When Yankees legend let slip the terrible advice he gave Patrick Mahomes: “Boy am I glad he didn’t listen to me”
Patrick Mahomes is a three-time Super Bowl winning quarterback who has become the face of the NFL. However, there was a time Mahomes had to decide if he would pursue a career as a professional baseball player or football player.
In Nov. 2018, former World Series champion Alex Rodriguez reflected on the time he told Mahomes that there would be more of an opportunity in baseball than in football. Rodriguez was teammates with the quarterback's father, Pat Mahomes Sr., while both played for the Texas Rangers in 2001.
“I said, ‘Now listen to me, if you don’t hear one thing that I ever tell you, you better listen to this, 'There is no money, there is no future, there is no history in football. You have to play baseball!’ Well, he reminded me of that recently and, boy, am I glad he did not listen to me,” Rodriguez said in an interview with Omnisport.
Patrick Mahomes revealed that baseball was his "first love" when he was younger
Patrick Mahomes grew up watching his father play professional baseball. In April 2024, Mahomes was chosen to be on the cover of the TIME 100 magazine, and in the interview, he gave more details about playing both sports when he was younger.
“One thousand percent, baseball was my first love,”-Mahomes said in TIME
Mahomes added that some of the values and lessons he learned as a young child while playing baseball have served him well throughout his life.
“I hated when my dad made me hit off a tee," Mahomes said. "I’m like, ‘I just want you to throw it to me.’ I go watch Alex Rodriguez, he’s leading the league in home runs, and he’s hitting off the tee every single day.
"It taught me that even whenever I get to where I want to get to, I can’t let the fundamentals slip. I can’t stop working and doing the little things. That’s what makes people great."
The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback may have grown up idolizing Alex Rodriguez, but the NFL world is happy that he didn't follow in his footsteps to an MLB career.