MOOKIE'S FUNHOUSE

In a private tour of his new Los Angeles mansion, the Dodgers' All-Star shortstop goes deep on his big-league business ambitions-and why he wants to be a bowling kingpin.

- JABARI YOUNG

On a hot summer afternoon at his new $15 million contemporary mansion in a posh suburb of Los Angeles, Mookie Betts is not sitting by his large infinity pool taking in the postcard-worthy view. Rather, the 31-year-old Dodgers All-Star shortstop is hidden away in a sleek white structure across the lawn that houses his modern man cave.

Inside, Betts sits by the slick black-and-gray bowling lanes he commissioned when he bought the home earlier this year. On one side of the building, a basketball court can be converted into a pickleball court. There's also a workout area with a treadmill, weights and a large flatscreen TV. These are the kinds of luxuries you can afford when you're a few years into a 12-year, $365 million contract to play baseball.

"Sometimes," Betts says of his sanctuary, "you just want to hang out, put some music on and bowl a couple of games." But Betts, who has competed in the World Series of Bowling and has rolled several perfect games, isn't working on his hook in here or practicing how to pick up a difficult split. He's looking over the financial terms of his latest investment in GrowthLoop, a New York Citybased software company with nearly $20 million in revenue last year that uses generative AI to aid marketers.

"I'm trying to really grasp it," Betts tells Forbes. "But it's hard-all the acronyms and terms." Fortunately, he says, "Google comes in clutch."

The same could be said of Betts, who in 2018 became the first player in baseball history to win Most Valuable Player, a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger, the batting title and a World Series in the same year.