by Paul Teetor
When the famous slugger “Shoeless” Joe Jackson was caught up in the 1919 “Black Sox” World Series game-fixing scandal, a little kid confronted him on the courthouse steps and uttered these immortal words: “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”
That’s how All Ball is feeling these days about Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani.
I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about Ohtani’s story of massive theft, personal betrayal and a language barrier that made the seemingly impossible very possible.
Something about it just doesn’t feel right, sound right or smell right.
But I really hope that it is right, and that I’m wrong to have such a queasy feeling, because I’m excited to see what the greatest ball player in history is going to do now that he’s signed with the Dodgers.
We’ve already seen him hit in a Dodger’s uniform, and he’s been amazing so far. Two hits and a walk in their home opener Thursday, a 7-1 laugher over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Now I want to see him pitch in a Dodgers uniform, showing off the form that earned him two American League Most Valuable Player awards in his last three seasons with the Angels.
Unfortunately, he will not be able to pitch until next season when he heals from the Tommy John shoulder surgery he underwent in the off season. And right now it’s not even a sure thing that he will be playing for the Dodgers next season. Only if MLB clears him of any gambling involvement, and that’s far from a done deal right now.
Still, mark me down as a big-time Shohei Ohtani fan. His level of spectacular, one-of-a-kind talent – Muhammad Ali talent, Roger Federer talent, Kobe Bryant talent – doesn’t come along very often.
When it does appear, I always go out of my way to see it, savor it and appreciate it.
But, I mean, come on, dude. His explanation of how his name got sucked into an illegal gambling operation in Orange County is very, very hard to swallow.
Hard, but not impossible. It could be true. It would defy all common sense, but still, that by itself doesn’t mean his story is a cover-up of the real facts.
The oldest maxim of scandal management is this: the cover up is worse than the crime itself. Once you deny the original story, you’re stuck with the alternative: I didn’t do it, and anyone who says I did is a liar.
Essentially, the story Ohtani is sticking with now is that his closest friend and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, without his knowledge or approval, was able to arrange for 9 wire transfers of $500,000 each to pay off illegal gambling debts – and no one in a position of financial oversight noticed anything unusual.
No one who was supposed to be keeping watch on his money noticed anything strange about the steady flow of large amounts of money to a shady character running an illegal gambling ring that has been under investigation by the feds for the last two years.
I suppose it’s possible if Ohtani really doesn’t care very much about his money. And there is some evidence of that casual financial attitude: his deferral of most of the $700 million due him from the Dodgers over the next 10 years is exhibit A. Most athletes – indeed, most celebs – due a massive payday prefer the money up front and, depending on their amount of leverage, insist on it.
Rare indeed is the celeb who volunteers to defer most of the money until the end of the contract, as Shohei did.
Exhibit B is something that Angels beat reporters noticed as the six years he spent with the Angels went along: Shohei stayed in a low-rent motel close to Angel Stadium so he could spend all his free time working on his baseball skills. They never even saw him with his girlfriend, whom he married last month.
So there is a case to be made that he simply doesn’t care about money, handed over control of his financial affairs to Mizuhara – who admittedly was far more than his interpreter, more like a life guide in a strange land – and saw his name dragged through the media mud when his alleged friend betrayed him.
And there’s plenty of emerging evidence that the 39-year-old Mizuhara, who grew up in LA, is capable of such a dirty deed. In the week since this story broke, the LA Times has reported that Mizuhara lied about his education and his work history before he caught the break of a lifetime by hooking up with Ohtani in Japan and then following him to Anaheim and eventually to Los Angeles.
So if it comes down to the fundamental question: Is Ohtani lying or is Mizuhara lying, All Ball is betting (sorry) that Mizuhara is lying.
But still….
Even though Ohtani was credible and convincing, cool and collected, while reading a 12-minute prepared statement Monday afternoon, he didn’t take any questions. To a journalist, that is always a big red flag. If you can’t back up your prepared statement with honest answers to tough questions, maybe you shouldn’t say anything at all.
It’s not just All Ball that has gnawing doubts about the 29-year-old wunderkind who has quickly become the biggest celebrity in LA. The Friday afternoon hoops crew at Live Oak Park isn’t buying parts of Ohtani’s story of theft and betrayal either.
Of the 10 basketball players who answered a totally unscientific, admittedly random survey, nine of them said they didn’t believe him completely.
Some believed parts of his story – mainly that he wasn’t a sports bettor himself – but they didn’t believe that he knew nothing about his close companion’s habit of losing big and then using Ohtani’s money to pay off his debts.
Several of them are regular sports bettors, even though its’ illegal in California, one of only 12 states where it’s still illegal.
Another is a financial adviser who has several professional athletes among his clients. He said this kind of personal financial betrayal by an athlete’s friends and family is quite common, and is a big reason why many athletes end up broke after their playing careers are over, even though they made big bucks during their careers.
Another made the point that it would have been nearly impossible for such large amounts of money to be transferred without setting off so-called “tripwires” designed to make sure the transfers were legit and that the person whose account it is was aware of the financial transactions.
“Whenever I or a client of mine sends more than $10,000 we have to fill out all kinds of paperwork,” he said. “Five hundred thousand, nine times – that should have generated a lot of paperwork.”
And he made another pertinent point. “A bookie isn’t going to extend $500,000 in credit even once unless he knows that the bettor is being backed up by somebody or something,” he said. “And he certainly would never let it get to $4.5 million without that assurance.”
Still, All Ball says Ohtani is innocent until proven guilty.
That’s the American Way.
USC, UCLA women both eliminated
Both the USC and UCLA women’s basketball teams made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament. Both had close, exciting games Saturday afternoon. But only USC survived and advanced to the Elite Eight because it has a closer, someone who can manufacture their own shot at the crucial moment.
Freshman sensation JuJu Watkins, who led the Trojans to a 74-70 victory over Baylor, shook off a cold spell in the third quarter and made some spectacular shots in the last few minutes. In particular, one driving banker was key and, more important, inspired her teammates to follow her lead.
UCLA, on the other hand, actually had a lead with two and a half minutes left in the Bruins’ nailbiter, a 78-69 loss to LSU. But they missed their last eight shots as they played hero ball and tried to win it individually instead of working together as a team.
For the Bruins, once again it’s wait until next year.
The Trojans lost their elite eight game to U Conn, but with Watkins leading them for the next three years, their future is bright.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
