Baseball Star Mookie Betts, Overton Grad, Sees Jersey Retired At Celebration

Press release from the Metro Nashville Public Schools:

November 12, 2020

Baseball Star Mookie Betts, Overton Grad, Sees Jersey Retired at Celebration

Mookie Betts returns to his alma mater, John Overton High School, on a regular basis to give the baseball team something most young athletes don’t get: tips from a two-time World Series winner universally regarded as one of the game’s best players.

But when the Los Angeles Dodger got to William H. Tucker Jr. Field on Thursday for what he had been told was a photo shoot, he found a stage and podium, Overton band members performing, and family members, friends and his high school coach in place for some big news: Overton retired Betts’ #7 jersey, and Mayor John Cooper proclaimed the day as Mookie Betts Day in the city.

“I am sure the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays wish Mookie couldn’t jump quite so high, run quite so fast or hit quite so well,” Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle said of the 2011 Overton graduate. “Mookie is a natural athlete who is now known to fans across the country and around the world.

“But it was here at John Overton, on this field, with Coach Morrison’s guidance and his teammates’ support, where Mookie’s talent and his work ethic first captured the baseball world’s attention. And throughout his stellar career, Mookie has represented Nashville, John Overton and Metro Nashville Public Schools with character, with class, with resilience, with hustle, and with a smile.”

“We are together on this picture-perfect day to celebrate the great things that can happen when talent, like Mookie’s, meets opportunity, like the competitive sports programs offered here at Overton and at so many high schools across the country,” Overton Executive Principal Jill Pittman said. “Talent and opportunity are key, but without leadership of coaches and teachers, the recipe for success would be incomplete.”

Betts, who led the Dodgers to their first World Series victory in 32 years last month and is a finalist for a second MVP Award tonight, said he was surprised and thrilled by the honors from MNPS and the city.

“This is my home, my roots,” he said.

Betts attended Oliver Middle before enrolling at Overton, which he chose to attend after turning down scholarship offers from two local private schools.

“Being here at Overton, I actually wouldn’t take that back for anything,” he said. “Just being able to meet so many different people and be with so many different personalities, it made it easier for the transition once I got drafted. To be around different ethnicities and different people, it prepared me for life, for sure.”

He often comes back to the campus to help the players following in his footsteps – still coached by his own coach, Mike Morrison – with their training and techniques. And he said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Somebody did that for me,” Betts said. “So I feel like I should return the favor and do it for the next generation.”

This press release was produced by the Metro Nashville Public Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.