William Swank

William Swank
Born (1940-06-17) June 17, 1940
Chicago, Illinois, US
Occupation Author
Website Baseball Santa

William "Bill" George Swank is the author or co-author of ten books and numerous articles primarily about baseball. The San Diego Historical Society identified him as "San Diego's preeminent baseball historian."[1]

Life

Bill Swank was born in Chicago on June 17, 1940, to parents William George Swank and Estelle Jensen Swank. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State College in 1962. He was a Supervising Probation Officer for the County of San Diego from 1963–1994. He has three children and two grandsons. He currently lives in San Diego, California, with his wife Jeri Lynne (Bessie) Swank, whom he married in 1986.

Swank has campaigned since 1988 to get San Diego's first major league baseball player and early home run king Gavy Cravath elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame. His scale model of Lane Field (built in 1997) is on permanent display at the San Diego Hall of Champions. Following the release of his award-winning book, Echoes from Lane Field (1999), Swank has extensively explored the history of baseball in San Diego and helped honor many local players including Pete Coscarart, Johnny Ritchey, Floyd Robinson, Manuel Hernandez and Ted Williams.

Swank has been Santa Claus for Christmas on the Prado in Balboa Park, San Diego, since 2002. He also volunteers as Santa for several other charitable organizations in San Diego. As "Baseball Santa," he played second base for the House of David from 2003 through 2008. In 2009, Baseball Santa began giving baseball equipment to Little Leagues in Mexico.

Works

The Lane Field Padres, 1936-1946 and 1947-1957, (two volumes)

Published by the San Diego Padres and San Diego Baseball Historical Society, 1997; co-author Ray Brandes

Echoes from Lane Field

Turner Publishing Company, 1999. Winner, San Diego Press Club and San Diego Book Awards, 1999

From the Introduction: The breeze that once carried baseballs from Lane Field onto Pacific Highway still blows in from San Diego Harbor. Today, it teases a discarded paper cup that rolls aimlessly between silent cars in a parking lot. This nondescript property located at the corner of Broadway and Pacific Highway was the birthplace of the San Diego Padres. This book contains the golden memories of the men who played at Lane Field from 1936 through 1957.

Gold Leather Helmets, Black Hightop Shoes

Big League Press, 2003. Co-Author Bill Rice.

An Athletic History of Mission Bay High School During the 1950s. From a review by Don King, Historian of the San Diego Hall of Champions: "Bill Swank is San Diego's eminent baseball historian, but he's a couple tacos short of a combination plate. Mission Bay is a powerhouse today, but that wasn't the case when the school opened fifty years ago…and then it got worse. Why would somebody write about this? With painstaking research and a sense of humor, Swank and Bill Rice have created a time capsule of the 1950s. How did they ever find so much information about women's athletics from that era? You don’t have to be a Buc to enjoy this book."

Baseball in San Diego (two books)

Baseball in San Diego; From the Padres to Petco, Arcadia Publishing, 2004 Baseball in San Diego; From the Plaza to the Padres, Arcadia Publishing, 2005

From the back cover of Padres to Petco: The first color action photo of Ted Williams (as shown on the front cover) was taken at Lane Field in San Diego on October 5, 1941 by an amateur photographer. Nobody knew of its existence until an old wooden cigar box was found in a basement in 1999. This book is a treasure chest of such old San Diego baseball pictures and memories. From The Padres to Petco focuses on San Diego's love affair with the Padres from the Pacific Coast League years at Lane Field (1936–57), Westgate Park (1958-67), San Diego Stadium (1968) and through 35 more exciting and often exasperating National League summers in Mission Valley (1969-2003). Through it all, Padre fans have been faithful and forgiving. With a new ballpark, San Diego looks to build a winning tradition.

From the back cover of Plaza to Padres: Baseball in San Diego: From the Plaza to the Padres, takes the reader on a seven-decade journey from Horton Plaza, the site of San Diego's first base ball game in 1871, to lower Broadway and the future home of Lane Field. Before the Pacific Coast League, San Diego had three Class D teams. One was the Bears, whose frustrated owner Dick Cooley complained, “I don't believe they'll make baseball pay here in a thousand years.” With America's finest year-round climate, barnstorming and black baseball were popular attractions. Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants practically lived in San Diego in the winter of 1913. All the while, there were constant struggles between the forces of amateur and professional baseball for players, diamonds, and sports coverage.

Bob Chandler's Tales from the San Diego Padres

Sports Publishing, 2006. Co-author Bob Chandler

From the book jacket: Longtime Padres announcer Bob Chandler shares his memories of the team with San Diego baseball historian Bill Swank in an easy-to-read recap of the team's colorful past. Chandler and Swank utilize their numerous contacts to bring readers many inside stories and humorous anecdotes dating back to the team's actual birth on May 27, 1968. Eight-time batting champion Tony Gwynn and Cy Young Award-winner Randy Jones are among the former players providing insight and inside stories. Chandler's longtime broadcast partner Jerry Coleman, elected to the broadcasters wing of the baseball Hall of Fame in 2005, has written the foreword.

The Life of Dion Rich: Live Like a Millionaire With No Money Down

Silver Threads, 2011. Co-author Charlie Jones.

From the book jacket: Welcome to the story of Dion Rich, the World's Greatest Gate-Crasher. Secrurity at the Super Bowl, Academy Awards, and the Kentuckt Derby Winners Circle were no match for Dion. And, yes, that's dion carrying Tom Landry off the field after his Super Bowl win. Enjoy the great stories, pictures and secrets of the World's Greatest Gate-Crasher. "The Gate-Crasher knew what lay before him: He must descend into hell and pull the devil's teeth. It was Clyde Barrow versus Fort Knox. Roseanne versus Denny's page three. Wearing a blue blazer and a tie, Albert Einstein's haircut and glasses on the end of his pointy nose, Rich set off the penetrate the most impenetrable fortress in U.S. history. "The fortress lost. Dion was inside in six minutes. I followed him the same way. It was pure art. "memo to NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue: $7 million in security wasn't enough. Memo to Salt Lake City Olympic Committee: He'll be there this week." Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated, Talking about Dion at Super Bowl XXXVI

Off Guard

Silver Threads, 2012. Co-author Walt Sweeney

From the book jacket: Walt Sweeney was one of the greatest linemen ever to play in the National Football League. During his 13-year career with the San Diego Chargers and the Washington Redskins, he was a nine time All-Star. He was also a victim of performance-enhancing drugs before anyone knew what they were...performance-enhancing drugs that his employer required him to take. Off Guard is Sweeney’s story, told with frankness and humor, about his tumultuous career and equally tumultuous life after football. It details his confrontations and disillusion with the NFL and its Players Association.

Christmas in San Diego

Arcadia Publishing, 2015.

From the back cover: What is the true meaning of Christmas? The author believes the answer is found in the Golden Rule. Christmas should be about being good to one another. Christmas in San Diego focuses on people who bring joy to others. Locals are blessed to have many special individuals who share their spirit to make Christmas in San Diego a special season for everyone. This book is divided into five chapters: the history of Christmas in San Diego, the many Christmas traditions throughout San Diego, the various ways Christmas is celebrated within the communities of San Diego County, unique San Diego Christmas trees, and lastly, some special Santa Diego Santas.


Honors

  1. ↑ "Echoes From Lane Field". sandiegohistory.org.
  2. ↑ "The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Emmy Recipients, 2013" (PDF). nataspsw.or.
  3. ↑ "Friends of Balboa Park » Annual Awards Luncheon – 2012". friendsofbalboapark.org.
  4. ↑ "Awards - San Diego Press Club". San Diego Press Club.
  5. ↑ "Awards - San Diego Press Club". San Diego Press Club.
  6. ↑ "San Diego Book Awards". sdbookawards.com.
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