By IAN WILSON
Baseball fans will be excused if they feel like trading in their cowhide for some pigskin this Super Bowl weekend.
The 60th battle for National Football League (NFL) supremacy will feature a matchup between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
It’s a rematch of the 2015 Super Bowl that saw the Patriots defeat the Seahawks by a 28-24 score. That game ended with an inexplicable decision by Seattle to pass on the one-yard line with 26 seconds left, rather than have running back Marshawn Lynch try for a touchdown. The pass was intercepted by Malcolm Butler to seal the Pats victory.
That game had some notable baseball ties. Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, who threw for 328 yards and four touchdowns, was drafted as a catcher by the Montreal Expos in the 18th-round of the 1995 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft.
Russell Wilson, the quarterback of the Seahawks, also had a baseball background. The Cincinnati-born athlete was a second baseman who was a fourth-round selection of the Colorado Rockies in 2010. Wilson played 93 games in the minor leagues and batted .229 with 58 runs, 26 RBI, 19 stolen bases and five home runs before the Seahawks made him a third-round pick in the 2012 NFL draft.
There is, of course, plenty of overlap between baseball and football. Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson were living proof of that, as could be seen in their stellar playing careers in both MLB and the NFL.
With all that in mind, here’s a look at three pieces of trivia involving times when Alberta baseball had links to the Super Bowl:
1. PITCHING PATRICK MAHOMES
Patrick Mahomes – the three-time Super Bowl MVP with the Kansas City Chiefs – grew up playing several sports.
He was talented enough as a baseball player to be drafted in the 37th round of the 2014 draft by the Detroit Tigers as a pitcher.
The quarterback’s love of baseball was no surprise. His father, Pat Mahomes, took the mound in 308 MLB games for the Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates. Those MLB teams helped shape the younger Mahomes love of high-level sports.
“He grew up in the clubhouse, he was always around the game, and he was always the best player on his baseball team,” Pat Mahomes Sr. said in a Los Angeles Time article.
“He was an unbelievable shortstop, he always led his team in hitting, and he threw 97 mph on the mound, so I always thought he was gonna be a baseball player.”
The elder Mahomes also suited up in 20 games with the Triple-A Edmonton Trappers of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) in 2004. The reliever went 4-4 with a 4.88 earned run average (ERA) and six saves in 24 innings with the Trap. He also racked up 19 strikeouts.
“I know I’m going to be better than most of the guys I face out there,” Mahomes told Edmonton Journal reporter Norm Cowley in an interview with the newspaper.
“That’s the kind of attitude you’ve got to have to close … you’ve got to establish yourself real quick.”
One of the more high-profile teammates of Mahomes Sr. was Alex Rodriguez, a star with the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees, as well as a Calgary Cannons alum.
When the two were members of the Texas Rangers in 2001, A-Rod offered the younger Mahomes some not-so-great advice, which he recalled during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2025.
After Mahomes Jr. prodded Rodriguez for advice about sports, he relented.
“I lowered my voice, and I said, ‘Alright, I know you like baseball, and I know you like football, but trust me when I say this — baseball is where the money is,’ ” said Rodriguez.
“I said, ‘Football’s just for fun, but you’re gonna make your money in baseball like your dad and I’ … I’m glad he didn’t take my advice!”
2. DON’T SCOFF AT GOFF
Jared Goff – the first overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft – had a similar baseball connection.
The QB led the Los Angeles Rams to the 2019 Super Bowl, which they lost to the Patriots by a 13-3 score, and he has been a five-time Pro Bowler with the Rams and Detroit Lions.
He credits his parents with his ability to remain cool under pressure.
“It’s something I was kind of born with, how I grew up and how I’ve been. I attribute it to my parents and the way they raised me. I just try to understand that it’s still just a game and have fun with it,” said the California native.
His dad, Jerry Goff, played 90 games as a catcher in the big leagues with the Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros.
His baseball journey included 76 contests with the Calgary Cannons in 1989. During that PCL season, he collected 50 RBI and smacked 11 long balls. Goff shared a dugout with Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, Mickey Brantley, Mike Campbell and Erik Hanson at Foothills Stadium.
Goff’s final MLB game came with the Astros in 1996 and he made the most of it by hitting a home run and registering a pair of RBI in four at bats.
3. SCHROEDER HIT TATERS
UCLA star Jay Schroeder had options.
The Milwaukee-born athlete was a third overall selection of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1979 MLB Draft.
He didn’t sign with the team right away, despite the allure of a three-year, big money contract.
“I told every (baseball) scout that approached me, there were 18 or 20, that I had signed with UCLA and it wouldn’t be in their best interest to draft me,” Schroeder told the Los Angeles Times after he was drafted.
“I was very surprised to be picked that high. I figured I’d go in about the sixth round … Toronto expressed the most interest, so I knew they would pick me. When I explained to them about UCLA, they told me they’d change my mind. They figured when I saw their offer I’d jump and sign. They were wrong. I want to see what I can do in football.”
His professional baseball debut came with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays of the rookie-level Pioneer League. Schroeder played 52 games as a 19-year-old outfielder with the Baby Jays in 1980. In that time, he had a .403 on-base percentage, 45 walks, 27 runs, 21 RBI, eight stolen bases and a pair of homers.
Not surprisingly, Schroeder had a cannon of an arm. It was on display in a late-July matchup against the Helena Phillies when catcher Darren Daulton tried to score from second base on a single to right field. Daulton was thrown out at home by Schroeder.
The outfielder, who received a visit from his parents in Medicine Hat during the summer, wore No. 13 for the Blue Jays, which was the same number he wore years later as the quarterback for the Los Angeles Raiders.
He remained in the Blue Jays organization for three more years, spending some time behind the plate as a catcher and at third base. In all, Schroeder logged 407 minor-league games and launched 36 home runs, while manufacturing 166 RBI.
As Schroeder predicted, football came calling in 1984, when the Washington Redskins made him a third-round pick, 83rd overall, in that year’s draft.
He was a starting quarterback for Washington from 1985 through 1987, but he lost his job heading into the playoffs for Super Bowl XXII, which saw the Redskins rout the Denver Broncos 42-10. Doug Williams, who replaced Schroeder, was the Super Bowl MVP for that game, which took place on Jan. 31, 1988 in San Diego, California.
Schroeder continued to play in the NFL through the mid-1990s with the Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals. He went into coaching at the high school level following his exit from professional football.
