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Mookie’s choice means a lot to MLB
- Updated: April 29, 2016
Mookie Betts is good. Actually, he’s really good. He’s the next Ted, Yaz, Jim Rice and Big Papi in terms of making those around New England feel warm and fuzzy about the Red Sox for long stretches. The fact that this promising infielder-turned-outfielder is African-American only adds to why the following is so encouraging for Major League Baseball.
Despite a slew of other possibilities, Betts made baseball his profession. More African-Americans should follow in Betts’ cleat steps. Will they?
“Well, it looks like many of [my African-American peers] want to be hoopers, and not all of us can make it playing basketball,” said Betts, 23, who had such a chance since he could shoot and dribble as well as anybody around his native Nashville, Tenn., through high school. “Baseball seems to be scary [for some African-American kids], and I’m not even sure why. I think as more and more of us come into the game, the number should grow.”
The numbers for African-American players in the game will grow from its present eight percent or so to something much greater if we have more youth with the mindset of Betts and his parents. And, no, I’m not talking about how Betts got his first name. It came from his parents watching and enjoying Mookie Blaylock, the former NBA star guard who spent much of his career with the Atlanta Hawks. I’m also not talking about why Betts’ middle name is purposely Lynn.
You know … Mookie Lynn Betts.
As in MLB. Major League Baseball.
Betts eased into a smile during our chat the other day at Turner Field in Atlanta, and he pointed to his cell phone nearby.
“I talked to my mom earlier today, and it’s funny how this all played out, because she said she was just being cute at first when she did [the initials], ” Betts said, referring to Diana Benedict, who lives with his father, Willie Betts, in Nashville. “She’s familiar with MLB, because she had a brother [Terry Shumpert] who played [14 years in the Major Leagues, including one season in 1995 with the Red …
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