Mookie Betts impresses at World Series of Bowling, rolls 224 in opening game

Unlike the NFL, where some of us grew up thinking every good player also happened to be a professional bowler, we don’t typically associate professional baseball players with bowling.

There have been some good ones though. Former closer and MLB Network analyst Mitch Williams comes to mind immediately. He was regarded as an excellent bowler even while his career was still going on, and even had a few 300s — bowling’s version of a perfect game — under his belt. When Williams retired, he began operating a bowling establishment outside Philadelphia.

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Now we can add Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts to the list of standoff baseball bowlers.
As the Stew’s Kyle Ringo wrote on Monday. Betts was invited to participate in a World Series of Bowling event in Reno. Nev. That event began on Tuesday, and Betts made quite an early impression by rolling a 224 in his first professional game.

Check out his skills: 

Betts has gone through two qualifying rounds, totaling 18 games. He actually topped his 224 twice during round one and once during round two, but still rated just 211 out of 244 bowlers in the “Cheetah Championship” and 200 of 243 in the “Viper Championship.” 

Obviously he’s bowling against stiff competition. Those games in the 140s and 150s will kill you there, but Betts still has a chance to make up ground and advance to the next round this week. If he manages to survive the week, he could still have a chance to bowl in the final round on ESPN.

As Kyle Ringo previously noted, Betts came into the event on a roll. The blooming baseball star has bowled four perfect 300 games in his life, and one of those came last week as he prepared for a charity bowling event.

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Betts clearly has this bowling thing down, though obviously it’s much different when you’re surrounded by the best in the world. Like facing off against Justin Verlander or new teammate David Price, you have to be focused on every roll, and even then success is far from guaranteed. Betts has shown the ability to adjust under pressure though, and we imagine he’d do the same in bowling with just a little more experience.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813