In 1985, American baseball player Randy Bass was one run away from Sadaharu Oh’s single season record.
On the last game of the season he came up against the team managed by Oh. He was intentionally walked 4 times, and Oh maintained the record.
The truth is, for decades, foreign players were not allowed to break the sacred record held by Oh.
What Shohei Ohtani is doing today, for the Los Angeles Dodgers, would never have been allowed in Japan by a foreigner.
While cultural attitudes have shifted and foreign players have now broken some major records, there are still roster limits on the number of foreign players who can be on the active roster for a single game. Only four can be on the roster at any one time, although the team can sign as many as they want.
In 2001, American player Rhodes tied the single-season home run record of 55, but opposing pitchers consistently walked him instead of pitching to him.
Alex Cabrera, another American player, would later tie the record in 2002, and the controversy surrounding Oh’s management became a topic of heated discussion in the Japanese media.
All three players were deliberately sabotaged. Something that would never happen in Major League Baseball.
MLB would have its own shame, of course, by not allowing black baseball players into the league until 1947.
Jackie Robinson was the first African American player in MLB’s modern era, debuting on April 15, 1947, for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Robinson experienced significant racism throughout his life, both before and during his baseball career.
He faced racial hostility from neighbors, discriminatory treatment in the military, and constant racial abuse, slurs, and physical attacks from opposing players and fans once he broke the colour barrier in the MLB.
Oh’s vaunted record would finally be allowed to fall in 2013, when Dutch baseball player Wladimir Balentien hit his 56th and 57th home runs to surpass Oh‘s previous mark of 55.
Balentien finished the season with 60 home runs, a record that remains in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) history.
Ohtani plays peacemaker in front of the Padres dugout. Handout
Ohtani not only signed one of the biggest free-agent contracts in history — a 10-year, US $700 million deal with the Dodgers — recently he put on a historic show which stunned the sports world.
During Game 4 of the NLCS against Milwaukee Brewers, on the mound he fired 10 strikeouts over six complete innings, and slammed three home runs — one completely out of the park!
Dodgers teammate Freddie Freeman stared in disbelief with his hands atop his head as he watched the ball sail over the roof of the Right Field Pavilion and clear out of Dodger Stadium.
“Shohei, oh my God,” Freeman said on TBS after the game. “I’m still speechless.”
Ohtani became the seventh player to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium, and just the second Dodgers player to do so, joining Mike Piazza (Sept. 21, 1997).
It also made the humble megastar the first pitcher in MLB history to hit a leadoff home run in either the regular season or the postseason, and the first home run by any Dodgers pitcher in postseason history.
The 5-1 pennant clinching victory would propel the Dodgers into the World Series, to face the Toronto Blue Jays.
There’s no question, he may be the greatest player who ever played the game.
Only Juan Soto signed to a bigger free agent contract, agreeing agreeing to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets prior to the 2025 season.
Soto leads in career batting average and on-base percentage and has generated more runs, but he lacks Ohtani’s two-way dominance — the only player in modern baseball history to be a Cy Young-level pitcher while also being an elite hitter.
He is also a player whose otherworldly talents belie an impossibly down-to-earth persona.
The star two-way player played peacemaker this past season after he stopped his Dodgers teammates from hopping over the dugout railing and having a bench-clearing confrontation (again) with the San Diego Padres.
The drama occurred after Ohtani was hit by a pitch in what looked like a retaliatory move after Padres star Fernanto Tatis Jr. was drilled earlier in the inning, leading to the initial drama and both managers being ejected.
A quick thinking Ohtani immediately waved off the Dodger cavalry.
If that wasn’t enough, Shohei then went and spoke with the Padres dugout.
“He’s going over to the Padres dugout and he’s talking to them. And I guarantee you’re the Padres and you’re sitting there saying, ‘Oh, our bad, one of the Dodger television commentators said. “Those that watch this will talk about this for a long time when you try to explain how different Shohei Ohtani is.”
Meanwhile, what do foreign baseball players face in Japan?
- Housing and bureaucracy:It can be difficult to find housing, as some landlords are reluctant to rent to non-Japanese, and navigating bureaucracy can be complicated.
- Workplace culture:Some foreigners report experiencing intense competition at work, long hours, and strict workplace hierarchies.
- Cultural isolation:Some players report feeling like they are perpetually “othered,” or “gaijin” (foreigner), and may struggle with cultural differences and a sense of distance from both their home country and Japanese society. Players’ wives, also experience this sense of distance, and lacking interaction can suffer greatly from it. Engaging in social media, however, has helped in this regard.
- Prejudice and discrimination:Some individuals experience isolated incidents of prejudice, ignorance, or discrimination, such as being unfairly accused of wrongdoing.
- Intense training and schedules:Workloads and schedules can be demanding. For example, one player noted working in the mornings and then practicing from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., with optional practice afterward. Full on game day practices are also mandatory. And if you are slated to play, you will play, regardless of any social events, including family funerals.
Makoto “Mac” Honda, an outfielder who played for the Chunichi Dragons, chose to play in the next scheduled game after his father’s death — an emotional moment in Japanese baseball history.
His story is a key part of the narrative in You Gotta Have Wa by Robert Whiting, a well-known book about Japanese baseball culture.
Contrary to the negatives, players report a high quality of life with low crime and good food. Japanese people are often polite and welcoming, especially toward tourists.
Some people are genuinely interested in learning about other cultures and may be very welcoming and inclusive of foreigners.
The presence of foreign players is also seen as beneficial for the development of sports in Japan, and many teams are embracing the modern world through foreign coaches and players.
In other words, it is changing.
To quote Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki:
“The more that Japanese players go to the big leagues to play and succeed, the more that will serve to inspire young kids in Japan to want to become baseball players when they grow up.”
