SEOUL —
When Lee Jae-ik began on his course to Shohei Ohtani superfandom, his other half believed he was having a midlife crisis.
Perhaps it was that her other half, a 48-year-old radio manufacturer and on-air host at one of South Korea’s greatest broadcasters, had actually liquidated numerous countless dollars in stocks to turn his closet into a shrine to the Japanese baseball phenom.
Or that Lee, a high-achieving character who is so protective of his time that his phone advises callers to “simply state your service,” was all of a sudden investing his hours after work buried in what he called “Ohtani research study.”
In reality, according to Lee, his brand-new fascination was more of a surprise– one that led him to the airport Friday before dawn along with the 40 or two members of the Ohtani fan club he established.
Their goal was easy: to look– and ideally be glimpsed by– their north star, who late in 2015 signed a $700-million handle the Dodgers and now was pertaining to Seoul to play a two-game series versus the Padres to begin the 2024 Major League Baseball season.
Lee Jae-ik, president of the Ohtani fan club in South Korea, throughout an interview in your home in Seoul.
(Jean Chung/ For The Times)
By 2 p.m., quickly before the Dodgers were anticipated to land, the crowd on the arrivals flooring of Incheon International Airport had actually grown to about 300 individuals. Tv teams swarmed.
Lee waited behind a banner his club had actually prepared: a huge ribbon of blue and white including Ohtani in his brand-new uniform.
“Ohtani is going to understand about us after today,” Lee stated. “I’m sure of it.”
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All of it began in 2015 with a global baseball competition called the Premier 12. Ohtani, then 21, was mainly unidentified outside devoted baseball circles.
A casual fan, Lee had actually tuned in just due to the fact that South Korea was playing. Analysts stated that the young pitcher, whose cherubic excellent appearances captured Lee’s eye, was ending up being an experience in Japan.
“Good luck,” Lee kept in mind thinking. “Too bad you do not play baseball with your face.”
What followed was a beatdown. In the 13 innings Ohtani pitched for Japan over 2 matches with South Korea, he started out 21 batters and enabled simply 3 hits.
Frozen by the 100-mph fastballs Ohtani was tossing at them, one South Korean batter supposedly returned to the dugout after being struck out and informed a colleague: “This isn’t. You simply can’t strike it.”
Impressed, Lee started watching on his profession.
In Japan, where Ohtani bet the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, he had actually been going far for himself as a two-way wonderboy, defying traditional knowledge that it was difficult for gamers to stand out at both striking and pitching in contemporary expert baseball.
