All-Cincinnati DH Kyle Schwarber on football, dancing and how he wins everywhere he goes
Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, the starting designated hitter on the Enquirer’s all-time, All-Cincinnati team, returns home this week when the Phillies open a four-game series Monday night at Great American Ball Park.
But he really never left.
The former Middletown High two-sport star, whose dad used to be the town’s police chief, married his high school sweetheart, Paige, and they’re raising kids in their hometown.
And if you tell him you just took a job in Cincinnati after spending more than a decade in Chicago, he’ll probably ask, “How are you liking God’s country?”
Whether that makes Schwarber one of the most Cincinnati of Cincinnati baseball greats, it at least figures to make him a popular attraction this week at GABP – the first big-league ballpark he played in as a pro (2015 Futures Game MVP) and where his 12 home runs are most in his career for any ballpark as a visiting player.
The two-time All-Star, fourth overall draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in 2014 and 2022 National League home run champ once hit a playoff home run on top of the right field video board at Wrigley Field and at least as impressively starred in a high school choir video that went viral in baseball circles about the time that home run landed.
We caught up recently with the only current big-leaguer to crack the starting lineup of our All-Cincinnati team (lineup below):
What did you think of our All-Cincinnati 40-man roster?
“Did you put one out?”
Well, yeah. What if I told you that you were in the starting lineup?
“That’s a compliment, because I know there’s a lot of good players from Cincinnati — there’s some really good players from Cincinnati. So that’s a compliment. Thank you.
“What’d you project us, win-wise?”
Putting you guys up against other cities, you guys make the playoffs. I don’t know if you know this, but St. Paul, Minnesota’s got four Hall of Famers (Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris, Joe Mauer).
“I know. That’s pretty good.”
So they’ve got a horse in Morris, but they don’t have a bullpen.
“We gotta get their starter out.”
So who’s the best player in your mind to come out of Cincinnati — or maybe best three?
“I’m biased because I grew up watching the Reds. I’d say Griffey and Larkin are like 1A and 1B, just from growing up watching them. And it’s hard not to put Pete in there just because he’s the hit king.
“But the two guys I grew up watching were Griffey and Larkin and as a kid wanting to be those guys. And then having a chance to meet them, too, and getting to talk to them, just great people, too.”
When did that happen?
“I met Larkin when I was in Double-A and he was roving (as a Reds instructor), and I actually interrupted an interview. Because it was getting close to game time, I interrupted, and he stopped the interview and took his time just to say hello and talk to me. It was awesome.”
Did he know who you were?
“I don’t know. He might not have. I just introduced myself and said, ‘Hey, man, I’m from the area. Thanks for playing the way you played; I looked up to you.’
“And then I got to meet Griffey the first time with Team USA (in last year’s World Baseball Classic).
“And having Pete Rose say that I didn’t have a chance to get a hit in the World Series was pretty funny, too.”
(Note: Schwarber suffered a season-ending knee injury in his second game in 2016 but made an early, surprising return for the World Series, going 7-for-17 with a double and three walks in the four games he was medically cleared to play for the Series-winning Cubs as the DH).
How come every team you join makes the playoffs (eight of nine years in your career)?
“I think I’m pretty lucky to be on talented teams. When I came up (in 2015), you look at the teams that we had in Chicago, where we were talented. I went to D.C. and got traded (at the 2021 deadline to Boston), but I felt like our D.C. team was really talented, too. Everyone was hurt. …Then I was able to go to Boston, and I walked into a really good situation where we were in first place. And obviously here (in Philadelphia, in the third year of a four-year deal), you want to go to a place that wants to win. And it starts from the top down. You look at ownership, and Mr. (John) Middleton tells us every year he wants to win. And then you look at Dave (Dombrowski’s) track record as head of the front office. … And you look around the room. The year I was a free agent you’re coming off of Bryce (Harper) being the MVP and (Zack) Wheeler arguably could have been the Cy Young winner. And (Aaron) Nola, J.T. (Realmuto), Rhys (Hoskins), (Jean) Segura."
You’re not giving yourself much credit here
“And I’m not going to. When you have really talented players and they’re really good people, too, that’s a recipe for success.
“One thing I learned in Chicago, we were all young and we all become (division and World Series champions) and there’s a lot of people that get recognized early in their career. Listening to some of those guys and talking as we got older and older and older, talking about just how hard it is and how you don’t want to take it for granted.
“If you’re known as a winning player, then, one, you’re probably doing something good on the field; you’re probably doing something good in the clubhouse or on defense or on the bases or whatever it is to contribute to a win. And at the end of the day that can take care of your family.
“That was Jon Lester’s one piece of advice: If you focus on winning and you’re known as a winner, you’re going to get paid in the game.”
That might go for more than just baseball or even just sports.
“I’ve seen a lot. A lot of crap happened to me in my career, where I’ve seen the greatest parts of it and I’ve seen some not the greatest parts of it.
“I feel like that’s a part of being better, learning from experience and learning from failures and being able to come out on the other side of it. I feel like I’ve been pretty lucky throughout my whole career that we’ve won. And kind of been able to come out the other side of some failures.”
What would you have done with your career if baseball wasn’t your thing?
“I probably would have tried to give either the football thing a shot — and I know I probably wouldn’t have made it, especially looking at some of these Eagles that come rolling through here — or probably done the first responder or military thing. I grew up in that kind of household.
“My dad was the (police) chief when I was a senior in high school. My sister was in the military; now she’s a police officer. I have a couple cousins who served, an uncle who was a police officer, a cousin who was a fireman.”
(Note: Schwarber established a Neighborhood Heroes fund early in his career to support local first responders).
So wait, football? We all saw the video from high school: You a better dancer or football player?
“If we were to ask 17 1/2-year-old Kyle, he’d probably say football player. But now, if you’re going to ask, I’d probably have to say dancer. Because I don’t think I could go hit anyone in the NFL.”
Last one, going back to the Reds, how much did you ever dream about playing for them or even think about it now?
“Growing up as a kid it’s the natural thing. Watching Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Larkin, Pokey Reese, Jason LaRue, and then even when I first got into the big leagues. In high school I was watching Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto, (Zack) Cozart, (Drew) Stubbs, Jay Bruce — all those guys. And then facing Mike Leake and facing Aroldis Chapman. Those are cool moments for me. All of a sudden you’re playing against those players you were watching in college and in high school.
“For me now, I don’t really focus on the future of it all, just because you never know what the heck could happen, where your career could (suddenly) come to a stop or you could be playing for another 10 years.
“Maybe one day if I’m still kicking around baseball, and I end up with the Reds you can ask me that question.”
All-Cincinnati Starting Lineup
1B Pete Rose (S), Western Hills HS —Nobody’s banning the hit king from this hall of all-timers on our watch.
SS Barry Larkin (R), Moeller —One of three Hall of Fame players on the roster, Larkin might have been the best shortstop in the game in his prime, taking the torch from Ozzie Smith.
CF Ken Griffey Jr. (L), Moeller —You couldn’t have a “greatest player in the game” debate for most of the 1990s without including Griffey, who received what was then the highest percentage of votes for Hall of Fame induction (99.3).
LF Jim Wynn (R), Taft — “The Toy Cannon,” who grew up a few blocks from Crosley Field, made three All-Star teams during a 15-year career that included 291 home runs and 1,224 walks in 8,011 plate appearances (15.3 percent).
RF Dave Parker (L), Courter Tech — One of the most feared hitters of his time, “The Cobra” won three Gold Gloves, two batting titles, an MVP and made seven All-Star teams — including in 1979, when he made one of the most famous throws in All-Star history to nail Brian Downing at the plate from right field in Seattle’s Kingdome.
3B Buddy Bell (R), Moeller — One of the best third basemen of his generation, the father of big-leaguers David and Mike Bell and son of All-Star Red Gus Bell probably deserves a Hall of Fame nod.
DH Kyle Schwarber (L), Middletown — One of the worst non-tender decisions in baseball history, Schwarber was released by the Cubs six years after being drafted fourth overall — then immediately made an All-Star team the next season for Washington, went to the playoffs after a deadline trade to Boston and then signed with Philadelphia, where he won a home run title, made another All-Star team and played in the 2022 World Series.
C Jim Leyritz (R), Turpin — Leyritz hit 90 home runs in 903 regular-season games, but clobbered eight in 28 career postseason games, including the tying three-run shot in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the 1996 World Series for the Yankees.
2B Josh Harrison (R), Princeton — Some believe Josh is only the second-best athlete in his own family (his brother Vince, a local prep legend, is the Reds’ Dayton-affiliate manager). But Josh has two three All-Star selections and three playoff appearances.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Check out who Kyle Schwarber says are 1A and 1B all-time local players
