Mookie Betts reflects on his time with Red Sox, disputes ‘narrative’ he wanted to leave
“It's a super dope place to play. I had the time of my life playing here."
When asked about his favorite memory forged out on the field at Fenway Park, Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts needed to rack his brain for a few seconds.
As he eventually admitted, there were too many to count over his six-year tenure in Boston.
There was running onto the outfield for the first time as a fresh-faced, 21-year-old rookie in 2014. His game-saving catch to seal Rich Hill’s complete-game victory back in September 2015.
There was his grand-slam blast against the Blue Jays on the 13th pitch of his at-bat back in July 2018. And, of course, his contributions that October that led to Boston’s fourth World Series title in the last two decades.
But in what will mark his first trip to Fenway Park since September 2019, Betts is focusing more on the relationships he’s forged along the way, rather than his achievements out on the field.
“There’s a lot of memories that are floating around up there at the top,” Betts said from the Fenway Park interview room Friday afternoon. “But I think most of it is the people. The fans, the front office, the players. … The clubbies.
“The people that park our cars. Those are the people that I remember the most that made my stay here so enjoyable. Baseball obviously, it is what it is right? It’s my job. But the people are what made it so enjoyable.”
Plenty has changed for Betts since getting dealt by Boston in February 2020. Even though his sterling play on the field hasn’t wavered (his 6.9 WAR leads all National League players this season), his mindset and approach off the field is far different from his time with the Red Sox.
Now donning Dodger blue, Betts has embraced his anointed standing as one of the faces of baseball. The various media resources available in a market like L.A. has opened new avenues for Betts, who runs his own production company and podcast alongside other ventures.
While Betts finds that both Boston and Los Angeles have no shortage of support from their respective fan bases, the expectations found during his early days with the Red Sox brought out the best in Betts.
“I’d definitely recommend it,” Betts said of vouching for Boston as a destination for players. “It’s a super dope place to play. I had the time of my life playing here. I think a lot of people do. But I would tell them, ‘You go up there, you know you got to play well.’ There’s nothing else.
“You got to go up there and you got to play well, and I think that’s why I did play well. Because I knew every day I put the uniform on, you’ve got to play well, no matter what. The media, the fans, the people will let you know.”
Betts said the scrutiny, the occasional boos, and all of the other drama that comes with the territory in a spot like Boston never threw him off his game.
In a perfect situation, Boston was a place he felt he could have played his entire career.
“Yeah, I always thought that was gonna be the case. … But it didn’t happen and that’s OK,” Betts said of remaining in Boston. “That’s part of life. So it’s OK. It turned out to kind of be a blessing, and I’m super happy.”
Even though Betts has stated before that he would have signed with the Red Sox had they offered the same 12-year, $365 million mega-deal he eventually inked with the Dodgers, he didn’t delve deeper into whether Boston put together an offer around $300 million.
“I’ll let Chaim and those guys explain that,” Betts said. “Or John Henry, whoever. I’ll let them explain that. … If they ever want to explain it, I’ll let them explain it. We’re not even there, so it doesn’t even really matter. We’re in LA. And so those things, they’re in the past and I probably just need to go ahead and leave it alone. But if someone was to explain it, I would let them do it.”
Even though Betts has embraced this second stage of his career with the Dodgers, he did acknowledge that he was worried he’d be portrayed as a villain shortly after Boston traded him to Los Angeles going into the final year of his contract.
“At the beginning. I’m not throwing anybody under the bus or anything of that nature. But yeah, at the beginning — I didn’t want the fans to think … that I didn’t want to be here and that he wanted to leave a couple years before I actually got traded or whatever,” Betts said. “I don’t know where the narrative came from or how it came about, but if that’s what makes y’all sleep at night, cool. That’s not even remotely close to where I was mentally. … Negotiations didn’t go the way we had planned and so you just kind of pivot.”
Betts still doesn’t know how he will react when he eventually steps up to the plate at the top of the first inning on Friday. He plans to embrace the moment, and then try to sneak in a couple rounds of candlepin bowling with his friends and family if time allows over the weekend.
But after the pomp of that first-inning ovation wraps, Betts will be ready to get to work.
“We’re here to take care of business,” Betts said. “And that’s exactly where my head is right now.”
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