‘Things happen for a reason’: Dansby Swanson becomes new face of franchise in Chicago
MESA, Ariz. – Dansby Swanson, born and raised in Georgia, grew up watching his favorite players become legends, but somewhere along the way, money mudded the waters, and precious few finished their careers in Atlanta.
It didn’t matter whether it was Hank Aaron or Tom Glavine or Andruw Jones or John Smoltz, none finished their careers in the organization.
He was an eyewitness to Freddie Freeman’s painful departure a year ago when he became a free agent, and wound up with the Los Angeles Dodgers, sobbing as he talked about the breakup last summer.
Now, here was Swanson’s turn at free agency. He was the hometown kid. The most popular among the fans. Their clubhouse leader. The ironman who missed only two games in three years. The player who earned his first All-Star berth, won his first Gold Glove, hit 25 homers and drove in 96 runs in 2022. And led Atlanta to its fifth consecutive division title.
Still, after everything he observed, he had to brace himself for the possibility that Atlanta could let him go, too, right, unwilling to bridge a gap in negotiations?
“Well, yes, and no,’’ Swanson tells USA TODAY Sports. “I mean, I feel like ego gets in the way. They wouldn’t let me go, right? I’m a homegrown kid. I’ve kind of been leading this team for a while. I’m the center, glue of the team, like if there was ever anything going on, people would come to me.’’
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But, just as Atlanta did with Freeman, made an offer to retain Swanson, but never budged, sticking to their six-year, $100 million proposal even when his peers in the free-agent class were getting massive deals.
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“It’s funny like before Chicago, we were both kind of like I don’t know,’’ he said. “She said, ‘I don’t know if I want to there.’ I said, ‘I don’t know if I want to be there.’ But the more we prayed about it was like, ‘Chicago is where we’re supposed to be.’ Looking back, things just started falling to place than makes a lot of sense now.’’
Certainly, Swanson’s arrival boosts soccer’s popularity in the clubhouse, with the players knowing that Mallory has scored goals in six consecutive games, including game-winners in the last two.
“It’s been so fun to watch, being able to love and support her through her journey,’’ Swanson says. “It’s pretty freakin’ cool. It’s so cool to see her transformation because she’s come a long ways.
Swanson, 29, has grown to love the sport, learning the nuances, the teamwork involved, the strategy on plays. They dissect each game together, and even share the same trainer in the off-season.
“She’s having fun and with all of her natural ability, you get to that point where you learn how to be a professional,’’ Swanson says. “It’s a fun thing to see how much these girls do, and what they go through, it’s pretty amazing.’’
It was soccer that brought them together in the first place. Swanson, who attended Vanderbilt, was friends with Cheyna Williams, who played on Vandy’s soccer team, and later played on the Washington Spirit soccer team with Mallory. Well, one day Cheyna came to one of Swanson’s games, brought along Mallory, and they met for the first time in 2017.
The off-season comes around, and Mallory’s sister, Brianna, got married, who happened to be second baseman Jace Peterson, Swanson’s teammate in Atlanta. They reconnected at the wedding, Swanson visited Mallory in Colorado before spring training in 2018, and the two have been together ever since. They married Dec. 10 in Greensboro, Georgia, and spent their honeymoon figuring out where Swanson was going to spend the rest of his career.
“She came with me to a couple of meetings with teams,’’ Swanson says, “that was before the wedding. They kept calling, but it was wedding weekend. I was like, ‘Hey, I know this is in the middle of the winter meetings, but sorry, we have to focus on the wedding.’’’
They went off to their honeymoon, and in between catching rays and waves on the beach, tried to decide just where they wanted to be.
“We don’t always understand why things happen, but things happen for a reason,’’ Swanson says, “and we just felt like this is where our home for the next seven years is supposed to be.’’
Now, here they are, Chicago’s power couple, with Mallory playing in the World Cup this summer and Swanson trying to get the Cubs back into the postseason, with the two vowing never to look back.
Swanson sat down with Freeman and Jason Heyward, his two close friends and former teammates in Atlanta, who provided to ease the transition .
“They basically just told me to keep an open mind,’’ Swanson said, “and just embrace being around your new teammates, really invest in the people that you’re with. The beautiful part here is just with my personality, it’s very easy to get invested into the group of guys that we have.’’
Cubs manager David Ross has seen the leadership skills surface since he walked through the clubhouse doors, watching him slowly ingratiate himself with his new teammates, and really being everything the Cubs could have imagined.
“You definitely see those leadership skills, that winning mentality,’’ Ross says. “All he talks about is what it takes to win. He’s very committed and having conversations getting comfortable with how we do things here. He’s so tough mentally.
“And besides, now we’re getting to know about soccer. We’re all talking about it more. You know she has winning goals in the last two games? She’s another winner who is now part of our Cubs’ family.
“It’s going to a fun summer in Chicago.’’
Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale