Nick Swisher grew up in a baseball house with a baseball dad. His father, Steve Swisher, played nine seasons in the big leagues with the Cubs, Cardinals and Padres from 1974-82. For Nick, who played in the Major Leagues from 2004-2015, baseball has been a constant.
These days, there's less baseball talk in Swisher's house, which he shares with his wife and two daughters. These days, it's all about softball as his daughters have picked up the game. He has Home Run Derby X to thank for that.
"When my oldest daughter came to me and said, 'Dad, I want to play softball,' the first thing I did, I called my wife, and I said, 'Mama, it's time to roll, baby! It's my time to shine!'" Swisher said with the smile that is seemingly permanently etched upon his face. "What I really realized is that it's a relationship, right? It's a relationship with a game. For someone like me that has a lot of passion for this game -- you can feel my energy and passion when I talk about things like this -- the fact that my daughter is jumping into this world, it's been amazing."
It wasn't Swisher getting back into the box and showing off his home run swing that interested his children, though: It was the women's softball and baseball superstars like NCAA all-time home run leader Jocelyn Alo or two-time USA Baseball Sportswoman of the year, Alex Hugo, who inspired his children.
Now in its fourth season, one of HRDX's brightest highlights is how it brings men and women together onto one stage. Many of the biggest moments of the past four summers has been seeing female stars show up and absolutely demolish their Major League counterparts, like when Alo hit the walk-off home run in Nashville last year or when 2024 AUSL MVP Award winner Amanda Lorenz led the way in Durham.
"It's because of these amazing women that my daughters are playing," Swisher said. "It's because of the role models that we have with Home Run Derby X on the female side that my daughters wanted to play. I remember the first time she met Erika Piancastelli, Ashton Lansdell and Alex Hugo, and the way that they brought my daughters in and just treated them like they were one of them. That's what this is all about."
Now, when Swisher's children need help on the field or with their swing, it's not the man with 245 big league home runs to his name or nearly a decade of working in the Yankees organization that they call on: It's HRDX's star performers.
"I know baseball very well, but I don't know softball," Swisher said. "So, guess who I'm calling when I have questions? These women, because they know the answers to all that. They've been doing it. They are the experts in their field. So why wouldn't we want to try and utilize that?"
It's not just Swisher's daughters who are looking up to these softball stars, either. At the end of every HRDX event, when the players go over to the stands to sign autographs, there are dozens of young girls -- and young boys -- all lined up, baseballs and Sharpies in hand. Often, it's players like Lansdell -- who currently plays for the Party Animals, the Savannah Bananas' arch nemesis -- or Hugo, that have the longest lines.
"It's bigger than just the game. It's not just about going out and hitting home runs. It's bigger than that," Swisher said about his participation in HRDX. "We don't just want men in the ballpark. We want women there, too. We want girls. We want boys. We want everyone to be part of what we're building right now."
Swisher, who has been a part of HRDX since its very launch in 2021, knows that it's not just the game but the players who are responsible for its success, for the fact that this tournament has continued to grow, year-after-year.
"You cannot build that if you don't have the right people," Swisher said. "The blessing that we've had by being able to have women like Jocelyn Alo and Tiare Jennings and Amanda Lorenz -- the fact that these amazing women want to be part of our game, I just I love them. They're my sisters. I would do anything for them."
It's not just his daughters who have gained role models, but hopefully fans in every ballpark they've visited.
"For myself, to be able to meet these softball icons and to be able to have my daughters have mentors and girls that they look up to as role models, I could not be more proud of being part of Home Run Derby X. Like I tell these girls every single time I see them, we would be nothing if it wasn't for these softball icons and these softball champions."
Swisher, who played with Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering, two current Oklahoma Sooners softball stars in Oklahoma City last week, will now play alongside Jocelyn Alo in Des Moines this Saturday. He's not just looking to hit some homers and soak up the adulation from the crowd, he wants to help bring the game to a new generation -- with female stars right by his side.
"My grandma, whose initials are tattooed right across my heart, would be so proud of the fact that I'm giving back the things that were given to me," Swisher said. "What's that saying? With great power comes responsibility and all those things -- the Spider-Man quote -- for someone like me, I take that so seriously, because I love this game. It's given me everything, and in my mind, I owe so much back to the game."