On this weekend of Super Bowl LIX, former major league pitcher Mike Hampton reflects on a five year old Patrick Mahomes who could already shag balls in the outfield.
Hampton was teammates with pitcher Pat Mahomes (Patrick’s father) on the New York Mets in 2000 a five year old Patrick was a frequent visitor to Shea Stadium.
Hampton reminisces, “[Patrick] has grown up into a man now. My memories of him are when he had his hair cut down tight. He was a little thin. He was a five-year-old boy hanging out with my son, Gage, in the batting cages in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Every time I listen to him talk with the country accent, it brings back those memories in 2000, for sure.”
Watching the young Patrick, Hampton was sure he would follow his father into baseball where he would stand out as an All Star shortstop like Derek Jeter or an outfielder like Ken Griffey Jr calling him, “a real baseball player at five years old.”
Hampton added, “we are deep in the outfield and he is five years old, tracking a Major League flyball like it’s a little Sunday popup in Little League. When you see things like that — how natural it came — you could see he had the potential to become something special.”
In 2014, Patrick Mahomes was drafted in the 37th round by the Detroit Tigers, but Patrick chose not to sign with the Tigers in order to pursue football.
But the son of the former big league pitcher has not turned his back on baseball…he is among the owners of the Kansas City Royals.
These days Mike Hampton coaches Little League baseball in California where he relays to his young charges how to be a professional with that five year old Patrick as his inspiration.
But he has to convince the young skeptic minds with, “(the kids) can’t believe I know him and I joke, ‘Hey, bro, he knows me. I don’t know him. I was famous before [he was].’ I always show the photo to my kids, and I’ll do it again this year. We start our first practice next week. I’m excited. Patrick is an inspirational person, not only to children but to everyone. He handles himself humbly. He portrays what a celebrity athlete should be.”