(670 The Score) New Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson had his late grandfather top of mind as his new organization introduced him Wednesday.
On the morning of Dec. 11 – just a day after he married his wife, Mallory Pugh – Swanson received word that his grandfather’s health had taken a turn for the worse. So Swanson and his family raced to the senior living facility where his grandfather was at and said their goodbyes. He passed away later that day.
Swanson shared those details Wednesday, when the Cubs introduced him after he signed a seven-year, $177-million deal with the organization. As he begins a new journey in his life after playing for the Braves for the past seven seasons, Swanson reflected on what his grandfather meant to him and how happy he would be to have seen his grandson join the Cubs.
“Being a Cub means more to me than people would realize,” Swanson said. “It’s no secret that I left my hometown team (the Atlanta Braves) to be here. I’ve kept telling everyone that it’s more personal to me.
“The one thing that always stood out was he lived across the yard from my parents and I and my brother and sister. So every day when I would come home from school, I would run up to his house, I’d run in and I’d pretty much demand that he come outside and hit me groundballs, which he would always do. But every time we walked in, he would always have a Cubs game on, back when they were on WGN. He would have a Cubs game on and I was always like, ‘Pops, we’re in Atlanta, dude, we’re Braves fans.’ It was just something, he loved baseball so much and all he ever wanted me to be was doing what I’m doing now. So having won a championship in Atlanta (in 2021) for one of his favorite teams, we just felt that the Cubs, which were his second favorite team, that bringing a championship to this city was just what we felt called to do. So to be able to play for my grandfather’s two favorite teams means the world to me.”
Swanson, who will turn 29 in February, is coming off his first All-Star season in 2022. He hit .277 with 25 homers, 96 RBIs and a .776 OPS while playing all 162 games for the Braves this past season. His 6.4 WAR in 2022 was the second-most among MLB shortstops, according to FanGraphs, trailing only the Mets’ Francisco Lindor.
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