Mookie Betts International Bowling Industry

PROFILE

MLB superstar still finds plenty of time for his second love.

By Mark Miller ong before he became a baseball star, Marcus Lynn Betts was a shining light in another sport.

If the name doesn’t sound familiar perhaps his nickname Mookie rings a bell. Maybe the fact that the right fielder for the Boston Red Sox finished second in voting for American League Most Valuable Player in 2016 will jog your memory.

While the 5 foot-9 inch, 180-pound Nashville, TN, native has been burning up Major League Baseball fields for the last two years, Betts also has held his own on the lanes. Anyone who knew him before, or has known him since he made his Boston Red Sox debut three years ago, wouldn’t be surprised.

He was the 2010 Tennessee Youth Bowler of the Year while

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a junior at John Overton High School, thanks to a 290 game and 827 series. He had a respectable debut at the 2015 GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling. And he finished in second place in the eighth-annual State Farm CP3 Celebrity Invitational in January.

“Bowling definitely is my No. 2 thing to do after baseball,” Betts said in an audio interview conducted at spring training in Florida by the Red Sox exclusively for International Bowling Industry. “I’ve been doing it since I was about 3 or 4 years old.

I just enjoy it so much.

“It’s a family thing for me. Both sides of the family bowl. It’s definitely something I can do that’s safe from injury as well.”

It was his mother and avid bowler Diana Benedict, also his first Little League baseball coach, who taught her son how to bowl. As a youngster, he would even tag along to watch her in leagues and tournaments.

He continued to shine on the lanes to the point of averaging 240 for his high school where he actually was a three-sport star.

On the baseball field, he batted .549 with 24 steals his junior year and .509 with 30 steals his senior year in 2011 while splitting time at second base, shortstop and the outfield. That earned him honorable mention for the Louisville Slugger High School All-American team.

PROFILE On the basketball court, he averaged 14 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals a game his senior year and was named Class AAA All-City Player of the Year. Ironically his nickname came from a former professional basketball player named Mookie Blaylock.

His original plan was to play baseball at the University of Tennessee, signing a letter-of-intent over Vanderbilt University, Mississippi State University and the University of Alabama-Birmingham. But when the Red Sox made him the 172nd overall pick in the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft, he opted for them when they offered a $750,000 contract.

After playing one game in the Gulf Coast Rookie League in 2011, Betts appeared in 71 games in New York-Penn League in 2012. That increased to 76 games in Low Class A and 51 in High Class A in 2013 when he hit a combined .314 with a .506 slugging percentage and 38 stolen bases.

He began 2014 with the Class AA Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs where he batted .355 with 22 stolen bases in just 54 games. He was promoted to the Class AAA Pawtucket (Rhode Island) Red Sox where he also hit .355 in 45 games.

On June 29, he made his Major League debut with the Red Sox getting a hit in the fourth inning off pitcher Chase Whitley of the New York Yankees. Betts finished with a .291 average for 52 games.

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Every great athlete needs a great coach. Tommy Jones mentors Mookie at the World Series of Bowling.

The 2015 campaign saw Betts spend the whole year with Boston where he had a .291 average with 18 home runs, 77 runs batted in and 21 stolen bases in 145 games, extremely impressive for a leadoff hitter. He was even better last year with a .318 average with 31 home runs, 118 runs batted in and 26 stolen bases in 158 games.

Originally drafted as a second baseman, the Red Sox moved him to the outfield since they already had an All-Star, Dustin Pedroia. He proved the move to be the right one as he earned a Gold Glove for his fielding ability last year. That’s on top of being named an All-Star

PROFILE himself and winner of the Silver Slugger Award for his prowess at the plate and behind Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the MVP voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

While baseball has been Betts’ life the last several springs and summers, he does his best to bowl during the fall and winter.

“Obviously, I have to keep my primary job so I can’t really bowl much during the season but since in the off-season I’m jobless, I decided to bowl just to have fun,” said Betts, who often can be found practicing on the two lanes in the Brentwood basement of Wichita State University star Kamron Doyle’s parents’ home. “Like I said, I enjoy it so much due to family and something I’ve doing since I was 3 years old.”

Betts averaged a very respectable 190 for the 36 qualifying games in the 2015 World Series of Bowling at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada. He started the tournament with a 224 game and had others of 245 and 249 later to finish 212th of 240 entrants and quickly learned the difference between professional bowlers and those with whom he competed as a youth in Tennessee.

“It definitely was an eye-opener,” he said. “To see what they go through for four days is definitely tough. I don’t think people understand that bowling nine games on those patterns is really, really tough especially the transitions as far as lanes being different and whatnot. I definitely want to do it again this coming off-season, because it definitely was fun and I got to meet some friends.”

The day after finishing the 2015 World Series of Bowling in Reno, he hosted the Mookie Betts Celebrity Classic. The event actually started in 1990 by his mother in conjunction with the Music City Senate of The National Bowling Association.

Nashville’s Donelson Strike and Spare Lanes hosted the event and among those Betts invited to compete was David Price, a former Vanderbilt University star from nearby Murfreesboro who had just signed to join the Red Sox. “What I got to do with DP was something special,” Betts said. “Him showing up and bowling the way he did definitely added to the experience and showed what type of bowler he is.”

Arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in November kept Mookie from competing again in the 2016 PBA World Series of Bowling, but he recovered in time to participate in the eighth annual State Farm CP3 Celebrity Invitational taped in January at Lucky Strike LA Live in downtown Los Angeles.

Betts and partner Tommy Jones fell in the title match 187-179 to event host Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers and Chris Barnes.

“The Chris Paul event was one of Mookie showing off his solid bowling style. the better things I’ve ever done,” 20

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Mookie in full swing.

he said. “It was a lot of fun. I got to meet a lot of celebrities and got to bowl on TV for the first time.

That was something definitely special to me.”

Would Betts ever consider trying the PBA Tour when his baseball days are over like former Red Sox pitcher John Burkett did on the PBA50 Tour?

“That’s a bridge I’ll cross when I get there,” said Betts, who has rolled two 300 games. “I might be into golf or something else by then. I’m definitely going to keep bowling in my back pocket just in case I decide to try to go on Tour and maybe win a title there or two.”

If Betts decides not to try first hand at bowling’s competitive side, he would definitely consider becoming involved in the sport’s business activities.

“My mom and I have talked about maybe buying a bowling center at some point, either starting one or continuing a franchise,” he said. “I’m not really sure what I want to do yet. I have a little bit of time. We’ll just cross that bridge when we get to it. But definitely I have thought of investing in a bowling center and maybe running my own “ Until then he’ll have to settle for being likely the best bowler in Major League Baseball. ❖

Mark Miller is a freelance writer, editor, and public relations specialist from Flower Mound, TX. He's the author of Bowling: America's Greatest Indoor Pastime available at Amazon.com or directly from him at markmywordstexas@gmail.com.