Royals’ star relies on faith

Mike Sweeney not shy about his commitment to Jesus Christ

KANSAS CITY—Mike Sweeney bounced into the Kansas City Royals’ locker room the afternoon that the Royals returned from a 12-day road trip recently. He’d been out of action since May 1 when he injured his back against the Detroit Tigers and he wasn’t able to fly with the team to away games because of concerns about his injury.

He hugged Doug Mientkiewicz. He approached a group of Spanish-speaking teammates with a huge grin on his face and spoke to them in their native tongue. He bumped fists with Reggie Sanders for hitting career home run No. 299 during the road trip and Sanders thanked him for calling to express his support. 

In the process of renewing relationships, Sweeney left little doubt that he truly is the team captain and his actions declared that no racial, cultural, or any other sort of potential dividing line is allowed under his watch. But being such a leader isn’t easy – especially when you play for a team that has experienced as much turmoil as the Royals have in recent seasons. Sweeney has seen a revolving door of managers and coaches. The Royals have lost 100 or more games three of the last four seasons and appear to be headed for another 100-loss season. And he’s heard discontentment from some fans over the fact that he’s missed a substantial amount of games during the last five seasons due to injury. But he knows where to turn during such adversity.

“I revert back to Scripture,” Sweeney said, pointing to a Scripture reference (Matthew 14:22-33) he jotted down in his Day-Timer that morning. “And I think about when Christ sent off His disciples because it was too crowded at the Sea of Galilee. Along the way, they encounter a big storm and Christ meets them in the middle while He’s walking on water and he tells Peter to jump out of the boat. So, Peter locks eyes with Christ as he was walking on water, but when he started looking around at his surroundings, he started to sink.

“Christ rescued him, put him back in the boat, calmed the storm and they sailed on to their destination. For me, I know where I’m going. And just because our destination (as Christians) is heaven, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to have a smooth sail through life. We’re going to have storms. For me, what gets me through the storms—through the adversity is knowing that when I’m in that storm, my job is to get out of the boat, to not go with the flow, and to lock eyes with the Savior. And to realize that I’m not going to sink if I focus on Christ through the storms.”

According to Rod Handley—a personal friend and the president and founder of Character That Counts, a ministry that focuses on the importance of character, integrity, and accountability—Sweeney’s faith in Christ goes beyond simply loving the guys on his team.

“It’s real,” Handley said. “And it’s not just his teammates. It’s his opponents. I’ve walked out of chapels with Mike and he gives four or five guys a hug after battling them on the field the day before. It’s very special. Mike is a minister.”

“One of Mike’s longtime nicknames is ‘the nicest guy in baseball’ and it is true,” Handley said. “Mike is in many respects the same man he was when he wasn’t famous.”

Sweeney is quick to point out that being known as a nice guy doesn’t mean he hasn’t made mistakes. In a game during the 2001 season, Detroit Tigers Pitcher Jeff Weaver heaved an insult at Sweeney and Mike charged the mound—leading to an ugly incident that delayed the game for 12 minutes.

“It’s not something I’m real proud of being a part of, but it’s something that happened,” Sweeney said. “For years I’ve tried to rationalize it and justify it and now my desire is that soon, some day, I would be able to reconcile with Jeff. We wouldn’t have to go out to dinner together, but just reconcile things. Not that we’d be best friends, but just to be able to put it behind us. Forgiveness is a good thing and admitting when you’ve messed up is, too.”

Good things from a nice guy who is focused on the narrow path.