Dale Sveum

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Dale Curtis Sveum (pronounced "swaim," born November 23, 1963 in Richmond, California) is a retired Major League Baseball player and the current bench coach of the Milwaukee Brewers.

A talented athlete, Sveum was an All-State and All-American quarterback in high school in addition to being a fine baseball player. Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1st round (25th pick) of the 1982 amateur draft as a shortstop and third baseman, he turned down a baseball and football scholarship to Arizona State University in order to sign with the team.[citation needed] He went on to play 12 seasons in MLB, hitting .236 with 69 home runs.

Sveum's best season came in 1987, when he hit 25 home runs and drove in 95 runs while batting mostly in the ninth spot in the Brewers' lineup. On April 19 (Easter Sunday), he hit a walkoff home run at County Stadium to give Milwaukee a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers, their twelfth in a row. The moment is perhaps the greatest of Sveum's career, and the game one of the most remembered in Brewers history. Later that year, he enjoyed the best single game of his career when, on July 17, he hit three home runs and had six RBI, leading his team to a 12-2 thumping of the California Angels.

The following season, Sveum had a career-threatening collision with teammate Darryl Hamilton in which his leg was broken. He missed the rest of the 1988 season and all of the 1989 season. He was never the same player after the incident, and was replaced on the Milwaukee roster by Gary Sheffield.

Prior to his role as coach in Milwaukee, Sveum was employed by the Boston Red Sox. He was third base coach in Boston for some time, including during the team's 2004 World Series victory. He was frequently criticized by Boston fans for being too aggressive in sending runners home, earning him the nickname "Send 'em home Sveum."[citation needed]

Sveum and his wife Darlene have a daughter Britanne and a son Rustin.[citation needed] He is also the cousin of the two time major league all star John Olerud.

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