Months before a 60-year-old woman with Indian roots might become the US president, a 30-year-old Japanese man is redefining baseball, the ultimate American pastime. The age of Asia, it seems, is upon America with the land of the rising sun announcing dawn. And they thought it was China they needed to worry about.
The Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris might have nosed ahead of her Republican rival Donald Trump on the popularity charts but she is nowhere near the cult following of Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star who has hit the Major League Baseball, and all 50 American states, like a giant spiraling storm.
This isn’t just a baseball story, it’s much more. It’s about soft-power superseding real power, the blurring of international borders and excellence leading to acceptability. It’s also about multicultural America delivering on its promise of equality and making even unrealistic dreams come true.
Born to a national level badminton playing mother and an amateur baseball playing father, the Japanese had pedigree. But Ohtani isn’t some ‘find of the season’. Like many before him, he isn’t even a mere future Hall of Famer. He is being referred to as greater than the greatest. He is forcing the US to rejig its sporting pantheon. America these days is cheerfully moving their much-adored timeless icon Babe Ruth to put Ohtani on their highest pedestal.
The Washington Post would write: “Ruth, standing next to Ohtani, would look like his neighborhood grocer.” That’s like comparing WG Grace’s well-rounded girth to Virat Kohli’s abs. It’s usually not done but Ohtani is shattering records and forcing others to break conventions.
So what has the Japanese star done to cast a spell on the Americans? The match synopsis of a recent Dodgers game against the Marlins will give some idea. It was when Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases. It’s where he went 6-for-6. He had two steals, 3 home runs, 4 runs scored, 5 extra-base hits and 10 Runs Batted In.
A very loose cricket parallel would help to understand Ohtani’s baseball feat. This is roughly the same as a batsman breaking the most international 100s record with a triple ton inning where he hit six sixes in an over more than once. The high steals and home-runs counts make him both a slugger and a runner. “It’s like if Beyoncé were also a three-star Michelin chef,” a leading columnist in the US would write. A Gayle with Dhoni-like running between the wickets is how India can understand Ohtani.
But it is not just for his batting versatility, he is a two-way star. Ohtani is a 100 mph pitcher with deadly variations. Not many 450-feet home run hitters have even a passing interest in pitching. Ohtani is a child’s fantasy. If he was a cricketer he would be Jasprit Bumrah when bowling and Virat Kohli with bat.
Unlike in cricket, all-rounders are baseball’s rare gems. Babe Ruth was one but he wasn’t this successful and gave up pitching very early in his career. For several decades now, MLB has been in constant search for pitchers since they are very injury prone. American scouts have been traveling to Asia hoping to fill this void. India too had been on their radar. Years back two small-time cricketers from UP – Rinku and Dinesh – were picked from a talent hunt where thousands turned up. They didn’t make it big but a movie, Million dollar arm, got made on them.
Ohtani is expected to be the subject of books, documentaries and eventually Hollywood too will come calling. He is a sporting superstar America isn’t used to. He isn’t King James or Noah Lyles. In Japan they call him “kanpeki na hito” – “the perfect person.” Though, of late he was under shadow after his translator was found to be gambling on games. The stain didn’t stick, Ohtani retained his Kawaii – cute in Japanese – status. His shy-smile, his bows to opponents make him exotically charming. He is an outlier but he ticks most Japanese stereotypes.
Ohtani was born 20 miles away from Tokyo in Kamagaya, a city known to breed war horses in ancient times but now famous for producing a sporting unicorn. Blessed with a swimmer’s physique and a gymnast’s grace, the 6 feet 4 inches genius has looks that could make him a shoo-in for Crazy Rich Asians.
Since his MLB debut for Los Angeles Angels in 2018, where he won the rookie of the year and was an all-star player, he caught the eye of baseball die-hards. The rest of America was still skeptical.
Those were Covid years and baseball’s pull too was waning. Ohtani couldn’t speak English, he didn’t have a persona that could carry a sport on his shoulders. A popular sports voice would say, “I don’t think it helps that the No 1 face is a dude that needs an interpreter.”
How things change, America is now learning Japanese to understand and explain Ohtani. These days every time the ball he hits disappears into the stands, broadcasters have got into the habit of letting out a ‘Sa-yo-na-ra’ scream. It’s the same when he sends batters back to the hut with one of his rocket-pitches.
A new addition to the Dodgers stadium menu are sushi and takoyaki (like octopus appe). It also has six Japanese tour-guides. LA, the home of Dodgers, has seen a 90 per cent increase in Japanese tourists. Hotel Miyako in LA’s Little Tokyo is also a must-see place for visitors. One of its walls is a popular selfie spot as it has a 150-foot tall Ohtani in his No.17 jersey mural. A popular Japanese eating place, Mr Ramen, offers a 50 per cent discount for the day’s first 17 patrons.
The land of anime and manga introduced the world to the Samurai culture and Hello Kitty. Add to the list, Ohtani, a baseball warrior with cuteness of Kitty.
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Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani follows the flight of his RBI single off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Cal Quantrill in the second inning of a baseball game, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
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