Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Mookie Betts is opening up about how he wants to be remembered. Betts says that he wants to be known as a legend when he is retired from athletics.
“When I'm done, I want you to remember not just the baseball player, but I want to be a legend in the game,” Betts said. “Whatever comes my way, I am just going to try and be the best at it.”
Betts the baseball player
Betts is showing this season that he is certainly one of the best at it. The versatile infielder is hitting .352 this season so far, with 18 runs batted in already this year. Betts has also hit six home runs this season, and is swinging the bat as well as ever.
The Dodgers are in need of Betts' offense. The team is off to a choppy start, with a 12-10 record. There are very high expectations in Los Angeles this season, as the Dodgers spent a truckload of dough to bring in Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to lead the team this year.
Betts is one of the rare players in baseball who can play a number of positions. He has spent time in right field, as well as second base and shortstop. In his career, Betts is a .295 hitter with more than 1,500 hits and nearly 800 runs batted in. He has won World Series championships with the Dodgers but also the Boston Red Sox in his MLB career. He came to the Dodgers in 2020 after playing in Boston for six seasons.
Betts has a strong case when it comes to arguing for legend status. On top of the championships, the Dodgers slugger is also a 7-time All-Star. He has won the Silver Slugger award six times in his career, and he's a six-time winner of the Gold Glove Award.
Betts' versatility
On top of being an outstanding baseball player, Betts is also an outstanding bowler. He is a member of the Professional Bowler's Association, and once threw a perfect game on the lanes at the 2017 World Series of Bowling. A perfect game in bowling is a score of 300, and a bowler must throw 12 strikes in a row to reach it. That is truly very difficult to achieve.
Betts was named the Tennessee Boys Bowler of the Year in 2010, before he became a professional athlete. He has stuck with his love for bowling over the years, as well as his time on the baseball diamond.
There are a lot of reasons to believe that Betts absolutely deserves legend status. He could very well go to the Hall of Fame in two professional sports, which rarely if ever happens to a pro.
The Dodgers are back in action Saturday, against the New York Mets. That game is ongoing at the time of writing.
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