What it Was Like to Watch Shohei Ohtani Come Home
Sights and sounds from an emotional night in Japan
TOKYO —
Last night, Shohei Ohtani returned to his native Japan to play in the first MLB game of his career here.
Yes, he took the field twice over the weekend at the Tokyo Dome in exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuiri Giants. But for all the emotion and intensity leading into this historic trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, I feel pretty certain he was able to calm himself by saying that even though those crowds were sold out and packed to the rafters with men, women, and children mostly wearing jerseys bearing his name, that he didn’t need to be nervous because they were merely spring training tune-ups.
Last night was different.
Ohtani has been here for six days, and the fervor surrounding him has been, in a word, overwhelming. It’s not possible to walk two blocks in Tokyo without seeing his face on the front of a convenience store or a billboard. I’m actually not sure how he has time to do all these advertisements in addition to playing baseball. He was already remarkable for having two full-time jobs as both a hitter and a pitcher, but it wasn’t until I landed at Haneda airport and was greeted by several Ohtani ads that I realized he has three full-time jobs: hitter, pitcher, and pitch-man.
Even Shibuya Crossing—the largest crosswalk in the world—is dominated by his face.
I would not be able to handle this. You would not be able to handle this. But somehow, the best baseball player who may have ever lived was also blessed with a nervous system of steel. Or so it seemed to me until last night, when I almost saw him break.