"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits." — Tommy Edison
Author: fartheroffthewall
Tom Hoffarth is a sports journalist in Los Angeles, born and raised (reared is the correct phrase, but it just sounds wrong) and specializing in the sports media business. A USC graduate from the School of Journalism (it still exists, somewhat) in 1984, he is also available for service at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhoffarth/
Anze Kopitar: Los Angeles Kings Matt Leinart: Mater Dei High football, USC football Pat Haden: Los Angeles Rams Jim Everett: Los Angeles Rams Jim Fergosi: Los Angeles/California Angels Manny Mota: Los Angeles Dodgers George Best: Los Angeles Aztecs
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 11:
Don Barksdale: UCLA basketball Bill Sharman: USC basketball Norm Van Brocklin: Los Angeles Rams Dwight Anderson: USC basketball Karl Malone: Los Angeles Lakers
The most interesting story for No. 11: John Elway:Granada Hills High football quarterback and baseball pitcher (1977 to 1979) Southern California map pinpoints: Granada Hills; Northridge; Dodger Stadium
John Elway’s 16-year NFL career, all with the Denver Broncos from 1983 to 1998: Back-to-back Super Bowl wins to close out the 20th Century and his playing days, including the game MVP Award in the final contest he played; 47 fourth-quarter comebacks; 300 touchdown passes; 51,475 yards passing (second all-time upon his retirement) and going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year eligible of 2004.
Elway’s three years at Granada Hills to end the decade of the ’70s, includes: “Oh, John, you are God’s gift to womanhood. You are the perfect specimen.”
Elway admitted to a Valley News of Van Nuys reporter in the fall of 1977 that some girl at school gave him that note in the hall, and then ran off before he could figure out who sent it. Elway, who had come to Granada Hills a year earlier as a sophomore, was still a bit shy and feeling his way around Southern California.
He outgrew that at some point.
John Elway, third from top row, if you must be directed to find him in this group.
Before he made No. 7 somewhat his identity in college and the NFL, before he was lumped into the most heralded athletes of his time, there was a vintage No. 11 Elway, both in football and baseball, who upon graduation was the focus of a Valley News story in its June 30, 1979 edition with the headline: “Is Elway best Valley athlete of all time?”
The questions still comes up in conversation 40 years later.
Los Angeles Times, June, 1979.
He didn’t win an MVP as a high school senior in football. His trophy came in baseball.
Elway’s Granada Hills High School senior class yearbook –the 1979 Tartan — has action shots of Elway playing football, basketball and baseball. There’s also the senior photo section, with John in his white suit and striped tie and large smile, next to his twin sister, Jana. Alphabetically, she came first.
They were actually considered “old” seniors,” born in late June, turning 19 right after that graduation. To all others in the high school athletic world of Southern California, maybe that didn’t seem quite fair.
In Elway’s high school yearbook from his junior year in 1978, with Jana again, next to him in their class shots, less dressed up and more “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” mode.
A classic shot of Elway in a football team photo shows him laughing out loud.
When you’re the son of a nomadic college football coach — John’s dad, Jack, brought the family to Northridge for a three-year run as the program’s head coach after he was a quarterbacks coach at Washington State — the fact you got to have three years at one school in Southern California was seen as something of a lucky break. Even when Jack left Northridge to take the head job at San Jose State in 1979, John stayed back to finish his high school at Granada Hills.
John Elway would consider going to nearby USC for college, but he gravitated to Stanford. He’d become the 1983 No. 1 overall draft pick of the NFL’s Baltimore Colts in a quarterback-rich field, nudge a trade to the Denver Broncos, and become one of the game’s legendary figures.
“John Elway was one of the single greatest athletes who ever lived,” says Adam Schefter, the ESPN NFL reporter, near the end of a 2025 Netflix documentary, “Elway,” that takes viewers through his life from high school to the Hall of Fame.
A 2004 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee is celebrated as the only player in NFL history to pass for more than 3,000 yards and rush for more than 200 yards in the same season seven consecutive times. He is the second QB to record more than 40,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing during his career.
He even got to play for his dad, who was as Stanford’s head coach starting in 1984.
But that time in Granada Hills … That’s when Elway cranked it up to 11.
Miguel Rojas, Los Angeles Dodgers Don Mosebar: USC football and Los Angeles Raiders
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 72:
Jack McDowell: Anaheim Angels Art Alper: UCLA basketball Kent Hill: Los Angeles Rams
The most interesting story for No. 72: Bailey, Los Angeles Kings mascot (2007 to present) Southern California map pinpoints: Los Angeles (Staples Center/Crypto.com Arena)
Reference books on the subject: “B is for Bailey,” by the Kings Care Foundation, 2007
Kings mascot Bailey holds up a sign that reads #Believe during Game 1 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final between the Rangers and the Kings at Staples Center. (Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Before we take the temperature in the room …
In 2008, when Belle met Bailey, something magic seemed to be happening.
Isabella Masenga, whose parents call her Bellie, was almost 10 years old when she asked if they could take her to a Los Angeles Kings’ hockey game at Staples Center. They didn’t even realize she knew hockey existed.
Her mom said it was “probably the best day of her life” at the time. Her dad said it was “the happiest I’ve ever seen her.”
As I wrote in a story for the Southern California News Group at the time, what made it special was that Bellie’s wish to see a Kings game could only be communicated through a special portable word processor. She had a form of autism that prevented her from verbal interaction.
A group of 12 went with her, including her two caretakers, and her twin sister Sophia. None knew how Bellie might react with all the audio and visual stimulation.
They arranged to have a suite at Staples Center, and Kings personnel made it a VIP experience.
Including having their team mascot, Bailey, pay a visit. Bellie knew who he was. They embraced.
The Kings won in a shootout that Saturday afternoon against Dallas. They also crowned a new fan. That was the goal. Assist to Bailey.
The courageous humans who squeeze into exaggerated over-insulated costumes and prance around at a sporting event employed as team mascot – often wearing a jersey with a number attached – are to be recognized for their services.
Along with the question: Do L.A. or O.C. teams need them? Is it really fan-friendly? It’s great PR – no matter how bizarre the figure (see: Gritty, Philadelphia).
Bailey seems to under-promise and over-deliver in that scenario. Of all the non-primal mascots in Southern California history, perhaps the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings is likely the most identifiable.
Luka Doncic: Los Angeles Lakers Anthony Muñoz: USC football Ron Yary: USC football Jeff Carter: Los Angeles Kings Paul Coffey: Los Angeles Kings Lyle Alzado: Los Angeles Raiders Alex Whitworth: Los Angeles Rams John McCarthy: LAFC and Los Angeles Galaxy
The most interesting story for No. 77: Anthony Muñoz: USC football offensive lineman (1976 to 1979) via Chaffey High of Ontario Southern California map pinpoints: Ontario, Los Angeles (Coliseum)
Freshman Anthony Muñoz (77) stands out on the Coliseum sidelines during a 1976 game against UCLA. (Photo by Neil Leifer /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Imagine if all 6-foot-6 and 278-pounds of Anthony Muñoz played tackle on the University of Illinois’ offensive line in the 1920s, paving a path for someone still considered, a century later, as the greatest college football player of all time in Harold “Red” Grange.
Both wore No. 77. Who would be best remembered for it decades later?
In “The Football 100,” a 2023 list procured by the staff of The Athletic that takes into account the 25,000-plus players who’ve suited up in the NFL during its century of existence, Muñoz is slotted as 12th from the top. Not only is he the top offensive lineman on that list, but he is positioned as the highest-ranked football player ever associated with Southern California ties.
Grange, despite his Pro Football Hall of Fame status, didn’t even make this list.
Before his own ascent into a Pro Football Hall of Fame career, Muñoz was included in ESPN’s list of the 150 greatest players in college football’s 150-year history, a place where Grange sits only at No. 6. Despite having just one healthy full season, and missing 16 games during his final two seasons, he still made it into the College Football Hall of Fame.
In February of 2014, Cal State Northridge’s athletic department took the honorable approach in making an intriguing declaration: It would retire the No. 58 among all its sports teams.
Not to honor a particular athlete in a specific sport. Or find some way to acknowledge how the campus was used in the 1984 classic, “The Karate Kid,” as the site for the All Valley Karate Championship.
It was to honor its entire faculty.
The number represents the year – 1958 – when the university launched as San Fernando Valley State, separating itself from a satellite campus of Cal State L.A.
It’s been better known as sun-drenched CSUN since 1972.
Brandon Martin, the CSUN athletic director at the time and former USC basketball guard who once prepped at Cleveland High in Reseda, was someone who we had come to know and admire. He said of this move:
“This is a fitting tribute to our faculty for its nearly 60 years of service and for supporting our athletics programs during times of challenge and prosperity … “I am proud of our student-athletes who excel in the classroom. Building a solid academic foundation is paramount for success now and later in life.”
On the day before Valentine’s Day, a heart-felt Faculty Appreciation Night took place with the halftime ceremony to retire the number at a CSUN-Cal Poly San Luis Obispo men’s basketball game played at the team’s home gym, The Matadome. CSUN then went out and lost a game where it never had a lead, 62-55, falling to 12-14 overall, 4-7 in the Big West, before an announced attendance of 1,083.
Eh, that happens. At least they almost scored 58 points.
Mind you, later that 2014 year, UCLA announced it would retire No. 42 from all its athletic teams to honor Jackie Robinson, its most heralded sports person – who actually never wore No. 42 at the school when he was there from 1939 to 1941, playing football, basketball and a little baseball, and deciding not to graduate. But that’s beside the point.
CSUN did it first, with a number that even makes sense. On a SoCal landscape when some of the most recognizable institutes for higher learning are dominated by a certain private school (USC) and a very visible University of California system entity (UCLA), let’s hear it for the power of the California State system campuses of Long Beach State, Cal State L.A., Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Sate Channel Islands …
And the one up on the northern ridge of the San Fernando Valley as its north star.
Mookie Betts: Los Angeles Dodgers Jimmie Reese: California Angels
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 50:
Dave Dalby: UCLA football; Los Angeles Raiders Ken Iman: Los Angeles Rams Len Ford: Los Angeles Dons
The most interesting story for No. 50: Jimmie Reese: California Angels coach (1972 to 1994), PCL Los Angeles Angels infielder (1933 to 1935) Southern California map pinpoints: San Pedro, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Westwood
Angels first baseman Wally Joyer shows his affection for coach Jimmie Reese circa 1980s in Anahei ( Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images)
Whenever the fun arrived at Anaheim Stadium, it usually came because of Jimmie Reese’s customized fungo bat. It was also his tool of the trade for dispensing wisdom amidst pop flies to California Angels players that lasted a quarter of a century.
Angels coach Jimmie Reese, holding his prized fungo bat, in the Angel Stadium outfield with pitcher Mark Langston.
“It was flat, so he could pop a baseball up to himself — just amazing,” recalled New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who, as a 10-year-old kid, got to chase down fungoes hit by Reese before games when his father, Bob Boone, was the Angels’ catcher in the ’80s.
At that time, Reese was already in his 80s.
The bat was a way for him to actually play catch with players. He could even “pitch” batting practice — hitting balls toward the players in the batting cage as he stood on the mound.
Reese’s bat was cut in half at the top, created at his home wood-work shop in Westwood.
He also loved making custom wood frames for players to highlight milestones.
Angels coach Jimmie Reese signs autographs for fans at Anaheim Stadium. (Photo by Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images)
From Nolan Ryan to Tim Salmon, Reese had a yoda-like status.
The baseball world in general may have known him for sheepishly admitting that New York Yankees’ teammate Babe Ruth was also his traveling roommate– at least, he roomed with Ruth’s luggage — and he pitched batting practice to Lou Gehrig when he was part of the Bronx Bombers in the 1930s.
But Jimmie Reese’s true identity has a much more sophisticated backstory.
It starts with his name.
On Oct. 1, 1901, Hyman James Solomon was born. A Jewish kid from New York with Russian Jewish immigrant parents, he was known as “Hymie.” A affectionate traditional nickname originally brought together from the Jewish names Hyman and Chaim (which means “life”), it devolved into an antisemitic slur in the mid-to-late 20th century.
According to his Jewish Baseball Museum biography, Solomon came to Los Angeles after his father’s death. Enrolling at San Pedro High in the late 1910s, he changed his name to Jimmie Reese. The intent was to avoid prejudice as Jews in the United States were targeted during the start of World War I.
In a “Jews and Baseball” research piece for the Society of American Baseball Research, Peter Dreier noted that prior to the 1930s, many Jewish ballplayers changed their names in the wake of anti-Semitism. It was exacerbated by the 1919 Black Sox Scandal where gamblers Arnold Rothstein and former featherweight boxing champion Abe Attell, both Jews, were implicated in the fix of Chicago White Sox players throwing the series to the Cincinnati Reds.
The charge was amplified by auto magnate Henry Ford, blaming Jews for the entire scandal in his anti-Semitic newspaper, the Dearborn Independent. In one article, Ford wrote: “If fans wish to know the trouble with American baseball, they have it in three words — too much Jew.”
On his Baseball-Register.com official page, James Herman Reese is the official name listed. When he died in Santa Ana in 1994 at age 92, the small grave marker at Westwood Memorial Park says simply “Jimmie Reese 1901 to 1994.”
Reese, who worked as a newsboy in New York, recalled playing three seasons at San Pedro High for coach Karl Haney, but, in an 1985 interview, he wasn’t sure what year he graduated. His best guess was 1921.
The start of his 78-year run with baseball happened when he became a batboy for the Pacific Coast League’s Los Angeles Angels at age 12 and did it for six years as their games were played at Washington Park near downtown L.A.
Reese was a “quick, blond youngster with a dazzling smile and boundless energy,” according to a SABR article.
Reese once told reporter Scott Ostler in 1985 that every Sunday, Angels manager Frank Chance, the Chicago Cubs’ Hall of Famer, “gave me a dollar and a baseball” for his work. Chance worked with Reese to develop his skills. Reese was recognized as his high school’s most valuable player.
From San Pedro High, Reese wen to semi-pro ball and his fielding impressed the Oakland Oaks, who signed him in 1924. In 1928, the Yankees purchased Reese’s contract when he hit .337 with one homer, 65 runs batted in, 24 stolen bases, and led all PCL second basemen with a .979 fielding average with 622 putouts in 190 games. Reese wasn’t called up until 1930, wearing Nos. 25 and 26 over a three-season span.
He ended hitting .346 in 188 at bats in ’30 – third best average on the team behind Gehrig and Ruth. Reese was actually the second Jewish player in Yankees history after Phil Cooney, a third baseman who played exactly one game for the 1905 New York Highlanders.
Babe Ruth (center) plays pepper with New York Yankees teammates, from left, Jimmie Reese, Allen Cooke and Bubbles Hart in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Getty Images)
In 1932, the Yankees sent Reese to the their Triple-A St. Paul team, and the St. Louis Cardinals picked him up to fill in for the injured Frankie Frisch. In 90 games with the Cards, Reese batted .265, hit two homers and drove in 26 runs. That ended Reese’s three-year major league career: 232 games played, .278 batting average, eight homers and 70 RBIs.
The PCL’s Angels, a farm team for the Chicago Cubs, got Reese back in 1933. Missing missing most of that season with injuries and illness, Reese still hit .330 in 104 games. He followed that up in ’34 hitting .311 with 12 triples and the best fielding percentage of all PCL second basemen.
As one story goes, during an Angels’ exhibition game involving an opposing team of local Hollywood celebrities, songwriter Harry Ruby was relaying pitches to his Jewish catcher Ike Danning by speaking Yiddish instead of using signs. But when Reese came to the plate, he understood it. He went 4-for-4. After the game, Ruby asked Reese how he did so well against him. That was when Jimmie told Ruby his real name.
Two more years with the Angels followed two more years with the San Diego Padres, the Boston Red Sox minor-league affiliate. Reese all-but retired as a player after the 1938 season — and still had several more decades to go in the game.
He stayed active for two seasons with teams in the Western International League and then managed baseball teams as he served in the Army from November 1942 to July 1943 with the 12th Armored Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
After the war, Reese signed on as a scout for the Boston Braves, then was a coach back in San Diego before he was appointed manager in 1960. But Reese wasn’t happy doing that job and left in ’61 halfway through the season.
Seattle Angels coach Jimmie Reese with outfielder Chuck Vinson in 1966.
“I’m best suited as a liaison man, as a coach,” Reese would say. “I just am not suited to give a guy hell.”
More time coaching in the minor leagues included stints with the Seattle Angels, a Triple-A team that would help the city prepare for the arrival of the 1969 American League Seattle Pilots, and more scouting for the newly created Montreal Expos.
In 1972, he approached some people he knew with the California Angels to see if they had any openings. The best they could do was bring him in as a conditioning coach under manager Del Rice.
Reese, never married and with no children, was attached 100 percent to baseball. When the Angels acquired pitcher Nolan Ryan from the New York Mets, Reese became something of a mentor. Eventually, Ryan named one of his sons Reese after him.
Nolan Ryan and son Reese Ryan pose with Angels coach Jimmie Reese in the 1990s. (Photo by Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images)
“We became really close friends,” said Ryan. “He definitely had an influence on me, and I thought he represented what to look for in a lot of people. I wanted to honor him in that way. I thought if Reese could grow up to be the person Jimmie Reese was, it’d be quite a thing. He was a caring person who was available to help anyone who sought help. He was an honest person, very low-key and had a lot of nice qualities.”
After serving under Rice, Reese coached for 10 more Angels’ managers — Bobby Winkles, Norm Sherry, Dave Garcia, Jim Fregosi, Gene Mauch, John McNamara, Cookie Rojas, Doug Radar, Buck Rogers and John Wathan.
Owner Gene Autry gave Reese a liftetime contract to stay as a coach.
Angels coach Jimmie Reese is interviewed during a team celebration in 1979. (Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images)
Sherry recalled: “When I was the pitching coach and I’d want my pitchers to run, he’d hit these fly balls to make them run after. He’d make it so they’d almost catch ’em; they’d have to get a good run in to catch the ball. That was the last 20 minutes of batting practice.”
Angels coach Jimmie Reese sits in a recliner chair during a moment at Anaheim Stadium. (Photo by Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images)
In 1984, Reese suffered a heart attack and stopped traveling with the team. In ’85, he was asked about how the game had change — or, really had not.
“It’s still the same game, from Babe Ruth to Reggie Jackson,” said Reese. “Baseball is baseball.”
The Angels had a day to honor him in 1989 and his No. 50 was retired. He was also inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame in 2003, celebrating the league’s 100th season. The Hall was created in 1942 by the Helms Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles.
When he passed away in the summer of 1994, at age 92, a month before an MLB work stoppage that would eventually cancel the season, Angels manager Joe Maddon admitted: “We all suffered it. He was the youngest 92-year-old I’d ever met.”
“In a world that lacks gentlemen, he was one,” said Maddon, who also coached with Reese. “He’d check in daily, look you right in the eyeballs when he spoke to you — he had this 1930s way of talking. Jimmie was loved by everybody.”
Jimmie Reese (50) convenes in the Angel Stadium outfield with pitcher Jim Abbott (center) to meet Rush lead singer Getty Lee, right, and guitarist Alex Lifeson in June of 1992 during batting practice. Rush was in Anaheim for a show on their “Fifth Something Tour.” Reese was 90 years old at this point and hit fungos to them. (Photo/Tim Mead via Facebook)
Maddon recalled how Reese “made me feel like a million bucks when I wasn’t worth anything” as a scout or coach in the Angels’ system.
“Oftentimes, he’d put a hand on my shoulder, and he’d have tobacco juice dripping down the sides of his mouth, a couple-day beard growth, holding his fungo. He’d get real close with those steel blue eyes, and he’d tell me, ‘You’re the master. You’re going to be a big league manager someday.’ “
Longtime baseball writer Tim Brown once admitted that an autographed fungo bat from Reese was the only piece of memorabilia he has kept over the year because it is so meaningful. And came unexpectedly.
“I was very fond of Jimmie Reese. He’s one of the finest men I’ve ever known. We will miss him, I’ll tell you that. He was a wonderful, wonderful man.”
A year after Reese passed, the Angels encased his locker in tinted Plexiglas. Inside were his beloved fungo bat and his uniform.
Jimmie Reese, with his fungo bat, with Angels pitcher Bill Travers, who was the last Angel to wear No. 26 before it was retired for team owner Gene Autry in 1982.
Reese was said he was the oldest person to have regularly worn a uniform in the history of organized baseball.
All of that with the wisdom of Solomon.
Angels coach Jimmie Reese shakes hands with former president Ronald Reagan in the Angels Stadium clubhouse before the 1989 MLB All-Star Game. Reese threw out the first pitch. (Photo by Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images)Reggie Jackson, on the coaching staff with Oakland in June of 1992, with Angels coach Jimmie Reese at Anaheim Stadium. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
Who else wore No. 50 in SoCal sports history? Make a case for:
Mookie Betts: Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (2020 to present):
Mookie Betts at the Golden Globes. Photo: Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty
Best known: Moving along on the red carpet prior to the 2024 Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Mookie Betts was networking. The seven-time All Star, winner of a Most Valuable Player trophy, a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, and four years into his multi-year contract that lends us to believe he will be a Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder-second baseman-shortstop through 2032, also has a company called One Media/Marketing Group. You sure that isn’t Pharrell Williams?
“This is our first time being out and being able to attend something like this. We watched it on TV so much,” Betts told The Associated Press.
In 2022, Betts and Co. made their first major announcement that they had partnered up with Propagate, a Los Angeles-based content creation company led by Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning entrepreneur Ben Silverman. Later that year, Betts took on the role of executive producer through his OMG company on the documentary film, Jackie Robinson: Get to the Bag. “I’m an athlete in this same space like he was, and I want to be known as more than an athlete,” Betts told TheWrap. “I don’t want to be just the athlete. I don’t want to be in just this little box. I know I’m more than that. Yes, I may be good at hitting the baseball, but I’m also good at being an entrepreneur and running companies and doing these things with my best friends.”
At the Beverly Hilton, Betts was betting on himself. The question finally came: What are you wearing? He hesitated, struggling to describe his black suit with a black bow tie, a silver lapel pin and a black brimmed hat. “I’m wearing confidence,” he said.
Confidence came, the story goes, when Betts debuted with the Boston Red Sox in June of 2014 and they gave him No. 50 because, well, it was available, and some weren’t sure the 5-foot-9 and 180-pounder from Nashville, Tenn., would stick around. Going into his second season, as veteran players dropped off the roster via trade or free agency this winter, Red Sox home clubhouse manager Tom McLaughlin contacted Betts to ask if he wanted a “better number.”
“A lot of my friends back home got jerseys with my number. I didn’t want them to have to get new ones,” Betts told the Boston Globe. “Nobody wants 50, I knew I would be able to keep it.”
He made the AL All Star team in his third season, then won the AL MVP in 2018 while leading the league in batting average, slugging percentage and runs scored for the World Champion squad.
The Dodgers traded for Betts in February 2020 and signed him to a 12-year contract extension worth $365 million. Since then he’s been part of the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series team and was second in the 2023 NL MVP voting.
When he joined the Dodgers, he asked them for the same No. 50.
“That’s why I keep No. 50 because no one wants it.” – Betts on his #
When Betts returned to play against the Red Sox at Fenway Park in 2023, some magical things happened. In his first game there in four years, he received a standing ovation from the Boston fans. He went 1-for-4 with two runs in the Dodgers’ 7-4 win. The next night, Betts went 3 for 6 with an RBI single. But he also committed a run-scoring error while playing second base in the eighth. In the top of the ninth, he made the final out with the bases loaded, flying out to the center field warning track.
“We’re producers not directors,” Betts said of his last out. “Produced a good swing. Can’t direct where it goes.”
The series finale on Sunday, another 7-4 Dodgers win, saw him hit a two-run homer during another three-hit game. That gave him seven hits in the series. It was also his 35th homer of the year, tying a career high. He pumped his arm as he rounded second base, with the Fenway fans mixing applause and chants of “Moooo-kie!”
It was only a couple years earlier when Betts was playing his first game at Dodger Stadium – during the COVID-19 pandemic. No fans. Just cardboard faces taking up seats. No cheers. Middle of July because of the delayed season. And a lot of tension in the air. Before the game, Betts came onto the field for the National Anthem and took a knee. Teammates Cody Bellenger and Max Muncy stood on either side of Betts, with a hand on his shoulder.
As players wore Black Lives Matter patches and a black ribbon stretched across both foul lines before the anthem played, Betts said he knelled down for change and as a protest of injustices that outraged the country.
“Just unity,” Betts said on what that moment represented. “Everybody’s here, we’re all on the same team. We’re all here for change. We have a great group of guys here. We’re all supportive of each other. It definitely doesn’t surprise me that Belly and Muncy were there with me.”
Betts got his first hit as a Dodger later that night, a single to left field in the seventh inning. He asked to keep the ball. He then scored to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead in a game they would win, 8-1.
The Washington Post ran a 2024 story titled “Mookie Betts knows he can’t save baseball. He just plays like he can.” The subhead read: “The Dodgers star still wants more people who look like him at the stadium, but he understands all the forces that stand in the way.” The gist of the story:
Mookie Betts occupies a rare position in the modern professional sports landscape: a Black American baseball superstar. Betts feels a responsibility accompanying his unicorn status, but he also recognizes the forces that make him such a rarity are bigger than he is.
Baseball’s hold on the Black community has loosened over generations, to the point that vanishing representation among Black Americans in the sport has gone from noticeable to concerning.
But while his home runs on uppercut swings and his leaping outfield catches serve as a live-action billboard to anyone who might find inspiration, the Los Angeles Dodgers star doesn’t pretend to overstate his influence.
“I’m not trying to come here and be the savior for baseball or for the culture,” Betts said.
Betts understands the random circumstances that contributed to his being 11 seasons into a career with a Hall of Fame trajectory. He didn’t learn to love baseball until he was getting paid to play it.
In the 2023 book, “Smart, Wrong and Lucky: The Origin Stories of Baseball’s Unexpected Stars,” Betts’ baseball origin story is one of several told by author Jonathan Mayo, which we reviewed. Betts was the 2011 fifth-round pick (No. 172 overall) by the Red Sox out of high school in Nashville, Tenn., tabbed as a shortstop with the design of making him a second baseman. If the Red Sox hadn’t kicked in a $750,000 signing bonus, Betts was ready to go play at the University of Tennessee, a bargaining leverage high school players still have these days. And if the Red Sox hadn’t jump on him at that moment, they feared the San Diego Padres, which also scouted him thoroughly, were ready to pounce.
The Red Sox used “good old-fashion scouting and some new-fangled approaches” to figure out Betts’ worth, Mayo reports. Red Sox area scout Danny Watkins was the point person. As he knew the bigger names were at nearby Vanderbilt University – 12 were taken in that 2011 draft — he still was able to travel to see Betts in high school, sit with him, talk to his parents, cultivate a relationship. Also confirming Watkins’ reports was Tom Allison, a cross checker who in 2021 joined the Dodgers as a special assignment scout.
Watkins found more info about Betts’ athletic abilities watching him play high school basketball, more a sense of his competitiveness and athleticism. Although Watkins projected Betts as a middle infielder, he strategically slotted him as a shortstop – an important position – to convey why Betts was worthy of assessment. Also, the Red Sox already had a solid second baseman in Dustin Pedroia, so Betts would need to crack the lineup elsewhere.
Watkins also had a new analytic tool to try out on Betts: NeuroScouting, a company that simulated decision-making reaction time, was just starting out and Watkins had Betts try the test – when you see the ball on the screen, hit the space bar. If you see the seams going one way, tap it again. Betts tested very well, but the Red Sox didn’t know how to factor it into their assessment with a lack of historical data.
How Betts went all the way to the fifth round is the other part of the puzzle that isn’t always easy to assess in the moment as names flash by and voices are heard. The Red Sox actually had four of the first 40 picks – and still waited on Betts as the scouting director Amiel Sawdaye had the final call. Cal State Fullerton pitcher Noe Ramirez had enamored a few Red Sox scouts, so he was taken in the fourth round. But the Red Sox were now worried the Kansas City Royals would take Betts early in the fifth round. They did pick a high school shortstop – Patrick Leonard, who never made it to the big leagues. Sixteen picks later, Boston took Betts.
Not well known:
== In the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Betts wore No. 3. That was his high school basketball number. Betts has said that Allen Iverson, the NBA legend, had a huge impact on him. But what’s also the truth: Betts also couldn’t get No. 50 in the WBC because U.S. teammate and veteran pitcher Adam Wainwright secured it, based on seniority.
== It has been reported that Betts was the nephew of Terry Shumpert, who played 14 seasons in the big leagues, but they are actually first cousins once removed. Shumpert is the first cousin to Betts’ mother, Diana. Shumpert, who played for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds in 2004, got to work with Betts in his development. There is no dispute that Shumpert is a distant cousin to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. So does that make Betts part of some royal lineage as well? He was also born Markus Lynn Betts in 1992, and it was said his parents picked that name so his initials would be MLB. Mookie became his nickname was his parents were fan of former NBA guard Mookie Blaylock.
== Betts enjoys swapping uniforms with other players – a tradition made popular in European soccer. “All for the culture,” Betts told The Athletic recently. “I’ve been telling you, I was trying to bring culture and brings stuff to the game. This is just part of it.”
== During the 2023 NL Division Series when the Dodgers faced the Arizona Diamondbacks, Betts interrupted manager Torey Louvello’s press conference by coming in for a hug. “He raised me in this game,” Betts said about Louvello. Louvello returned the love. “That’s what makes you feel good when you’re a teacher and kind of a mentor,” said Louvello, who had been a Boston Red Sox coach from 2013 to 2016, overlapping with Betts’ time there. “You have a young athlete, you know what he’s like in the minor leagues, he gets to the big league level, and you have hours and hours of conversations about what it will be like when get to that level of greatness. For me, I watch him perform and there’s nothing better. … that’s a beautiful human being.”
== When Betts formed The 50/50 Foundation, it came from the idea, according to the website, that: “Growing up his parents instilled in him the desire to give back and support charities. In his free time, Mookie is an avid bowler and wanted to use his favorite hobby as a way to give back. In 2023 came the first Mookie Betts and Friends Bowling Tournament to raise funds for his foundation. “He believes in breaking the barriers that hold kids back from their potential to make a bigger difference in this world,” the site says. It focuses on mental/emotional health, nutrition, financial literacy and physical fitness for young people. It has resulted in AAU Team Mookie, Betts on Us Fund and other programs supported by him and his wife, Brianna.
== Betts first athletic love has always been bowling. He considered becoming a professional. At the 2023 PBA U.S. Open championship in Indianapolis, Betts was one of the 108 entrants, receiving an exemption into the main draw via the U.S. Bowling Congress. At the end of his first eight-game qualifying set, Betts was tied for 19th in his group with the No. 1 bowler in the world, Jason Belmonte. Betts has bowled three officially three officially sanction perfect 300 games, the last in 2017.
== Betts is now into pickleball. He had a custom court built on the lawn of his home in Encino and it allowed him to do something as he was healing from a broken hand in June, 2024. Betts was quickly able to replace one obsession — learning shortstop, arguably his sport’s most difficult position, on the fly — with another: pelting plastic balls with 16-inch paddles. “I’m the type of person who can’t just sit down,” Betts said. “I don’t operate that way.”
Len Ford, Los Angeles Dons offensive end (1948 to 1949):
The All-American Football League team that arrived in L.A. just ahead of the Rams’ move from Cleveland would have only one player eventually inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It was Ford, the 6-foot-5, 245-pound University of Michigan standout, passed over by every NFL team in the 1948 draft — it was a time the league was still hesitant about drafting African American players. So he signed with the upstart league in L.A. He was excellent on defense and a favorite on offense with leaping, one-hand grabs that netted 67 receptions and eight TDs with more than 1,000 yards in two years covering 26 games. After the AAFC dissolved in 1949, Ford switched to defensive end and played eight seasons for the Cleveland Browns (wearing No. 53 and No. 80) and established himself on teams that went to the NFL championship game seven times, winning three, and playing in four Pro Bowls. He was also named to the Hall of Fame’s All-1950s Decade team.
Dave Dalby, UCLA football center (1969 to 1971); Los Angeles Raiders center (1982 to 1985):
Elected to the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999, his bio stats that the two-time All-Conference player could be “the greatest center in UCLA football history.” He started 31 straight games for the Bruins and was the team MVP in ’71. Drafted by Oakland in 1972, he made the move with the Raiders to L.A. and started 135 of his 205 games played, with one Pro Bowl appearance and three Super Bowls. He snapped it to, over his career, Daryle Lamonica, Ken Stabler, Mike Rae, Jim Plunkett, Dan Pastorini and Marc Wilson.
Bob Boyd, Loyola University of Los Angeles football receiver (1947 to ’48); Los Angeles Rams flanker/defensive end (1950 to 1957):
A 1951 Bowman football card depicting Bob Boyd as a member of the Los Angeles Rams wearing the No. 50 that he wore with Loyola University in Los Angeles.
Out of Riverside Poly High, Boyd starred in football (1947-48), boxing (1950) and track and field (1949-50) at Loyola University in Westchester. He was the NCAA National Champion in 100 Yard Dash (9.8 seconds) after setting the school record in the 100 (9.6 seconds) and 220 (21.5 seconds).
By the time he signed with the Rams, only a few teams had integrated rosters, but the Rams were at the forefront. Boyd became a vital part of the Rams’ NFL title teams in 1951 and ’54, best known to his teammates by his nickname, Seabiscuit. During the ’53 season, Boyd led the NFL with an average catch of 22.6 yards (24 catches for 548 yards and four TDs). In making the 1954 Pro Bowl, Boyd led the NFL with 1,212 yards receiving and an average of 101 yards a game in 12 games (53 catches, six TDs and a long of 80 yards), 500 more yards receiving than Elroy Hirsch, as a favorite target of quarterback Norm Van Brocklin. In his seven seasons with the Rams — he wore No. 80 in ’50 and ’51, went into military duty in 1952 and ’53 and came back in ’54 to wear No. 82 — Boyd made make 176 receptions for 3,611 yards and 28 touchdowns. He was inducted into the Loyola Marymount University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.
Bob Boyd pulls in a pass for the Los Angeles Rams at the L.A. Coliseum in a 1955 game against Pittsburgh. (Getty Images)
He started every game in that stretch – 140 in a row. From Bill Munson to Roman Gabriel to Pete Beathard to John Hadl and James Harris.
Adrian Young, USC football linebacker (1965 to 1967): A native of Dublin, Ireland, the Bishop Amat High standout came to USC as a fullback. His moment in the spotlight game in the ’67 USC-Notre Dame game when, as the Trojans’ team captain, he intercepted four passes and had 12 tackles in a 24-7 win. He was a 2012 inductee into the USC Hall of Fame.
Jay Howell, Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher (1988 to 1992): Registering 85 saves and winning 22 games. And an ’89 All Star selection. Just check the glove for pine tar if needed.
Nathan Eovaldi, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (2011 to 2012): Had a 1-6 mark and a 4.14 ERA after 10 games in ’12 before he was traded to Miami in the package for Hanley Ramirez. Then became a two-time AL All Star in his age 31 and 33 seasons. Helped the Red Sox outst the Dodgers in the 2018 World Series.
Sid Fernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (1983): The Hawaii native known as “El Sid” was drafted by the Dodgers out of Kaiser High in Honolulu, and picked this number because it represented the 50th state of the union. He took it with him through a 15-year MLB career that saw him pile up 114 wins with the New York Mets, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Houston after his one rookie season with the Dodgers in ’83 (0-1 in two games, six innings).
Have you heard this story:
Orson Villalobos, Compton College football defensive end/linebacker/special teams (2025):
He told KABC-Channel 7 that it was his 9-year-old son, Orson II, who inspired him to give it a shot during a time he was back at Compton College to study kinesiology as he wanted to pursue coaching. Villalobos, listed at 6-feet and 200 pounds out of Lynwood High more than 30 years earlier, made 10 tackles during Compton College’ 0-8 start to the season, but then the Coyotes had to forfeit the last two games. “We didn’t have enough players to finish the season,” Villalobos told his TikTok fans in late October.
Compton had been outscored, 480-12, including enduring losses of 70-0 at San Bernardino Valley, 64-0 at Grossmont, 63-0 at West L.A., 62-0 vs. Glendale and 56-0 vs. Santa Monica. Their last two games ended with a 64-6 loss vs. Desert and 48-6 at L.A. Southwest. That Compton team also included 45-year-old receiver Lamar Willis (No. 19, out of Bellflower High in Compton), as well as his son, Josiah Willis, a defensive back (No. 20, out of Cerritos High in Compton).
A post on Willis is included in the No. 19 recap of this series. As a result, Compton College hasn’t won a game since the fall of 2022. But it’s not for a lack of trying.
More local pride:
Ed Guiterrez, USC linebacker (1976 to 1977): Hanging in the foyer of the campus gym at Bishop Mora Salesian High School in Boyle Heights is this display honoring Guiterrez (Class of ’73), who went on to play at East L.A. College (All State in ’74 and ’75) before going to USC to play for coach John Robinson as the “little guy who made good” for the 11-1 team in ’76 and 8-4 team of ’77. Too bad this photo below couldn’t have been added to the display:
We also have:
Jack Hamilton, Los Angeles Angels pitcher (1967): He went 9-6 with a 3.24 ERA in 26 games after a trade from the New York Mets. Then he switched to No. 24. Sam Clancy, USC basketball center (1998-99 to 2001-02) Dan Gadzuric, UCLA basketball center (1998-99 to 2001-02)
And for good measure:
The Dodgers float entered in the 2008 Tournament of Roses Parade to mark their 50th year in Los Angeles (with Vin Scully perched on it, and Roger Owens walking next to it pitching peanuts):
