FORT WORTH, Texas Having Patrick Mahomes run around the fields at the former spring training home of the Texas Rangers in Port Charlotte, Fla., was a giant nothing.
He was just a cute 5-year-old kid throwing a baseball to his daddy in spring training, and hanging out with the Texas Rangers during the season.
By the time Pat Mahomes was a Ranger in 2001, he already had his son, Patrick, accustomed to being around big-league fields, beginning with the New York Mets.
I was actually one of the first guys with the Mets to bring a kid on the field; everyone was scared hed get hurt, Mahomes said in a phone interview on Tuesday. It was a way for me to spend time with him, and just to see how guys prepare. In the case of (then Rangers infielder) Alex Rodriguez, seeing how a guy at the top of his game worked and prepared for each game. I think it helped.
The Patrick Mahomes people know today is not the former big-league pitcher, but rather the son, the starting quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs who will likely win the NFL MVP award after throwing for 50 touchdowns and 5,000 yards.
Probably since he was about 5 I thought he was going to have a chance to do some special things, the elder Mahomes said. I just thought it would be baseball.
The year Mahomes signed with Texas was the homecoming he desired, and yet it was completely forgotten that offseason.
The Rangers had signed A-Rod to a 10-year, $252 million along with veterans Ken Caminiti and Andres Galarraga to complement a lineup that had Pudge Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and Rusty Greer.
Adding a reliever like Mahomes did not move the needle. He didnt care.
His kids were in East Texas, near Tyler, and the Rangers were as close as he could get.
I wanted to stay so I could be closer to (his son) and coach his team and see him, Mahomes said. (Managers) Johnny Oates and Jerry Narron would let me go back to coach his games on Saturday mornings, which was great. It was better to be able to do than just seeing him for a few weeks in the summer.
The father of one of his sons closest friends growing up coached the Little League team, and the two would stay in constant contact about anything.
He would message me and say, Patrick is at 40 pitches. Can he go one more inning? Mahomes said.
Despite playing for an awful team with big bats and no arms, Mahomes openly lobbied anyone who would listen, including a certain Rangers beat writer, for a contract to be with the Rangers for the 2002 season.
Mahomes had been a decent reliever with a durable arm, but he was an expendable piece on a poorly built team. The Rangers blew it up after the 01 season, and new GM John Hart did not re-sign Mahomes. He pitched for two more big-league seasons, and his 11-year career in the majors was over.
I really did want to go home and show (Patrick) some of the things I messed up doing and hoped he would not make the same mistakes I made, Mahomes said. I got to the big leagues pretty quickly, and once I got there I learned I really had not worked. I had to figure that out.
