“I wanted my kid to play ball” - When Mookie Betts' mother, Diana, revealed how repeated rejection forced her to form own Little League team

Mookie Betts' size didn't make it any easier for him to feature in Little League baseball games when he was young. After the LA Dodgers signed him to a 12-year contract extension worth $365 million in October 2018, his mother, Diana Collins, told CNBC Make It, revealing how Betts' "small frame" and being "underweight" once kept him out of the local Little League team.

When Betts was five, Collins took her son to a Little League sign-up event near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. However, the coach there didn't sign up Betts, citing his small frame.

“He said, ‘No, I don’t really think [so]. I really need some bigger kids. I’ve got enough small kids, and I’m trying to balance my team out,’” Collins said, recalling what the coach told her.

Nevertheless, Collins and Betts took their chances with other Little League teams, but the response was more or less the same.

“I said, ‘Give him a chance, because he really can play,’” Collins said.

This experience hurt the young Mookie Betts, who loved baseball and wanted to play. Despite Collins' assuring him that she would find him a team, "Betts was getting discouraged."

“He said, ‘Nobody wants to have me,’” Collins said. “I’m like, ‘Oh no, you’re going to play.' I looked over and all of these other kids had the same [discouraged] look. … other parents were kind of panicking that nobody wanted to play [their kids].”

Betts wasn't the only child without a Little League team. There were several others like him. Seeing this, an idea sparked in Collins' mind about forming a Little League team of her own, where those kids without teams could play. She was a high school softball player, so she already knew about the game.

“It’s kind of a little sad story, but we just gathered up everybody that nobody wanted and we just formed our own team,” Collins added. “It didn’t matter, I wanted my kid to play ball.”

The Little League officials were fine with adding one more team but needed someone to line up the kids as their coach. That's when Collins became the first baseball coach for Betts and several other kids.

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How Diana Collins' led Mookie Betts' team performed in first year

Diana Collins mentioned that the first year of her team wasn't any good. They finished last in the league, but there were a few moments during the season she could fall back upon. One of them included getting a win against the first team whose coach said that Betts couldn't play because of his small size.

In that game, Collins ignited Mookie Betts to give his best, and he certainly did. Betts fired a throw from the outfield to get the runner short of reaching the base. The next year, another coach took over the reins from Collins as the coach of Betts' Little League team.

Her dedication to keep motivating the young Mookie Betts from not giving up baseball has resulted in a full-grown and well-respected MLB star, who has won three World Series titles and an MVP.