GLENDALE, Ariz. — Mookie Betts helps to keep upping the ante. He talked ultimate season about in need of to grow to be a Hall of Famer. His newest objective: To grow to be, in his phrases, “a legend in the game.”
Betts, 31, made that declaration in an interview I performed with him Tuesday for Fox Sports. I requested him, after successful two World Series and an MVP award, what helps to keep him going at this level of his occupation. What motivates him. What fuels him.
“My family, obviously,” stated Betts, who’s married with two kids. “But then just a drive within myself just to be great. I want to be great. When I’m done, I want you to remember not necessarily just the baseball player, but Mookie. I want to be a legend in the game.
“How I create that, 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 it’s 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 type of legacy that I can leave. You won’t remember all the on-field stuff, but I want people to remember who Mookie was off the field for sure.”
Major leaguers hardly talk this fashion. Until lately, the game’s tradition discouraged individualism of any type. Freedom of expression is turning into extra accredited, as evidenced by means of the league’s “Let the Kids Play” promotional marketing campaign in 2019. But even now, few gamers brazenly talk about person targets, who prefer to center of attention most effective at the group.
Betts, to make certain, is intent on his Los Angeles Dodgers successful the World Series, one thing they did within the shortened 2020 season, however haven’t completed in a complete season since 1988. Coming off the group’s $1 billion offseason, which incorporated the additions of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, he spoke of a “sense of urgency” this spring.
“We’ve been to the playoffs so many times and haven’t come through,” Betts stated, relating to the group’s 11 directly playoff appearances. “We’ve gotten one, but one for nine or ten is not very good in our sport, really in general.”
Betts fields flooring balls at Camelback Ranch previous this month. (Rick Scuteri / USA Today)
To grow to be a “legend in the game,” a minimum of from the standpoint of Dodgers lovers, Betts is aware of he will have to carry out higher in October. He used to be sensible within the 2020 postseason, however went a blended 2-for-25 because the Dodgers had been knocked out previously two Division Series, first by means of the San Diego Padres, then by means of the Arizona Diamondbacks, each occasions after successful 100 or extra regular-season video games.
Yet, when Betts discussed his objective of changing into a legend, he used to be now not essentially speaking about on-field efficiency. I requested him when he learned it used to be conceivable for him to succeed in such standing, and that it used to be one thing he even sought after. His solution used to be telling.
“My friends really stay on me,” Betts stated. “They tell me to embrace who you are. Embrace when you walk into somewhere and someone wants to come take a picture or someone gets nervous. I used to kind of shy away from it. Now when I see somebody that’s kind of shy, I go and talk to them. I go and humanize myself.
“I’m a normal person just like everyone else, but there are some things that I do a little differently, and there are some lives that I affect a little differently, and I think I should embrace that. I’m trying. I’m doing my best. It’s weird for me, and it’s weird even saying something like that. But it really stems from my friends. They’ve been with me since I was in the fifth grade, so they’ve seen where I was then. We had no idea any of this was going to happen.”
“This” comprises his outstanding 2018 season with the Boston Red Sox, when he received the American League batting name with a .346 batting moderate, helped the Red Sox win the World Series and used to be voted AL MVP. It additionally comprises seven All-Star appearances and 6 Gold Gloves, to not point out a $365 million contract, the 3rd greatest ensure in major-league historical past.
Betts’ recognition, alternatively, stems now not most effective from his immense all-around talents, but additionally from lovers in relation to a participant who’s indexed at most effective 5-foot-9, 180 kilos. Betts is some distance from a behemoth. He additionally presentations, now and then, an endearing, nearly childlike pleasure for the sport.
The Dodgers plan to make use of Betts most commonly at 2d base this season — he joked to journalists lately that he left his right-field glove and cleats in Los Angeles. Last season, he moved deftly between correct, 2d and shortstop, demonstrating uncommon versatility, specifically for a celebrity.
“It just felt like I was able to be a kid again,” stated Betts, a local of Nashville, Tenn. “Growing up, I never played one position. I was almost like the utility guy. I had four uniforms, and whoever called and needed a right fielder or a shortstop or a second baseman or a third baseman or a first baseman, that’s kind of where we went. It’s almost weird playing just one position, especially in the outfield.”
Wait, Betts performed for 4 other formative years groups immediately?
“Wherever they needed,” he persevered, smiling. “Sometimes I would go just pitch, and sometimes I would go play left. It didn’t matter. My dad, I appreciate that from him because I think that really taught me how to be a baseball player instead of just playing one position the whole time.”
For Betts, it used to be the beginning of one thing large, a major-league occupation this is about to go into its eleventh season. The Hall of Fame turns out smartly inside of his achieve, and nonetheless he needs extra. To win any other World Series. To be admired off and on the sphere. To grow to be — sure, he stated it — a legend within the sport.
(Top picture of Mookie Betts: Masterpress / Getty Images)
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘207679059578897’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
