Unparalleled in living memory and unmatched in the modern game
June 30, 2021 7:39 AM Subscribe
A lot of athletes are incomparable and revolutionary in their respective sports. There are too many wonders in the world for any one person to pay attention to all of them... But if it’s even conceivable that you could care about baseball—or about boundary-breaking human achievement, regardless of the field—you should try to pay attention to Ohtani. Ben Lindbergh on Shohei Ohtani's incredible two-way performance this season in Major League Baseball, "Shobaes", and the oddity of an elite athlete who is "improbably pleasant".
Thanks for posting this. I am a peripheral baseball fan and have found myself trying to keep up Ohtani and deGrom this season. Both are having seasons that come once a century.
posted by zerobyproxy at 8:06 AM on June 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by zerobyproxy at 8:06 AM on June 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
I'm so excited we're finally getting to see what Ohtani can do! I was all hyped when he came over a few years ago but then he's been hurt, and it seemed like it might be one of those what-if stories... so it's so fun he's finally getting to show his stuff.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:58 AM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:58 AM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
As a Yankees fan who watched Ohtani crush one homer two nights ago and two last night, I am so looking forward to seeing him pitch AND hit tonight. An amazing athlete and so well liked and so childlike in his enthusiasm for playing. He seems very patient with all the international attention he is getting too.
Even the Yankees announcers were gushing about him last night. I agree with them that he is great for the game of baseball. He even had a somewhat playful at bat in the 7th last night against Yankee Nestor Cortes. Cortes was sloooowwwwing down his delivery so much that Ohtani called time in the middle of the (technically) windup. Cortes then quick pitched him. Ohtani flied out to deep left center and as he went past the mound you could see both him and Cortes smiling. He takes it all in stride.
I also think that while Ohtani deserves all the credit for his success, his manager, Joe Maddon has facilitated it. I think a lot of teams and a lot of managers having so much invested in Ohtani would have limited him to either being a reliever and hitter or not hitting on days he pitched. Maddon lets him do as much as he wants.
posted by AugustWest at 9:20 AM on June 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
Even the Yankees announcers were gushing about him last night. I agree with them that he is great for the game of baseball. He even had a somewhat playful at bat in the 7th last night against Yankee Nestor Cortes. Cortes was sloooowwwwing down his delivery so much that Ohtani called time in the middle of the (technically) windup. Cortes then quick pitched him. Ohtani flied out to deep left center and as he went past the mound you could see both him and Cortes smiling. He takes it all in stride.
I also think that while Ohtani deserves all the credit for his success, his manager, Joe Maddon has facilitated it. I think a lot of teams and a lot of managers having so much invested in Ohtani would have limited him to either being a reliever and hitter or not hitting on days he pitched. Maddon lets him do as much as he wants.
posted by AugustWest at 9:20 AM on June 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
There is this presumptive question asked by so many in baseball, where is he most valuable as a hitter or pitcher? Turns out the instead of being binary the answer is as both. He is just so unusual from an athletic standpoint that almost everyone assumes you cannot do both. Turns out Ohtani can do both and can do them both at an all-star level.
Why am I not getting on stubhub right now to get a seat to tonight's game?
posted by AugustWest at 9:33 AM on June 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
Why am I not getting on stubhub right now to get a seat to tonight's game?
posted by AugustWest at 9:33 AM on June 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
This generation's Bo Jackson!
posted by goalyeehah at 10:04 AM on June 30, 2021
posted by goalyeehah at 10:04 AM on June 30, 2021
This generation's Babe Ruth.
In my opinion, while Bo Jackson was an amazing two professional sport athlete whose career was cut short by the hip injury, Bo was a position player in baseball. Possible hall of famer if he played long enough, but what Ohtani is doing has not been done in one sport, specifically baseball for about 100 years. He is an all-star pitcher and an all-star hitter! If I found out that Ohtani drank beers and ate hot dogs during the games like the Babe would do, I would be even more impressed, but I highly doubt he does that.
Oh, and zerobyproxy, deGrom is de Man this year! (High praise from a Yankee fan!) He has Bob Gibson's 1968 numbers beat. His games are must see TV.
posted by AugustWest at 10:49 AM on June 30, 2021 [5 favorites]
In my opinion, while Bo Jackson was an amazing two professional sport athlete whose career was cut short by the hip injury, Bo was a position player in baseball. Possible hall of famer if he played long enough, but what Ohtani is doing has not been done in one sport, specifically baseball for about 100 years. He is an all-star pitcher and an all-star hitter! If I found out that Ohtani drank beers and ate hot dogs during the games like the Babe would do, I would be even more impressed, but I highly doubt he does that.
Oh, and zerobyproxy, deGrom is de Man this year! (High praise from a Yankee fan!) He has Bob Gibson's 1968 numbers beat. His games are must see TV.
posted by AugustWest at 10:49 AM on June 30, 2021 [5 favorites]
This just proves that the DH is robbing baseball of some good stories.
posted by arcolz at 11:29 AM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by arcolz at 11:29 AM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Fun thing to watch with Ohtani is that he doesn’t just hit home runs, he absolutely obliterates them. Most of the bombs he hits are ones where you know it’s gone before you even see the flight of the ball over the outfield. Monday he put a low drive 20 rows deep. It’s just amazing.
posted by azpenguin at 12:10 PM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by azpenguin at 12:10 PM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
This generation's Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth's cultural vigor belongs to a bygone age, but I hope Ohtani's good run continues and that he gets the recognition he's due.
You hardly ever see him, right? I hate marketing, and enjoy exactly the 'other' stuff about baseball. But in a world who's MO is 'sell to survive', MLB should have this guy as visible as peak Michael Jordan, and he's just nowhere. I'm not sure why, but they just can't translate their amazing athletes into the public imagination.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 12:11 PM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Babe Ruth's cultural vigor belongs to a bygone age, but I hope Ohtani's good run continues and that he gets the recognition he's due.
You hardly ever see him, right? I hate marketing, and enjoy exactly the 'other' stuff about baseball. But in a world who's MO is 'sell to survive', MLB should have this guy as visible as peak Michael Jordan, and he's just nowhere. I'm not sure why, but they just can't translate their amazing athletes into the public imagination.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 12:11 PM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
This generation's Bo Jackson!
Not really much of a comparison. Jackson was an outstanding athlete overall, I feel like he could have been very competitive in almost any sport he cared to try his hand at.
This generation's Babe Ruth.
Haha, no.
The only similarity is that they both pitched and batted well at the same time (mostly). Ruth only pitched for a couple years and dropped pitching when he changed the entire game of baseball with his hitting. Come back to me when Ohtani puts up something even close to the numbers Ruth put up season after season.
Another thing to keep in mind is that this year is shaping up to be in the top 2 or 3 worst league batting average seasons statistically over the last ~120-130 years. The league BA is sitting at .239(!) today. That puts us in the glorious company of seasons such as 1908 and 1888. The only year where the league BA was lower than .239 was 1968, commonly known as "The year of the Pitcher".
Admittedly, this could change somewhat over the next couple of months but I don't see that happening.
That being said, I'm a big Ohtani fan. Love what he is doing for the league in general, not just his team. Got to see him "before he was famous" here at the local ballpark and my dad asked me why the same guy seemed to be hitting and pitching in the same game. I had no idea who he was and didn't really have an answer.
posted by Sphinx at 12:25 PM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Not really much of a comparison. Jackson was an outstanding athlete overall, I feel like he could have been very competitive in almost any sport he cared to try his hand at.
This generation's Babe Ruth.
Haha, no.
The only similarity is that they both pitched and batted well at the same time (mostly). Ruth only pitched for a couple years and dropped pitching when he changed the entire game of baseball with his hitting. Come back to me when Ohtani puts up something even close to the numbers Ruth put up season after season.
Another thing to keep in mind is that this year is shaping up to be in the top 2 or 3 worst league batting average seasons statistically over the last ~120-130 years. The league BA is sitting at .239(!) today. That puts us in the glorious company of seasons such as 1908 and 1888. The only year where the league BA was lower than .239 was 1968, commonly known as "The year of the Pitcher".
Admittedly, this could change somewhat over the next couple of months but I don't see that happening.
That being said, I'm a big Ohtani fan. Love what he is doing for the league in general, not just his team. Got to see him "before he was famous" here at the local ballpark and my dad asked me why the same guy seemed to be hitting and pitching in the same game. I had no idea who he was and didn't really have an answer.
posted by Sphinx at 12:25 PM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
As an Angels fan, while it is great to see Ohtani living up to and actually exceeding his promised potential, the one touch of gray is that it is happening during the course of yet another middling Angels season (see also, Mike Trout).
posted by The Gooch at 12:28 PM on June 30, 2021
posted by The Gooch at 12:28 PM on June 30, 2021
The tweet quoted in the article:
every time I see an Angels highlight it's like "Mike Trout hit three homes runs and raised his average to .528 while Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn't been done since 'Tungsten Arm' O'Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Tigers defeated the Angels 8-3"posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:05 PM on June 30, 2021 [12 favorites]
Aaand tonight shows the downside of your starting pitcher being your best hitter. Ohtani gave up 7 earned runs on 2 hits, and was pulled in the first. Now, the Angels are stuck with the pitcher hitting in the leadoff spot all game, against a team using the DH.
posted by dirigibleman at 6:52 PM on June 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by dirigibleman at 6:52 PM on June 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
In cricket, the bowlers (pitchers) have to bat as well, and it’s one of my favourite things about watching cricket that you get to see top-level athletes, in very high-stakes situations, having to do something that they’re (relatively) bad at. I can’t think of many other sports where it happens, apart from multi-sport events like decathlon.
It also means that it’s much more common to find people who are good at both, although genuine all-rounders who could make the team for either discipline are still rare and precious.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 3:36 AM on July 1, 2021
It also means that it’s much more common to find people who are good at both, although genuine all-rounders who could make the team for either discipline are still rare and precious.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 3:36 AM on July 1, 2021
As I understand it there is a big fear among baseball insiders that he’s being wasted at the Angels. They’d really prefer to see him play for a better organization and a bigger stage than Anaheim.
posted by interogative mood at 10:05 AM on July 1, 2021
posted by interogative mood at 10:05 AM on July 1, 2021
In cricket, the bowlers (pitchers) have to bat as well, and it’s one of my favourite things about watching cricket that you get to see top-level athletes, in very high-stakes situations, having to do something that they’re (relatively) bad at. I can’t think of many other sports where it happens, apart from multi-sport events like decathlon.
It’s true of half of MLB, too, though it is regularly proposed to do away with it entirely. Ironically, Ohtani plays in the other half.
posted by atoxyl at 10:36 AM on July 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
It’s true of half of MLB, too, though it is regularly proposed to do away with it entirely. Ironically, Ohtani plays in the other half.
posted by atoxyl at 10:36 AM on July 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
You got your designated hitter into my pitching staff!
You got your pitcher into my AL lineup!
posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:47 AM on July 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
You got your pitcher into my AL lineup!
posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:47 AM on July 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Important addendum: the Angels won that game
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:15 AM on July 2, 2021
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:15 AM on July 2, 2021
interogative mood: “As I understand it there is a big fear among baseball insiders that he’s being wasted at the Angels. They’d really prefer to see him play for a better organization and a bigger stage than Anaheim.”“Shohei Ohtani Regrets Not Researching Which Teams Were Good Before Signing With Angels,” The Onion, 05 September 2018
posted by ob1quixote at 6:57 AM on July 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
Ohtani just hit his 30th home run of the season, and it's not even the All-Star break yet.
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:16 PM on July 2, 2021
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:16 PM on July 2, 2021
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posted by zamboni at 7:54 AM on June 30, 2021 [2 favorites]