Alex Rodriguez regrets giving Patrick Mahomes advice to play baseball over football … but Joe Mauer once actually made that tough decision — and he tells TMZ Sports he isn’t ruing the choice one bit.

We caught up with the Minnesota Twins legend on Monday, just a day after A-Rod revealed he tried to get a 10-year-old Mahomes to quit the gridiron for the diamond — and he made it clear, he’s happy with how his life played out after he made the big pick.

Mauer, if you weren’t aware, used to be a helluva quarterback. He was the top high school football recruit in the country … and at one point, he accepted a scholarship offer to play for Bobby Bowden‘s Florida State Seminoles.

And, at LAX this week, he told us he’s just fine with how his life went from there.

“Ultimately glad I chose baseball,” he said with a smile.

Mauer, of course, had a 15-year career in the Big Leagues, and logged a .306 batting average with six All-Star appearances. This summer, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.