On Sunday, football takes the national stage with Super Bowl LV in Tampa. It’s veteran Tom Brady going for his seventh Super Bowl victory and first time with the Buccaneers, while 25-year-old Patrick Mahomes is trying to win rugby for the Chiefs. Both of these star full-backs might have played for the World Series titles if their athletic careers had moved in a slightly different direction.
Brady and Mahomes are both former MLB forwards and have a history of their athletic greatness on the baseball field. Brady, 43, was taken by the Montreal Expos in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft. Mahomes, meanwhile, heard his name called out in the 37th round of the 2014 MLB draft by the Detroit Tigers.
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Both athletes made the wise choice to rather pursue a career on the roster, but we wanted to celebrate this Super Bowl game by looking at how they could have been if they had chosen the baseball diamond. Here’s how Brady and Mahomes could have been as professional baseball players.
Brady
Before we dive into Brady’s baseball potential, we wanted to share something nice to highlight Brady’s NFL longevity and the extreme age gap between him and his opponent. In 1995, Brady was a Major League Baseball draft; the Montreal Expos selected Brady as the 507th pick in the 18th round. This is the same year that Mahomes was born. The 18-year age gap between Brady (43) and Mahomes (25) will be the biggest age difference between two starting quarters in Super Bowl history. Okay, now back to Brady’s baseball career.
In high school, Brady played varsity baseball for two years and finished with a .311 batting average with eight home runs, 11 doubles and 44 RBI as a left-handed batsman. Even in 2003, as a young 26-year-old starting quarterback for the New England Patriots, Brady could still show pop at Fenway Park:
According to Sports Illustrated, Brady saw the same leadership fans as in the NFL when he was just a teenage baseball player. More:
Behind the plate, Brady was just as skilled. He talked to the referees before matches, just as he has now talked to referees, presumably in the hope that a friendly conversation later in the match could affect the close calls. [Brady’s high school baseball coach] Pete Jensen lets his catchers name their own games – a luxury crowd college coaches do not afford their players – and Brady took up the challenge. He met with pitchers before the games and discussed strategy: how they would set up victims and attack their weaknesses. Brady grew up in leagues against many of these spectators and knew their tendencies. “He had a book in his mind about these guys,” said Jon Chapman, Serra’s scout that year. “If I tried to shake him off, he’d drop the same sign. It was like: OK, we’ll go with that. Tommy knows what he’s doing. ‘
Former Expos explorer John Hughes treated high schools in Northern California and when he noticed Brady at Junipero Serra High School (also where Gregg Jefferies and Barry Bonds played) in San Mateo, California, he knew immediately that Brady had a special would become an athlete. , he told the NY Daily News.
For Hughes, Brady will always be the ‘one who got away’ from baseball. In his reconnaissance reports for Brady, Hughes regards the high school’s backstop as a ‘good athletic body’ and the power to dress with good instincts for the game. Here’s more from Hughes via NYDN:
He was drafted in the 18th round because everyone knew how difficult it would be to draw him. He was very talented. I just mean on talent he would be a late second choice. And I believe he would have made it, as a catcher, he would have gotten there.
His personal make-up made him stand out. When the (Expos) came to play the Giants, I took Tom and his dad to the ballpark. We got him in a uniform and let him bat practice, took him to the clubhouse and let him meet some guys. I watched a few minutes later and he was sitting in front of a locker with guys around him talking to them.
Eventually, Brady chose to attend the University of Michigan where he had a football scholarship, abandoning the often arduous journey through the minor system to the major leagues. In another universe, Brady could have caught Mahomes in MLB. Wild, or how?
Mahomes
Now, for Mahomes, playing baseball in the family. Patrick Mahomes’ father, Pat Mahomes, played 11 seasons as a pitcher in the major leagues and during his 1992-2003 career played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins. The younger Mahomes grew up around MLB players and in professional baseball clubhouses, played in high school and made one last, brief appearance with the Texas Tech baseball team before ending it.
“Patrick was always out there, that’s what he wanted,” Mahomes Sr. said. told NFL Network. “He wanted to get there early, go there and hit with A-Rod, he wanted to go out and shake balls with the team, take his batting practice with the team and then go to the nursery.”
During his freshman year at Texas Tech, Mahomes’ only collegiate appearance came during the 2015 season, and it did not go well. He failed to execute all three of the batsmen he faced, walked two and conceded three deserved runs. Mahomes felt like he was ending his senior season of high season in baseball.
“So, I think I have an infinite era, which is probably not a good one. But yeah, it’s not something I’m very proud of on my record,” Mahomes told reporters during one of the Super Bowl of this week. media session.
But even after he decided to divorce baseball and focus on football instead, Mahomes remained attached to the sport when he became a co-owner of the Kansas City Royals last year.
As a senior in high school at Whitehouse High School in Texas, Mahomes reached 94-95 km / h with his fast ball and threw a 16-strike no-hitter his senior year. He was also able to play the field thanks to his impressive arm strength.
Detroit Tigers crossover Tim Grieve considers Mahomes to be possibly the best multisport athlete he has ever explored.
“He was the best player on the field or on the track in three different sports,” Grieve told MLB.com. “It was not like you were just talking about one sport, one position. I’m pretty sure he would have been good with whatever he wanted to do. And you see the smile. He might have become a center fighter and “Third place in your series. I’m not even sure he was the best thing he did.”
He was drafted in the 37th round by the Detroit Tigers (overall No. 1,120), but retained his commitment to Texas Tech and did not sign. Mahomes is an outstanding athlete and has a Mike Trout-like build at 6 feet 3, 230 pounds.
‘Of course you see his [Mahomes] baseball background in his delivery, “Brady told reporters Friday.” He delivers it with many arm angles. He got a lot of whips from his throw. It’s a good trait to have as a quarterback. Throw from various angles and try to manipulate the rush and so on. We all take a little bit out of our youth to try to use it as we get older. ‘
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