Mookie Betts is the right fielder among today’s current Major League Baseball landscape. This two-time World Series champion and 2018 AL MVP seems to be making his case for Cooperstown in his accomplished 7-year career. With Mookie being in the spotlight during his tenure in Boston, and more recently with the defending champion L.A. Dodgers, one would be willing to bet that baseball fans know everything there is to know about him. Let’s just see how well we actually perceive Mr. Betts after surveying this compiled list of hidden, little gems of knowledge on this superstar…
Top 10 Unknown Facts About Mookie Betts
10. Mookie Betts: The Bowler?!?
Yup, he is great at bowling too. Betts has multiple perfect 300 games under his belt, makes sense for somebody that is good at everything they try.A couple of famous faces in the crowd…CP3 likes what he sees! Betts was named the Tennessee boys Bowler of the Year in 2010 with a high score of 290.
9. Royal Blood
According to the Boston Globe, Betts is related to Meghan Markle, the former Hollywood actress who married Britain’s Prince Harry to become the Duchess of Sussex. He met his distant relative for the first time before the Red Sox and Yankees played at London Stadium in 2018.
8. Rubik’s Cube Master – 1 minute 53 seconds
7. Two-Sports Star in High School
He was also a great basketball player. Betts was named MVP of the District 12-AAA league his senior season and averaged 14.1 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals per game for John Overton High School in Nashville, Tennessee.
6. Speaking of basketball, the Red Sox drafted Betts after their scouts watched Betts play basketball, not baseball, in Nashville, TN.
Betts was headed to the University of Tennessee on a baseball scholarship, but never played a game for them. He was drafted by the Red Sox in the fifth round of the 2011 MLB draft, and played for them instead.
5. Mookie Betts only played in 23 games for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox
Pictures of Betts in Pawtucket are a rare find considering his brief stint in the minors. However, he made all 23 games count as he successfully reached base in every game!
4. Betts batted .549 during his junior year in high school and .509 in his senior year!
Betts attended John Overton High School in Nashville, Tennessee, playing second base, shortstop and outfield. In 2011, his senior year, he batted .509 with 30 steals and was an honorable mention inclusion for the Louisville Slugger High School All-American list. In 2010, his junior year at Overton, Betts batted .549 with 24 steals en route to an undefeated season.
3. Royal Blood 2.0…
Betts is a nephew of Terry Shumpert, who played parts of 14 seasons with the Royals, Red Sox, Cubs, Padres, Rockies, Dodgers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In 2004, Shumpert spent his final season of professional baseball with the Triple A Nashville Sounds and worked extensively with Betts.
2. MLB is in MLB’s Blood too…
Betts’ parents chose his name in part to form the initials MLB, matching those of Major League Baseball. He has attributed his nickname Mookie to his parents watching former NBA guard Mookie Blaylock play basketball shortly after Betts was born. Betts has stated he has never met Blaylock.
Get Up to Get Down – He can do it all!! DUNK a basketball, HIT a Home Run, ROB a Home Run, Bowl a Perfect Game, 5-Star Athlete & 5-Tool Baseball Future HOF’er
Mr. Do-It-All can literally make any sport look easy. The highlights shown in the previous video barely scratch the surface when considering what this Jack of all trades is capable of. He will be enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame one day. Until then, let us marvel at the wonderful athletic prowess and the overall nice guy Mookie Betts is. Maybe Mookie is what a role-model should be like in sports—just in case Sir Charles is still confused…?
