When walking down the halls of NHS, you’re bound to see a lot of teachers, likely wearing button up shirts, ties, nice dress shoes, blouses, dresses, the usual. Maybe you’ll even run into a math teacher named Jim Sweeney, sure to be sporting a nice button down shirt and glasses. You might think that he is an ordinary math teacher, but boy, you’d be terribly wrong. It’s always the ones you least expect.
Jim Sweeney has been a teacher at NHS for 19 years. He’s lived in Norwood for over 90% of his life, and you might know him as one of the math teachers you pass by in the hallway everyday. Maybe you even have gotten the pleasure of seeing him in class everyday. However, you might not know that he also used to be a baseball star!
Yes, you read correctly: A baseball star. And a fantastic one at that.
Sweeney started playing baseball when he was about 5 years old. In college at Holy Cross, he continued playing. Then after his Junior year, he was drafted by the Chicago White Sox.
Sweeney was a very skilled baseball player. He hit in college but then was drafted as a pitcher for the White Sox.
“My batting stats in college were better than my pitching stats. That season, 1999, my sophomore year, I hit .448. I was 4th highest in Division One in the country,” he said.
He was an exceptional hitter. He hit .448, so he was practically getting a hit every other time, despite the fact that hitting a baseball is arguably the hardest thing to do in sports. He had two home runs in his junior year, and a 1.070 slugging percentage. The average for slugging is 0.413.
Sweeney was outstanding in many aspects of baseball, but he was only drafted for one position.
“I got drafted as a pitcher, but I did all [positions] through college. I played first base, and I got drafted just as a pitcher, but both I’m good at,” he said.
In the two years he played in the minors, he only gave up a combined five home runs. He had a combined 11-5 record and an ERA, or earned run average, of 2.36. The average for that is 4.00, so for Sweeney to be that far below is incredibly impressive.
Unfortunately, his baseball career was cut short by a shoulder injury, which he needed surgery for. In the years after his baseball career ended, he found a passion for teaching.
“I ended up being home for some of the time at [physical] rehab and [during] 2003-2004 I needed something to do around here, so I got a job as a 1 to 1 aid for a student at the high school.” Sweeney said.
Then, after about a month, Jim Sweeney’s old AP Calc teacher, Mr. Carver, approached him with an opportunity to help students who were struggling with the MCAS.
“That was when MCAS was a graduation requirement, so I would tutor, during the school day, 4 or 5 students at a time to prepare them for the MCAS and it was great, I was good at it. I was always good at math” Sweeney commented.
Because of how much he enjoyed it, Jim Sweeney decided to become a teacher.
“That whole ‘03-’04 year really made an impact on me when I was tutoring so I reached out to Mr. Carver, I got the ball rolling, and I actually got certified while I was working. I did the couple of teacher tests and got certified” he said.
As a pitcher, Sweeney was extraordinary. As a teacher, students think he’s easy going, good at explaining things, and overall, an amazing teacher.
