But what most baseball fans don’t see is how Schwarber performs off the diamond.
He has been active in all the cities where he has played: Chicago, Boston, Washington and now Philadelphia, and at the same time, he has remembered his roots.
So Tyler Bradshaw, executive director the Nuxhall Foundation, named after Hamilton’s Joe Nuxhall, said honoring Schwarber with a Character Card was a natural move.
“He’s all about hard work and discipline,” Bradshaw said of Schwarber, named the Phillies’ 2023 nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award for his work with Schwarber’s Neighborhood Heroes, which started in 2017. “He motivates himself, and that’s what future generations and young leaders desperately need.”
Schwarber has supported Middle Way Baseball, a grassroots organization that revived youth baseball in Middletown. About 350 boys and girls are playing baseball and fast-pitch softball this season at Goldman Park, organizers said.
Bradshaw said Schwarber, like Nuxhall, has become “a cheerleader for his hometown.”
Schwarber’s father, Greg, a retired Middletown police chief, called having his son featured on a Character Card “a great honor.”
Kyle Schwarber is “proud of where he came from and he will preach that all day,” his father said.
Schwarber and his wife, Paige, have two sons and recently built a home in the Germantown area.
“This place is special to us,” Schwarber has said of Middletown, where he and his wife were raised. “It’s always going to be special to us.”
When Schwarber’s professional career ends, he has said he plans to dedicate more time to the youth baseball program.
Mark Kerns, a retired Middletown High School teacher and baseball coach, called the foundation honoring Schwarber’s character “an outstanding choice.”
He said Schwarber is the same person after signing a four-year, $79 million contract with the Phillies two years ago as he was when he played football and baseball in high school.
“That reveals what you’re about,” Kerns said. “To me, he’s as real as you can get.”
The Character Cards, part of the Joe Nuxhall Character Education Fund, feature a photo of a celebrity on the front and a message from them on the back. The cards are at the printer and should be available next week, Bradshaw said. The cards are given to those featured and local organizations to distribute, he said.
Besides Schwarber, Bradshaw said a card of Luke Kennard, the former Franklin High School standout, will be printed with his new team the Memphis Grizzlies. He was earlier featured wearing a Detroit Pistons uniform.
Another card, featuring Brent Suter, a Moeller High School graduate and reliever for the Cincinnati Reds, will be reprinted. He was earlier featured in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform.
Teddy Kremer, a former Reds bat boy, has distributed more than 10,000 of his Character Cards, so 5,000 more are being printed, Bradshaw said.
Others featured on the cards include former Reds first baseman Sean Casey and Sheila Gray from Ch. 12.
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