The plan was simple. On an early morning in 1999, Mike Sweeney, Jeremy Giambi and Jed Hansen were going bass fishing. It was a Monday in May, an off day, and the Kansas City Royals were set to board a plane for Pittsburgh that night. So the three young major-leaguers headed to Kevin Appier’s farm outside Paola, Kan.
By the end of the day, Giambi would own staples in his head, stitches near his eye and be left to concoct a ridiculous cover story about a toolbox falling on his head. Sweeney, meanwhile, would be forced into the starting lineup at first base and piece together the first extended hot streak of his sterling career.