1973
Born July 22, 1973
Orange, CA, USA
Mike Sweeney Marquee
b. July 22, 1973 · Kansas City Royals 1995–2007, Oakland Athletics 2008, Seattle Mariners 2009–2010, Philadelphia Phillies 2010
In 2000 he had 206 hits, 29 home runs and 144 runs batted in, which is still the most anyone has driven in for the Royals in a season, ahead of Hal McRae's 133. He hit .333 that year and made the first of five All-Star teams.
Sixteen seasons gave him 1,540 hits, 215 home runs, 909 runs batted in and a .297 average. Thirteen were in Kansas City, where he was the captain of clubs that lost 100 games three times, and a chronically bad back cost him large parts of five seasons.
He came up as a catcher and was moved to first base and then to designated hitter as the back gave way. He was named the players' Man of the Year in 2005 and won the Hutch Award in 2007, both for what he did away from the field. The 2016 ballot gave him three votes of 440.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 5 | 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 |
| Player of the Week | 3 | 1999, 2001, 2002 |
| Hutch Award | 1 | 2007 |
| MLB Players Choice Man of the Year | 1 | 2005 |
| Player of the Month | 1 | 2001 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | KCR | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| 1996 | KCR | 50 | 165 | 23 | 46 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 24 | 18 | 21 | 1 | .279 |
| 1997 | KCR | 84 | 240 | 30 | 58 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 31 | 17 | 33 | 3 | .242 |
| 1998 | KCR | 92 | 282 | 32 | 73 | 18 | 0 | 8 | 35 | 24 | 38 | 2 | .259 |
| 1999 | KCR | 150 | 575 | 101 | 185 | 44 | 2 | 22 | 102 | 54 | 48 | 6 | .322 |
| 2000 | KCR | 159 | 618 | 105 | 206 | 30 | 0 | 29 | 144 | 71 | 67 | 8 | .333 |
| 2001 | KCR | 147 | 559 | 97 | 170 | 46 | 0 | 29 | 99 | 64 | 64 | 10 | .304 |
| 2002 | KCR | 126 | 471 | 81 | 160 | 31 | 1 | 24 | 86 | 61 | 46 | 9 | .340 |
| 2003 | KCR | 108 | 392 | 62 | 115 | 18 | 1 | 16 | 83 | 64 | 56 | 3 | .293 |
| 2004 | KCR | 106 | 411 | 56 | 118 | 23 | 0 | 22 | 79 | 33 | 44 | 3 | .287 |
| 2005 | KCR | 122 | 470 | 63 | 141 | 39 | 0 | 21 | 83 | 33 | 61 | 3 | .300 |
| 2006 | KCR | 60 | 217 | 23 | 56 | 15 | 0 | 8 | 33 | 28 | 48 | 2 | .258 |
| 2007 | KCR | 74 | 265 | 26 | 69 | 15 | 1 | 7 | 38 | 17 | 29 | 0 | .260 |
| 2008 | OAK | 42 | 126 | 13 | 36 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 0 | .286 |
| 2009 | SEA | 74 | 242 | 25 | 68 | 15 | 0 | 8 | 34 | 17 | 31 | 0 | .281 |
| 2010 | PHI/SEA | 56 | 151 | 21 | 38 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 26 | 14 | 21 | 3 | .252 |
| Career | — | 1454 | 5188 | 759 | 1540 | 325 | 5 | 215 | 909 | 522 | 613 | 53 | .297 |
On this day & linked events
1995
Major-league debut: Mike Sweeney
Mike Sweeney made a major-league debut on September 4, 1995.
2010
Final major-league game: Mike Sweeney
Mike Sweeney played a final major-league game on October 3, 2010.
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