Mike Sweeney (born July 22, 1973, Orange, California) is a first baseman/designated hitter in Major League Baseball who has played his entire career for the Kansas City Royals. He is the Royals' first true superstar since Hall of Famer George Brett retired in 1993. Sweeney made his major league debut on September 14, 1995, as a catcher. While his ability with the bat impressed the Royals, they were less than enamored with his skills behind the plate.
His big break came in 1999 when the Royals tried unsuccessfully to trade him during spring training. Riddled with injuries and with no other viable options, the Royals started using Sweeney as their regular designated hitter. After the sudden retirement of Jeff King, the Royals first offered the first base job to rookie Jeremy Giambi, but when he showed reluctance, they gave the job to Sweeney, who responded by posting the lowest fielding percentage by a regular first baseman in more than 20 years. His .322 batting average led the team and his 22 home runs and 102 RBI were second and third on the team, respectively.
Through the 2004 season, Sweeney has compiled a .305 average with 161 home runs and 683 RBI in 1026 games. He has made the American League All-Star team five times, from 2000-03, and in 2005.
During the 2003 calendar year a McFarlane figure of Sweeney was released in the MLB 6th series. There are two variants of the figure, in a blue jersey (common) and white home jersey (rare).
In 2005, Sweeney managed to hit 21 homers, and bat an even .300, in just 122 games, and still leading the team.
