SEOUL, South Korea: Shohei Ohtani is referred to in Japan as “kanpeki no hito” — the right individual — due to his manners and impeccable conduct.
That picture might have taken a success when the Dodgers fired his good good friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara on Wednesday over allegations he gambled illegally and stole Ohtani’s cash to repay money owed.
The legislation agency representing Ohtani known as it a “massive theft” in an announcement.
The Seoul Series — the primary MLB video games in South Korea — have been imagined to be a showcase for Ohtani earlier than a fertile baseball viewers in Asia. The video games between San Diego and Los Angeles have been scheduled earlier than he signed a $700 million, 10-year take care of the Dodgers in December. For MLB, the celebrities appeared completely aligned and there may be already speak of an analogous collection subsequent yr in Tokyo.
A bomb risk Wednesday briefly put a cloud over the collection. Police have been warned earlier than the primary recreation of a bomb on the stadium however discovered no explosives. Ohtani was reportedly the goal.
Then got here the opposite Ohtani bombshell.
“I was shocked when I read it,” stated Jorge Kuri, a hardcore Dodgers fan from Tijuana, Mexico, who runs a garment enterprise there.
Wearing a blue Dodgers sweatshirt and cap on the Gocheok Sky Dome, Kuri stated he was attempting to sift by means of the data that’s on the market. He stated he’d simply returned from trip in Japan “where Ohtani is king.”
“I don’t know what the end is going to be with this because I think it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he added. “Right now he’s the image of Major League Baseball.”
Mizuhara, 39, was let go from the staff following studies from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an unlawful bookmaker. He was within the dugout and with the staff by means of Wednesday’s recreation — the stunning studies dropped Wednesday night within the U.S., whereas most followers in Asia have been asleep.
Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts confirmed Mizuhara had a gathering with the staff Wednesday however declined to elaborate. He stated he didn’t know Mizuhara’s whereabouts and stated a unique interpreter can be used.
“Anything with that meeting, I can’t comment,” Roberts stated, including that “Shohei’s ready. I know that he’s preparing.”
Ohtani didn’t follow on the sector earlier than Thursday’s recreation. In his absence, his face appeared on the video board selling a line of Japanese cosmetics.
He appeared unfazed hours later in his first at-bat as he lined a single to proper area. In two different at-bats he hit towering drives to proper just some toes in need of a house run.
Mizuhara is more likely to be investigated by U.S. authorities and MLB, and the entire story is a surprising flip for the person who has been inseparable from Ohtani because the two-way star got here to the united statesin 2017. He advised ESPN this week that Ohtani knew nothing of his unlawful wagers on worldwide soccer, the NBA, the NFL and school soccer.
As Mizuhara advised it, Ohtani was an harmless sufferer to his shut good friend’s playing dependancy.
As lengthy as Ohtani isn’t immediately accused of unlawful betting, the allegations gained’t meaningfully harm his fastidiously crafted public picture, stated Lee Seung-yun, a advertising professor at Seoul’s Konkuk University.
“Ohtani’s image is like clean, white porcelain, and that could make a speck look bigger than it is,” he stated. “Information spreads at amazing speeds these days, narratives are made before the truth of the facts are figured out, and if Ohtani was seen as a questionable character, the allegations would have really hurt him.”
“But his image is so strong and impeccable, and as long as he wasn’t directly involved, the allegations may just end up a blip,” Lee added.
Lee Jong-Sung, a sports activities tradition knowledgeable at Seoul’s Hanyang University, stated Ohtani’s picture to international followers, together with South Koreans, was that of a mysterious monk who “fully devoted himself into a religion called baseball.”
He stated the allegations dealing with Mizuhara thus far solely might solely strengthen that impression of Ohtani — an individual who’s pushed by perfection in baseball however extra naïve and simple-hearted with different issues.
“It’s a problem you often see with athletes — putting too much trust and depending excessively on the people they have known for long and are comfortable with and not knowing when they are taken advantage of,” Lee Jong-Sung stated.
“It’s not all about you being perfect. Ohtani and the Dodgers should have better judgment in picking the people he works with,” he added.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
