Ryan Sweeney: the 'Flyin' Iowan'

Was sent this column from the San Francisco Chronicle's Scott Ostler about Oakland A's outfielder and Cedar Rapidian Ryan Sweeney. Thought I'd share.

Sweeney is having a good season thus far for the A's: .291 batting average with a home run and 17 RBIs in 27 games. He had five RBIs in a win over Texas earlier this week.

Anyway, here's the column:

SFGate 

A's Sweeney true to his Iowa roots 

Scott Ostler 

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 

Ryan Sweeney makes a sliding catch in foul territory on a... Ryan Sweeney hits a two run base hit in the ninth inning ... 

Don't call Ryan Sweeney the Flyin' Iowan, because that might cause some folks to confuse the A's right fielder with the numerous other Iowans who have become "hip" to airplane travel. 

But Sweeney is fleet of foot, one of the three or four fastest A's outfielders. Which is impressive, because as Rajai Davis said Wednesday, "Put our outfield against the rest of the league, we'll beat 'em all in a relay." 

Sweeney downplays his own speed. 

"I like to consider myself more of an instinctive outfielder," he said. "I get good jumps on the ball and I might not be as fast, but I got big strides and I try to close ground and take good routes to the ball." 

Spoken like a true son of Iowa, where the state motto is, "We Get A Good Jump On The Ball." 

True to his roots, Sweeney goes about his business quietly, without fuss. He's a large lad (6-foot-4 and 225 pounds) but not a home-run hitter. He's a get-on-base machine, so quietly consistent that you hardly notice, unless it's like Tuesday night when he hit a rare homer and drove in five runs. 

Sweeney came to the A's in the trade that sent Nick Swisher to the White Sox, and Sweeney is the anti-Swisher. Swisher wore his hair theatrically long; Sweeney rocks the buzz-cut. Swisher went for jacks, Sweeney goes for the gaps. Swisher was Hollywood (or New York City); Sweeney is pure Cedar Rapids. 

This is Sweeney's third major-league season, he's 25 and presumably he has some money, and he still calls Cedar Rapids home. It ain't Des Moines, but it's glitzy enough for him. He bought a house in Cedar Rapids five years ago and still lives there. He married a Northern California girl and she now attends nursing school in Iowa. 

"It's a little boring there for her, I think," Sweeney said. "She's used to a little faster pace, but she likes it, too." 

Faster pace? His wife is from El Dorado Hills. 

Sweeney said he enjoys retreating to the peace of Iowa every winter, although it bugs him a bit that everyone there wants to talk baseball. Maybe that's because Sweeney is a star in Iowa, and the most recent famous Iowans were Johnny Carson and John Wayne, and they're dead. 

(Actually, Bob Feller, Kurt Warner and '07 Masters champion Zach Johnson are from Iowa. But Sweeney is on the short-short list of Famous Live Iowans.) 

Eventually, Sweeney said, he and his wife might move from the Hawkeye State. The winters get harder to take, he said, although he knows that the relentless snowstorms are nature's way of toughening up Iowans for the summer's oppressive heat, humidity, thunderstorms, hurricanes and locust plagues. 

I asked Sweeney to name the highlights of Cedar Rapids, what there is to see and do there. 

"I don't know," he said. 

Iowans don't brag, otherwise he would have mentioned the Cedar Rapids Museum of Modern Art and its large collection of Grant Wood paintings - although "American Gothic" hangs in Chicago. 

Sweeney has become a solid, American Gothic-type big-leaguer. He hit .293 last season and had crept over .300 until Wednesday's 0-for-4 (with an RBI). It was only the second game this season he failed to get on base, and it snapped his streak of reaching base in 37 consecutive home games (Reggie Jackson holds the A's record, 40). 

Sweeney has his own agenda and he's sticking to it. For example, for a big fella, he hits few home runs - one every 80 at-bats. 

"I'm not going to change," Sweeney said. "A lot of guys try to hit more home runs and they strike out a lot more ... I just want to be a good all-around player." 

Whatever mark he makes in the big leagues will be with his bat and glove, not with his quotes. 

On getting on base: "It's not really something I think about. It's more of a team thing. Depends on what the situation presents." 

On hitting .300 as a goal: "If you hit .300, they say, 'He's a good hitter.' I like to be considered that. I've come close (to .300) every year. I just try to stay consistent, not do too much or too little." 

On his sometimes acrobatic play in right field: "I'm not scared to run into a wall or slide or dive or whatever to save a run. Trust me, I would like to not dive, but sometimes that's what happens." 

On winning a Gold Glove: "If it happens, it happens; and if it don't, it don't." 

Sweeney is just doing whatever it takes, every play, every day. The Hard Tryin' Iowan.