Joshua Gibson Booty (born April 29, 1975) is an American former professional baseball and gridiron football player. Booty played briefly in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman, and also in the National Football League (NFL) as a quarterback.
High school (1990–1994) Booty went to Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, Louisiana. Josh's father Johnny was an All-American high school football player as well at Shreveport's Woodlawn High School (which produced NFL quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw and Joe Ferguson in the 1960s), and was the athletic director at Evangel Christian. He was also one of the founders of the Evangel school that turned into a football factory. Booty was named to the All-Time National High School All-American team by Dick Butkus. Joe Namath, and John Elway were the other two QB's mentioned on the All-Time team.
As quarterback for the football team, he threw for 11,700 yards and 126 touchdowns, becoming the first high school player in history to throw for more than 10,000 yards (despite missing the last four games of his senior year because of a broken hand). Booty was named the USA Today Offensive Player of the Year and was named the National High School Player of the Year by at least six associations, including Parade and the Football News.
Evangel won the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class 1A state championship in 1993, the first of 11 the Eagles would win between 1993 and 2006.
Booty's main competition for the 1993 awards was Peyton Manning, who was then a senior at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans.
As a shortstop for the baseball team, he was a four-time All-State choice at shortstop. As a senior, he batted .429 with 20 intentional walks, 25 stolen bases, and 12 home runs in 70 at bats. He was the starting shortstop for the U.S. Junior Olympic National Team that won the silver medal. He was a USA Today All-American shortstop. Booty won a silver medal in the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival. He was the 5th pick overall in the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft by the Florida Marlins.
Highly recruited by major college football programs from across the country, Booty decided to sign with the Marlins for a then-record $1.6 million signing bonus.
Baseball career (1994–1998) Booty was the fifth pick overall in the first round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft (1994). Booty spent five years in the Marlins organization, and was a career .269 hitter in the major leagues. The Marlins reportedly paid him $1.6 million, a then draft signing bonus record, if he did not play football in the duration of his contract, but he decided to pursue a career in pro football. He hit 20-plus home runs in single and double A minor league stops and was voted the Minor League Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 for the Portland Sea Dogs. He hit .198 in his minor league career.
In 2013, Booty spent spring training in Arizona with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a knuckleball pitcher after winning MLB Network's reality show The Next Knuckler.
College football career (1999–2000) In 1999, Booty went to Louisiana State University (LSU) to play football for LSU's football team. He signed with LSU in February 1994 to play football for then-coach Curley Hallman, but instead signed a baseball contract.
During two years there, he completed 49.3% of his passes for 3,951 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Freshman season
Booty beat out two future NFL draft picks, Craig Nall and Rohan Davey, for the starting job. The Tigers did not have much success, and head coach Gerry DiNardo was fired during the season.
Sophomore season
During his sophomore season (2000), under Coach Nick Saban, Booty started the first four games of the season.
In LSU's 58–0 victory over Western Carolina he completed 80.0% of his passes for 291 yards, throwing two touchdowns and no interceptions. In LSU's 28–13 victory over Houston he completed 44.0% of his passes for 175 yards, throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions. In LSU's 34-17 loss to No. 24 Auburn he completed 44.8% of his passes for 214 yards, throwing two touchdowns and one interception. In LSU's 13-10 loss to UAB he completed 39.5% of his passes for 156 yards. He threw an interception along the left sideline on what turned out to be the Tigers' final offensive play of the game, turning the ball over to the Blazers in field goal range. UAB won on a 32-yard Rhett Gallego field goal with no time left.