GLENDALE, Ariz. — Mookie Betts continues to up the ante. He talked about it last season wants to be a Hall of Famer. His latest goal: To become, in his words, “a legend in the game.”
Betts, 31, made that declaration in an interview I conducted with him Tuesday for Fox Sports. I asked him, after winning two World Series and an MVP award, what keeps him going at this stage of his career. What motivates him. What fuels him.
“My family, obviously,” said Betts, who is married with two children. “But it’s just a drive inside me just to be great. I want to be great. When I’m done, I want you to remember not just the baseball player, but Mookie. I want to be a legend in the game.
“How I created it, I have no idea. I’m just kind of going about it and bringing smiles to people’s faces when I can, trying to sign some autographs when I can, be the best player I can be when I’m playing, be the best teammate I can be.
“Whatever comes my way, I’m just going to try and be the best at it no matter what. If sitting on the bench, I want to be the best cheerleader. Whatever it is. I think if I can do that, I feel like that will create some kind of legacy that I can leave behind. You’re not going to remember everything on the field, but I want people to remember who Mookie was off the field for sure.”
Major leaguers rarely speak this way. Until recently, sports culture discouraged individualism of any kind. Freedom of expression is more accepted, as evidenced by the league’s “Let the Kids Play” promotional campaign in 2019. But even today, few players openly discuss individual goals, preferring to focus solely on the team .
Betts, to be sure, is aiming for his Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series, something they did in the shortened 2020 season, but haven’t accomplished in a full season since 1988. From the team’s $1 billion offseason , which includes the additions of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, he talked about a “sense of urgency” this spring.
“We’ve been to the playoffs a lot of times and not made it,” Betts said, referring to the team’s 11 straight playoff appearances. “We got one, but one for nine or ten is not very good in our sport, really in general.”
Betts fielded a ground ball at Camelback Ranch earlier this month. (Rick Scuteri / USA Today)
To become a “legend of the game,” at least from the perspective of Dodgers fans, Betts knows he must perform better in October. He was brilliant in the 2020 postseason, but went 2-for-25 as the Dodgers were knocked out in the past two Division Series, first by the San Diego Padres, then by the Arizona Diamondbacks, both times after winning 100 or more. regular season games.
However, when Betts mentioned his goal of becoming a legend, he wasn’t necessarily talking about on-field performance. I asked him when he realized it was possible for him to achieve that status, and that it was something he wanted. His answer is telling.
“My friends really stuck with me,” Betts said. “They tell me to embrace who you are. Hug when you enter a place and someone wants to take a picture or someone is nervous. I used to be a bit shy about it. Now when I see someone who is a bit shy, I go and talk to them. I go and pretend.
“I’m a normal person like everyone else, but there are some things I do a little differently, and there are some lives I impact a little differently, and I think I should embrace that. i’m trying I do my best. It’s strange for me, and it’s strange to even say something like this. But it’s really from my friends. They’ve been with me since I was in the fifth grade, so they’ve seen where I’ve been. We had no idea this was going to happen.”
“This” includes his impressive 2018 season with the Boston Red Sox, when he won the American League batting title with a .346 batting average, helped the Red Sox win the World Series and was voted AL MVP. It also included seven All-Star appearances and six Gold Gloves, not to mention a $365 million contract, the third-largest guarantee in major-league history.
Betts’ popularity, however, stems not only from his immense all-around skills, but also from fans relating to a player listed at just 5-foot-9, 180 pounds. Betts is far from a behemoth. He also shows, at times, an endearing, almost childlike joy for the game.
The Dodgers plan to use Betts at second base this season — he joked to reporters recently that he left his right-field glove and cleats in Los Angeles. Last season, he moved quickly between right, second and shortstop, showing exceptional versatility, particularly for a superstar.
“It felt like I was a kid again,” said Betts, a native of Nashville, Tenn. “Growing up, I never played one position. I’m almost like a utility guy. I have four uniforms, and whoever calls and needs a right fielder or a shortstop or a second baseman or a third baseman or a first baseman, that’s kind of where we go. It’s almost weird playing just one position, especially in the outfield.”
Wait, Betts played for four different youth teams at once?
“Where they need to be,” he continued, smiling. “Sometimes I just pitch, and sometimes I’ll play left. Unimportant. My dad, I appreciated that from him because I think that really taught me how to be a baseball player instead of just playing one position full time.
For Betts, it was the start of something big, a major-league career about to enter its 11th season. The Hall of Fame seems within reach, and he still wants more. To win another World Series. To impress on and off the field. To become – yes, he said it – a legend in the game.
(Top photo by Mookie Betts: Masterpress / Getty Images)
