Evar Swanson

{{Short description|American baseball and football player (1902–1973)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Evar Swanson

|image=EvarSwansonGoudeycard.jpg

|caption=Evar Swanson 1933 Goudey baseball card

|position=Outfielder

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{birth date|1902|10|15}}

|birth_place=DeKalb, Illinois, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1973|7|17|1902|10|15}}

|death_place=Galesburg, Illinois, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=April 18

|debutyear=1929

|debutteam=Cincinnati Reds

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 30

|finalyear=1934

|finalteam=Chicago White Sox

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.303

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=7

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=170

|teams=

• Cincinnati Reds ({{baseball year|1929}}–{{baseball year|1930}})
• Chicago White Sox ({{baseball year|1932}}–{{baseball year|1934}})

}}

Ernest Evar Swanson (October 15, 1902 – July 17, 1973) was an American professional baseball and football player. He played outfielder in the Major Leagues from {{Baseball year|1929}} to {{Baseball year|1934}}. He would play for the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. In the National Football League, he played running back for the Rock Island Independents, Milwaukee Badgers, and Chicago Cardinals from 1924 to 1927. He went to college and played three sports at Lombard College in Galesburg, Illinois.

Swanson was one of the fastest men in baseball in his time. During a contest held on September 15, 1929, between games of a doubleheader, he circled the bases in 13.3 seconds and that record still stands. (Some sources claim his time was 13.4.) A year later, on September 21, 1930, in a minor league field meet in Columbus, Ohio, Swanson circled the bases in 13.2 seconds, giving him both the fastest time as a minor leaguer.{{Cite web|url=http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=1379&pid=13890|title = Evar Swanson – Society for American Baseball Research}}