Baseball
Sweeps is a former professional baseball player. Sweeps' baseball career, which ended when he tested positive for steroid use, [4] included sweeping the Padres, [5] and he also "swept St. Louis three times and had a no-hitter." Sweeps could not afford housing while trying out for the Chicago Cubs and playing on their farm team. [6] He was a left fielder for AAA teams and was also recognized for his hitting skill. [4] Getting a job at the Beef pulled him out of a "dark place" after his expulsion from baseball. [4] In keeping with his baseball background, Sweeps is wearing Nike Air Griffey Max 1 shoes when he puts out the stovetop grease fire in "Braciole." [7]
Hendrix says Sweeps is a Chicago Cubs fan, but as for himself, "I'm not much of a baseball fan...My dad was a White Sox fan, so like, I may be a little more of that, you know?...But then my cousins, I have, like, plenty of cousins that are Cubs fans. They’re like, die-hard Cubs fans." [1]
Beef and wine
He worked at Mikey Berzatto's Original Beef of Chicagoland as a runner and janitor, sweeping and mopping floors at the local Italian beef sandwich shop. Under Carmy Berzatto's ownership, Sweeps retrained to be the sommelier of the fine-dining restaurant the Bear. [8] (Multiple wine websites complained that despite the "fine dining overkill" of season three that wine should have been centered as part of the restaurant.) [9] [10] [11]
In season three, the Bear sent Sweeps to the Court of Master Sommeliers. [12] [13] He is also given a copy of The Original Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert and "thinks he's being trolled" but author Richard Betts is a "legendary sommelier" and the book "well-respected." [10] According to one wine website, "Sweeps is shown struggling to open a bottle whose cork appears to be already 75 percent extracted. A handpull would have finished it, but he unsuccessfully goes after it with a wine key, chipping away bits of cork and swearing under his breath." [10]
In season four, his character's continuing education included a seminar with famed real-life Chicago sommelier Alpana Singh. [14] In the episode "Soubise," she tutored him on pairings (what wine goes with fish, or a mushroom dish). [15] Singh told Wine Enthusiast , "I met with Corey Hendrix...and I explained the psyche of a sommelier...You can feel like you don't belong in the room, particularly if you’re a person of color. It brings its own 'terroir' to the situation...People are coming into the restaurant whose suit and tie is worth more than you're making every month." [16] He is depicted studying out of The Oxford Companion to Wine and The World Atlas of Wine. [16] In real life Singh told Hendrix to look into the styling of DLynn Proctor, who appeared in the documentary Somm, commenting that "male sommeliers...they always have like that sharp suit, the tie with the double windsor knot, the little pocket handkerchief." [1]
According to one foodie website, by the end of season four, Sweeps has become adept at picking "perfect" wine pairings for dishes at the Bear. [17] Wine Enthusiast commended the show for capturing "especially well...the passion, sense of purpose and curiosity that can take hold so quickly for someone new to the field." [16] According to financial consultant Nicholas "the Computer" Marshall (Brian Koppelman) strong wine sales are one of the fragile restaurant's financial bright spots. [18]
