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Shohei Ohtani is a soft-spoken, 6-foot-4-inch powerhouse. He's a unicorn: considered one of baseball's finest hitters and pitchers, the primary to dominate each in almost a century. He might at some point be thought-about the best participant to ever play the sport.
He’s additionally from Japan, South Korea's former colonizer. The nations' relations are nonetheless marked by stress and intense rivalry. However that hasn't stopped South Korean baseball followers from idolizing a fellow East Asian participant whose accomplishments are so uncommon they nearly defy the creativeness.
Followers say they admire his mix of suave appeal and excessive athletic prowess, which earned him a document $700 million to play for 10 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
When he landed in Seoul on Friday for a sequence of video games opening the Main League Baseball season, he was greeted on the airport by a crowd that was in all probability coming for the Okay-pop idol.
“It doesn't matter that he's from Japan,” mentioned Yu Ji-ho, a veteran South Korean sports activities journalist. “In case you're a baseball fan, you respect that form of expertise.”
In what’s being billed because the Seoul Sequence on the Gocheok Sky Dome, tickets to see the 29-year-old phenom play for his new group, the Dodgers, offered out shortly. The sequence will embody the primary common season MLB video games in South Korea, with the Dodgers taking part in the San Diego Padres on Wednesday and Thursday.
When 15-year-old Kim Sohee of Busan arrived in Seoul for the Dodgers' exhibition sport in opposition to the South Korean group on Sunday, the very first thing she did earlier than getting into the stadium was purchase a Sohee Ohtani jersey.
“She's lovely,” he mentioned, laughing shyly and blushing a little bit. “He's tall, and he's actually good at baseball.”
Ohtani's 2023 season was one for the ages. He defeated his then-MLB teammate, Mike Trout, to steer Japan to victory within the World Baseball Basic.
One fan on Reddit described Ohtani as “not human” after his feats within the event, which included crushing a double at 118 mph, a feat of unbelievable energy, and stealing third base, which requires outstanding velocity .
“What he's able to does looks like it must be inconceivable,” the fan wrote.
His season ended early as a result of an harm to his throwing elbow. Nonetheless, he turned the primary participant to win baseball's Most Priceless Participant award twice unanimously, which he celebrated in his traditional low-key vogue by hi-fiing his canine on digicam and never speaking to the media.
When Ohtani performed in his new group's colours in opposition to Kiwoom Heroes on Sunday, 41-year-old Lee Suhyeon was there.
“I barely bought a ticket after another person canceled their ticket,” mentioned Lee, a longtime baseball fan from Daegu metropolis, about two hours from Seoul, who had by no means cheered on a Japanese athlete earlier than. He managed to safe a seat for $45.
“It's not nearly his abilities, but in addition his character, his angle, his thoughts management, his professionalism,” Lee mentioned.
The South Koreans' embrace of Ohtani coincides with the thawing of diplomatic relations with Japan. President Yoon Suk Yeol introduced final yr that South Korea would cease in search of compensation from Japan for pressured labor through the conflict. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida then traveled to Seoul for a bilateral assembly, the primary such go to in 12 years.
And maybe the ache of South Korea's loss to Japan within the 2009 World Baseball Basic Championship is lastly starting to fade.
“Japan and Korea, they've all the time had a fantastic rivalry,” Ohtani admitted at a information convention in Seoul on Saturday. He additional mentioned, “I’ve all the time watched the video games between Japan and Korea and have all the time revered Workforce Korea and the Korean gamers, and have regarded as much as them.”
Ohtani was beforehand within the South Korean capital as a part of Japan's under-18 group after they performed on the World Championship in 2012. South Korea was “considered one of my favourite international locations” on the time, he mentioned, and he was glad to return.
Not less than a number of the demand for tickets to video games in Seoul has been pushed by followers of South Korean gamers returning dwelling, such because the Padres' Ha-seong Kim, who final yr turned the primary Asian-born infielder to win a gold medal. The glove is awarded to the very best fielder at every place in every league. Many South Koreans are additionally followers of the Dodgers, for whom star pitcher Chan Ho Park as soon as performed.
However South Korean enthusiasm for the Japanese star is real. A YouTube brief about Ohtani on a South Korean fan's account has obtained at the least 5.9 million views.
South Korean gamers have additionally praised him. In keeping with The Japan Occasions, former Dodger Park mentioned, “What units Ohtani aside is his psychological energy.” “Now we now have some nice younger gamers in Korea who aspire to be like Ohtani.”
The rivalry between the Japan and South Korea nationwide baseball groups has been one of many fiercest rivalries in any sport. South Korean followers have lengthy seen Japan as a goal to surpass.
The angle towards Ohtani is a stark distinction to how followers might keep in mind Japan's Ichiro Suzuki, a star participant twenty years in the past who was usually jeered by South Korean followers.
South Korean sports activities journalist Yoo mentioned, “Ichiro mentioned some issues that Korean followers didn't like.” Against this, Ohtani has been “fairly respectful,” he mentioned. “I believe Korean followers respect his expertise. I don't suppose there's a variety of hatred in direction of this man.”
Aspiring South Korean baseball gamers have additionally seen Ohtani as a hero who defied Western stereotypes about Asian athletes, in response to Barney Yoo, director of worldwide operations on the Korea Baseball Group, which runs South Korea's high league. Is finished.
“There’s a stereotype, which can be partly based mostly in fact, that there’s a sure hurdle that Asian gamers can't overcome,” Yu mentioned. “However Ohtani is writing new historical past,” he mentioned. “They’ve given a variety of inspiration and hope.”