Japan continues to be amazed by the successes of Shohei Ohtani, the latest of which, and not the least, is the obtaining, on Saturday December 16, of the prestigious Hank Aaron Prize, awarded by the North American league baseball (MLB). The award going to the best striker of the season followed, by a few days, the announcement of the transfer of the native of Oshu (in the north of the island of Honshu) from the Los Angeles Angels to the neighbors of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The California franchise offered $700 million over ten years for its dual talent as a pitcher and batter, a rarity in modern baseball. Enough to delight an archipelago passionate about this sport, which it calls “yakyu”, and who has always enjoyed seeing his children of the bat, like Ichiro Suzuki or Hideki Matsui, shine in the prestigious American league. The revelations of Shohei Ohtani’s record contract even gave rise to gogaithese special editions of newspapers, distributed free of charge in the street.
In the 29-year-old’s home region, fans gathered in front of the monument erected in his honor opposite the baseball field at Hanamaki Higashi High School, the scene of his early exploits. “He is the pride of Japan,” one participant told Kyodo news agency. Enthusiasm has even spread to the financial markets. The Internet job agency Dip Corporation, which chose Shohei Ohtani as ambassador, saw its stock jump 8.9% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
To further soften the already swooning Japanese, the player revealed the name of his dog on Friday, December 15. The kooikerhondje, seen during the announcement in November of his master’s second title of best player of the 2023 MLB season, is called Dekopin. Very quickly, the news channel FNN found an owner with a doggie of the same name. He has become the star of his neighborhood, and FNN predicts that Dekopin “will take the lead in dog names in 2024, thanks to the “Ohtani effect””.
The “Japanese Babe Ruth”
The popularity of the player, born in 1994, 1.93 meters tall and 95 kg, is due to his natural charm as much as to his discreet and respectful character. “Ohtani is, personality-wise, a giant. This shows in his game. He is truly passionate about baseball and gives his all. Such players are rare and very good,” underlined Masato Yoshii, current coach of the Chiba Lotte Marines, who coached Ohtani in the national team.
Shohei Ohtani also pleases with the perfection of his journey. Her mother, Kayako, was a top badminton player. His father, Toru, played baseball in the highly competitive National Corporate Championship. Like his older brother, Ryuta, Shohei chose to follow his father’s path. He stood out from high school. At the Koshien summer tournament, a very popular event, broadcast live on television, he stood out by setting a new ball throwing speed record of 160 km/h.
You have 50% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.