Dodgers’ Mookie Betts becomes the inspiration for a newborn girl’s middle name after her father honored a wager with the All-Star in exchange for a home run: ‘Bro is a man of his word’
- Betts is the inspiration for a newborn’s middle name after her dad honored a bet
- The father agreed to name his daughter ‘Mookie’ if Betts homered on August 2
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Baseball’s classiest player has a new namesake.
Mookie Betts, the popular Los Angeles Dodgers star, is the inspiration for a newborn girl’s middle name after her father honored a wager with the All-Star slugger.
The 30-year-old Betts was in the on-deck circle awaiting his at-bat at home on August 2 against Oakland. It was then that a fan seated in the front row told Betts that if he hit a home run, he would give his soon-to-be born daughter the middle name of ‘Mookie.’
‘I heard this and I laughed, and he said he was serious,’ Betts recounted Tuesday in a video on his social media accounts. ‘I turned around and told him, ”No, don’t do that bro. Don’t do that.”’
Betts again urged the man not to do it, saying, ‘Your wife wouldn’t like that.’
Mookie Betts is the inspiration for a newborn girl’s middle name after her father honored a bet
Mookie Betts celebrates with Dodgers fan Giuseppe Mancuso after homering on August 2
Betts walked up to the plate and hit a 436-foot blast to left field, his longest home run as a Dodger. After circling the bases, he fist-bumped with Giuseppe Mancuso, who was seated behind home plate.
‘A couple weeks later, I see on Twitter the birth certificate for Francesca Mookie Mancuso,’ Betts said. ‘I can’t wait to meet Francesca. That’s going to be my girl, that’s going to be my girl. I thought that was pretty neat.’
Mancuso introduced his daughter on his social media account, tagging the Dodgers, Betts and the team’s TV network, saying, ‘A bet is a bet.’
Betts responded, ‘One of the coolest moments of ya boy’s entire career! Bro is a man of his word.’
Mancuso included a photo of the baby his wife Shannon gave birth to on August 7 at a hospital in nearby Pasadena. She weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces.
Betts’ full name is Marcus Lynn Betts. He has said his nickname came from his parents watching former NBA player Mookie Blaylock, who was also the inspiration for the rock group Pearl Jam’s original name.
Giuseppe Mancuso is a man of his word and named his daughter: Francesca Mookie Mancuso
It’s not unusual for Betts to make special connections with fans and the public at large.
In 2021, Betts surprised one spectator, Michael Diddle, in Cincinnati with an autographed bat after the fan was nice enough to return a home-run ball that had been hit by a Reds rookie.
Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl homered for his first major-league hit in September of 2021.
Upon realizing the significance of the moment, Betts called on Diddle to throw it back into the outfield so that it could be returned to Friedl as a memento.
Betts is seen giving Diddle an autographed bat for rookie TJ Friedl’s first home run ball
The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosencrans confirmed that Diddle’s new bat was, indeed, autographed
Betts was secretly recorded giving food to homeless people in downtown Boston in 2018
Diddle obliged and was rewarded the next inning when Betts returned to right field with an autographed bat to give to the man.
‘It’s incredible,’ Friedl said afterwards. ‘For [Betts] to do something like that, it’s definitely just world class out of him. I want to go over there [to the Dodgers clubhouse] and just say ”thank you” in person.’
A two-time World Series winner who was named American League MVP with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, Betts has developed a reputation for kindness over his eight Major League seasons.
For instance, after beating the Dodgers in Game 2 of the 2018 World Series, Betts was secretly recorded giving food to homeless people gathered around Boston’s public library. In 2015, he and then-teammate Blake Swihart were seen giving pizza to a homeless man in New York as well.