"To change the history of baseball" - When High School manager Hiroshi Sasaki revisited Shohei Ohtani's initial goals after his second MVP win
When Shohei Ohtani was just a high school baseball player in Japan, he had goals to do special things in the sport. Many players want to get into the top leagues and make a name for themselves, but very few actually do it. Baseball is notoriously a hard sport to make it in.
Ohtani, according to his then-high school coach, had dreams of literally changing the game's history and being its greatest player ever. After his second MVP award last year, Hiroshi Sasaki of Hanamaki Higashi High School said (via Sponichi):
"In his high school days, when he weighed in the 70kg range, he wrote down his goals: 'To become the best player in the world' and 'To change the history of baseball.'"
These comments came 10 years after Ohtani's proposed goals. He won the MVP twice in that span, and his coach said he's achieved "far more" than the then-Los Angeles Angels star could have dreamed of.
The coach continued:
"He has given gloves to children, and will no doubt continue to inspire even more dreams in the future. On behalf of both the school and the baseball team, we would like to say a sincere thank you."
Ohtani was at this point (November 2023) arguably the most successful two-way player in baseball history, and Ohtani did likely change the sport's history like he wanted to.
Shohei Ohtani has officially changed the game
Shohei Ohtani's former high school coach hasn't yet commented publicly on the latest feats by the Los Angeles Dodgers star, but he would likely say again how Ohtani had wanted to change history. Now, he has.
Ohtani, thanks to perhaps the greatest hitting performance of all time (six for six, three home runs, two doubles and two stolen bases against the Miami Marlins on Thursday), established the 50/50 club. He surpassed 50 home runs and 50 steals and could go for even more as the season wraps up.
No one had ever done that before. Ronald Acuna had hit 40 home runs and had 70 steals in 2023, and Jose Canseco once established the 40/40 club, but no one has done what Ohtani has.