70-80 other people waiting as well. Sweeney was the last one out at around 11:30pm. He stayed until everyone who had waited for him to sign had their autograph (about 1am or so). He didn’t just sign, either – he chatted everyone up. My friend and I chatted him up as well, and he personalized the autograph to both of us. He was a very good baseball player, and he’s an even better person. Growing up a fan of Cal Ripken Jr., Mike was certainly in his class.
Mike – if you read this, I wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavours off the field. You will certainly be missed on it.
My favorite baseball player of all time. I always thought of him being in a Phillies uniform and gladly he was.
i loved that man. he better coach somewhere because he has a damn big heart!
Really enjoyed watching his short time in Philly! He was a name I’d heard for years but never got the chance to see prior.
Best of luck Mike!
Good luck to Mike. He was always one of my favorite non-Orioles.
I am a long time Phillies fan it was a lot of fun watching Sweeney last year all I can is Ryan Howard struck out looking and admitted he was not healthy. You could have gone out on top! Anyway enjoy your retirement and good luck it was a really a pleasure. Thanks you were a class act last season.
Did he retire also for the ‘love of Ken Griffey Jr’? =)
Man this is sad, I love Mike Sweeney. He might not be a Hall of Famer, but he everybody loves the guy, unless he was playing against your team.
Regardless, he was awesome.
Mike Sweeney, great guy and fun to watch as well. As a Twins fan, all those years where the Royals were horrible, Sweeney and The Joker Joe Randa were the two players I would fear coming to the plate.
Retire? I may be wrong, but Sweeney just may pop up again, before the seasons end.
I live in NJ and am a Yankees fan. But I am a bigger baseball fan. I’ve always looked forward to those series when the Yankees would play the Royals, just so I could get to see Sweeney hit. And when he was hot, there were few, if any, better. A stud player in his prime and an underrated player overall, Mike Sweeney was a baseball player everyone could respect.
i love when players and their ‘franchise’ teams get together for a proper one-day retirement, its gotta feel good to finish with the team that you called yours