Opening Day Glory: Chiefs Relieved This Former Reliever Chose Football

It’s Opening Day in Major League Baseball and one of the biggest fans of the Kansas City Royals, minority owner Patrick Mahomes, is probably glad he chose football over baseball.

A card-carrying member of a club that includes Tom Brady, John Elway, Dan Marino, Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, Mahomes is one of several NFL quarterbacks who were drafted by MLB teams. The Detroit Tigers acquired his baseball rights with a 37th-round selection in the 2014 June draft, but Mahomes didn’t sign.

A three-sport star at Whitehouse High School in football-rich East Texas, Mahomes once threw a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts as a senior pitcher. Even 10 years later, NFL broadcasters routinely compare some of his passes and arm angles to those used by shortstops turning double plays.

But Mahomes, whose father pitched for several teams in the majors, was committed to play quarterback at Texas Tech for Kliff Kingsbury, someone Mahomes and the Chiefs will see this fall when Kansas City hosts Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders.

While Mahomes still pitched as a reliever for Texas Tech’s baseball team during the spring, his football career held the most promise.

After conversations with NFL scouts prior to his junior football season in 2016, Mahomes opted to focus solely on football and left the Red Raiders’ baseball program.

That decision paid off early in the football season when he passed for 540 yards in the team’s second game, a win over Arizona State. In a 66-59 loss to Oklahoma, Mahomes established an NCAA FBS record with 819 yards of total offense, including 734 in the air.

Kansas City traded up in the 2017 draft to take Mahomes 10th overall. And after earning NFL MVP honors in his first full season as the Chiefs’ starter, 2018, he led Kansas City to its first Super Bowl title in 50 years – the foundation for his 10-year, $450 million contract extension in 2020.

One of his first moves after signing that contract was to purchase a minority stake in the team across the parking lot from Arrowhead Stadium, the Royals.

In the years since, Mahomes also has become a limited partner in the ownership group of Sporting Kansas City (Major League Soccer), and joined his wife, Brittany, with ownership in the Kansas City Current (National Women’s Soccer League).

Other reported Mahomes investments include Alpine racing team in Formula One, a new professional pickleball team in Miami and perhaps a future WNBA franchise in Kansas City.

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