Just two years later, it may be hard to remember, but there was a time when Shohei Ohtani existed light less famous and less ubiquitous than today – the almost certain AL MVP for the second time in three years and a man on the verge of unprecedented free agency. At least her fame was more recent at the time, which made her seem less ubiquitous.
In his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Ohtani participated in the Home Run Derby, starting the game on the American League mound and serving as his team’s DH. It was the first year he batted and pitched on the same day, and what was once an experiment had become the biggest spectacle in sports.
As I watched all of this happen in Denver two summers ago, I was struck by his generosity of self-sacrifice to serve as an ambassador for the sport. But lately I’ve been trying to reconcile that impression with his bitter reluctance to speak to the media.
“I expect that after these two days I will be pretty tired and exhausted,” Ohtani said in July 2021 through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara at the podium reserved for the All-Star managers and their starting players. “But there are a lot of people who want to see it and I want to make those guys happy. That’s why I’m going to do it.”
Those comments have stuck with me ever since. Because they represent an acknowledgment of human frailty and provide insight into the motivation that drives baseball’s busiest man to take on more than he absolutely has to – and also because “there was nothing else in any of these veins to replace them.” .” . .
If irony relies on subverting expectations, it’s understandable that Ohtani would be excellent fodder for it. Lately, however, it’s looking less like a boyish face belying a superhuman’s body or his unique excellence in a sport that rewards depth and more like Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian to the curious reporters of His team says Ohtani is interested in re-signing. : “That would be a question for him.”
Ohtani last spoke to the media on August 9, almost seven weeks ago. At the time, the Angels had a .500 record, Lucas Giolito was making his third start for the team that would soon claim him off waivers, and Ohtani still had an intact UCL and (presumably) slashes to die for. He didn’t speak after the Angels missed one of his starts, after leaving a 26-pitch start because of a torn UCL, after returning hours later for the second game of a doubleheader, doubling as DH after Mike Trout tried and failed to come back after the Angels withdrew from even a distant rivalry and abandoned it entirely, or even after he was forced to end his season – and perhaps his tenure with the Angels – early.
He didn’t speak even though he remained the most fascinating player in the world, and he remained the most fascinating player in the world despite being largely unknown.
Athletes have an obligation to engage with the media as part of their responsibility to the larger ecosystem in which we all work to maintain public interest in sport. The question is: Does interest entitle us to gain insight? At Ohtani the interest is already there – even superlative – even without public commitment. It makes him want to talk, even if it renders him useless.
I’m not sure if I should use the right tone here. To rebuke Ohtani is to free the angels from their role as guardians; To insult the angels is to deny Ohtani’s free will. This isn’t meant to be an ominous warning about this kind of behavior in a big market like New York if Ohtani wants to sign here as a free agent. This would be an insult to both the size of the Angels market (even if they are “from Anaheim”) and to the respectability of truly small markets.
I also wonder if my frustration is professionally motivated and therefore unsympathetic. Of course, a journalist sees a great injustice in a superstar avoiding the media. But Ohtani doesn’t need the media – not to do much with it, a lot Millions of dollars and not being loved. Still, I think my disappointment is that of someone who loves baseball.
Instead of the man himself, Ohtani’s agent Nez Balelo spoke to the media earlier this month, giving us at least some new sources for analysis. In particular, Ohtani’s arm injury required a statement something — if only as a not-so-subtle attempt to appease teams that might be interested in him this offseason.
“He really doesn’t need to address the media,” Balelo said of his client, whose every facial expression on a baseball field becomes a meme. I’d say I completely disagree, but I suspect he’s measuring “need” in a very specific way, namely what will impact Ohtani’s free agency.
Among the many things we cannot know without asking Him is this Why Ohtani so stubbornly avoided speaking for himself at the height of his career. A charitable reading would question whether he is a baseball ambassador except in passing. His multifaceted greatness rests primarily on self-interest – an unprecedented, almost pathological obsession with achieving the incredible. It’s fan service only in the sense that it’s very cool to watch. Ultimately – and this doesn’t make him a bad person – he doesn’t do this for us. Or Japanese fans who just want more reasons to love him. Or the contingent of Japanese media who work in an exclusively Ohtani industry.
Ohtani the Enigma has captivated American and international baseball audiences for six years. We learned very little about him and mostly just filled in the gaps with a naive love of the game. Perhaps knowing more about Ohtani’s inner life would complicate the situation. But Ohtani isn’t actually a superhero, and his greatness as a baseball player would be much more interesting if we had an idea of the human behind it.
2023-09-25 20:29:46
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