Mookie Betts and Uncle Terry Shumpert

Mookie Betts and Uncle Terry Shumpert

Infielder/outfielder Terry Shumpert appeared in 894 major-league games over 14 seasons. He played in the field in 698 of them (mostly second base, third base, and left field), and the other 196 as a pinch hitter or pinch runner. As a batter, he hit for a career .252 average, with a .315 on-base percentage. He hit 49 homers and drove in 223 runs. He scored 295 times. Shumpert began his career with Kansas City and played for them from 1990 through 1994, coming to the Boston Red Sox for 1995. He hit .234 for the Red Sox in 51 plate appearances; he played in 35 games in Pawtucket (.271) and entered free agency after the season. He did not play in Boston's 1995 postseason.

Come the 2004 season, Shumpert was signed by the Red Sox on February 3, but tore his hamstring and was released on the last day the team was in Fort Myers at the end of spring training, on March 31. He played for the Nashville Sounds in 2004, in the Pirates organization. It was his last year in pro ball.

Mookie Betts was born in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood in 1992. His mother Diana had played high school softball, and Mookie was given the name Markus Lynn Betts, specifically to give him the initials M.L.B.  

In 2004, the year Mookie turned 12, Uncle Terry was able to bring him into the Nashville Sounds clubhouse and let him have a taste of the game from the inside. He's kept working with Mookie as he grew as an athlete. Shumpert told Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe, “For my family, I was the pioneer, I was the first one to journey towards those steps. So I was able to teach him and talk to him about some of the pitfalls that I believe were obstructions to my career.” (June 6, 2014).

Betts was a fifth-round selection by the Red Sox in the 2011 draft. He rose quickly in the system and debuted on June 29, 2014 in a game at Yankee Stadium. His first time  up, he grounded into a double play, but singled his next time up, and later drew a walk and scored a run.