Mahomes blessed in multiple sports
Big-leaguer dad figured he’d play baseball
Pat Mahomes and LaTroy Hawkins laugh, finding it hard to believe that it was 27 years ago, back in March 1995, when they were with the Twins.
They were soaking in a hot tub after a spring-training workout in Orlando, Florida, when Mahomes broke the news to Hawkins. His wife, Randi, was pregnant with their first child. Patrick was born in September.
Hawkins — who was in Mahomes’ wedding and years later proposed to his wife, Anita, at a Mahomes New Year’s Eve party — was asked to be his godfather.
In the decades since, they watched Patrick grow up to become not only a loving husband, father and a role model throughout the community, but one of the greatest players in NFL history.
“I thought he was going to be a baseball player,” said Pat Mahomes, who pitched 11 years in the big leagues. “He was a great outfielder, and he could throw 95-to-97 mph.”
“I really thought he was going to be a basketball player,” Hawkins said, “because he had so much talent when he wasn’t even playing the sport full-time.”
Well, everything changed when Patrick went out for the high school football team to compete for the quarterback job.
“He was going to get drafted as an outfielder, and I have no doubt he would’ve made it and been successful,” Pat said. “He loved baseball. But when he went out for football and saw all of the nuances and things you had to learn to be a quarterback, I think it really intrigued him to see what he could do.
“And being in Texas, well, they love football here. The stadiums are always packed. Patrick has always liked performing in front of the big crowds.
“He was at the ballpark at such a young age, and when he got to see that 2000 World Series with me, with those 60,000 people in the stands, that excited him.
“That’s why nothing is too big for him now.”