There are not many things that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes can’t do. On Sunday, Mahomes will play in his second-consecutive NFL Super Bowl. Last year, he went on to win Super Bowl MVP as the Chiefs won their second championship in franchise history. He’s a three-time Pro Bowl selection and won the regular-season MVP in 2018. Mahomes is the obvious face of today’s NFL.
Despite all of his incredible accolades, there’s still something Mahomes hasn’t been very successful at… on the baseball field, at least.
Like many great athletes before him, Mahomes excelled at multiple sports during his time in high school. He graduated high school as a Division I caliber athlete in football, baseball, and basketball. (Not fair, right?)
Patrick Mahomes’ college baseball outing
Still, it takes a special athlete to truly excel at multiple sports as high schoolers move into college and the professional levels. A select few, including Bo Jackson, Kyler Murray, Deion Sanders, and Russell Wilson are touted as some of the play both baseball and football.
Yes, Mahomes is one of the greatest athletes on the planet, but he didn’t quite get there with the sport of baseball. During media availability ahead of Super Bowl LV, Mahomes revealed his short experience with college baseball. It didn’t go exactly as planned as the NFL superstar claimed he “walked away with an infinity ERA.”
Patrick Mahomes once pitched in a game while at Texas Tech and he exited with an ♾ ERA 😅 Everything seems to have worked out for him though pic.twitter.com/Eug1bDPARv
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) February 3, 2021
Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports reported a comical perspective of this experience from Justin Fletcher, the second baseman for Northern Illinois in 2015. Fletcher described a young pitcher who struggled mightily in the ninth inning during game one of their series. According to Fletcher, this young pitcher seemingly lost the plate, throwing only four strikes in 15 pitches and failing to record an out.
The story gets better when to his confusion, the young pitcher was replaced ahead of his at-bat and received a standing ovation from the Texas Tech home crowd.
"“I got back in the dugout and asked, ‘What was going on with them giving him a standing ovation, were they being mean to him?’ My teammates were like, ‘He’s the starting quarterback on the football team.’ “"
At the end of the day, all of us (including Mahomes) can laugh at this story. The 25-year-old may win his second-straight Super Bowl title on Sunday and is well on his way to owning the NFL for many years to come.
This story gives further perspective to the greatness of Jackson. He spent eight years in the MLB with the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Angels. And, Jackson remains the only athlete to earn both MLB All-Star and NFL Pro Bowl recognition.