One future Dodgers fan will have quite the story to tell one day about her middle name.
On his social media, Mookie Betts told the story about a funny interaction he had with a fan, Giuseppe Mancuso, while he stood in the on-deck circle in the second inning of an Aug. 2 game against the A’s.
Mancuso told Betts, 30, that if the superstar outfielder homered, he’d name his daughter after him.
“Back a couple of weeks ago I was on deck, and this guy started talking to me and said, ‘Mook if you hit a home run I’ll name my daughter, her middle name, Mookie,’” Betts said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter.
“And I heard this and I laughed. And he said he was serious. So I turned around and told him, ‘nah don’t do that bro. Don’t do that. He said, ‘no I’m gonna do it.’”
Betts continued to try to talk Mancuso out of it, bringing up the fact his wife likely wouldn’t be too pleased with the decision.
But Mancuso insisted and said that he would tell his wife about the situation.
Naturally, when Betts stepped up to the plate for his at-bat, he hit a 436-foot solo home run, his longest of the season, to put the Dodgers up 4-0.
After the Dodgers star rounded the bases, he went over to Mancuso to give him a first bump.
Five days later, Mancuso and his wife, Shannon, welcomed their new daughter to the world.
And the name on the birth certificate — which Mancuso posted to X — read Francesca Mookie Mancuso.
Betts eventually caught wind that Mancuso had kept to his word and called the moment “one of the coolest moments of ya boy’s entire career.”
“Shoutout to Giuseppe. I can’t wait to meet Francesca,” Betts said. “And that’s gonna be my girl. That’s gonna be my girl.”
Betts has hit .287 with 31 home runs, 80 RBIs and a .968 OPS this season.
He made his seventh All-Star Game appearance in July.
