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Meet Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani, whose popularity can only be exceeded by Toyota or Honda
Shohei Ohtani has recently signed a deal worth $700 million in the US baseball league.
He is the most popular Japanese athlete in the world at present. Among all things Japanese, only Toyota or Honda might be more popular on a global level. At 29, the “Shotime” is already considered one of the greatest of the game. A couple of days ago, he signed a $700 million ten-year deal with Major League Baseball (MLB) side Los Angeles Dodgers, making him one of the most expensive athletes in the world. In his sport, he broke the previous record by a mile. And guess what? To earn that kind of money, he didn’t have to join a Saudi venture! Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Shohei Ohtani who has reached extraordinary heights in a relatively short career in baseball.
In India, baseball doesn’t have many buyers, so it should not come as a surprise that Ohtani is almost a non-entity here. Though some might be aware of the 2014 movie Million Dollar Arm in which two pitchers come to the fore via a talent hunt in India. But in countries where the sport is big, the number of his followers is nothing short of astronomical. He has 6.4 million followers on Instagram, and in the United States, he is as popular as LeBron James or Tiger Woods, if not more. Some of the best footballers in the world have not been able to generate that kind of interest in terms of big deals, if truth be told.
Ohtani has played in the States six years now. He learnt his baseball in his native country Japan and began his professional journey at the age of 18 with Nippon Ham Fighters in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the domestic league in the Northeast Asian country. After plying his trade there for five years and impressing one and all, he moved to the States in 2018 after a modest $545,000 deal with Los Angeles Angels. At the time, scouts believed he was worth $200m but an MLB rule got in the way of his making big bucks out of the contract.
What makes Ohtani a rare talent is the fact he can both pitch and bat with equal proficiency. In baseball, most players can either pitch or hit. The combo is rare, and the fact he is brilliant at both skills is even rarer. Mike Trout fetched $426.5 million in 2019 in a deal with the Angels, and that record in the MLB has now been smashed to smithereens by Ohtani.
Ohtani is not a man of vices. If you have to draw comparisons, he can be compared to Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar in many ways. He is like a monk, completely dedicated to his craft. He stays away from alcohol and cigarettes. For a very long time now, he has maintained that money is not the be-all and end-all for him. Though that image may change in the wake of the recent deal.
Big sportspersons the world over are often embroiled in one controversy or another. But credit to Ohtani, he has managed to stay away from controversies so far, and that has made him a big icon, particularly in Japan and America.
Earlier this year, in the World Baseball Classic Championship, Ohtani led Japan in style as they beat America in the final. His popularity can be gauged from the fact that Los Angeles Angels have paid tribute to him unequivocally after his departure. "Shohei Ohtani is a generational player and it was an honour to watch him make history throughout the six seasons he spent in an Angels uniform. We feel extremely fortunate that Angels fans were able to witness him redefine what is possible in our sport. We thank Shohei for his many contributions to our franchise and the game of baseball. We wish him the best during the next chapter of his career."
Ohtani has often drawn comparisons with American baseball legend Babe Ruth who appeared to have superhuman talent on the baseball field and terrorised oppositions with both his batting and pitching in the early 20th century. In his six years with the Angels, Ohtani has been able to live up to that hype to some extent, having won the Most Valuable Player award in 2021 and 2023. However, there are no team achievements to speak of with the Angels. At Dodgers, a high-profile and much more accomplished team, he is expected to tick those boxes, including winning a World Series.
