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This Day In Sports…July 13, 2021, five years ago today:
After becoming the first player ever to be named to the All-Star Game as both a pitcher and a position player, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels starts on the mound and leads off the contest as the American League’s designated hitter. Ohtani threw a perfect first inning and earned the victory while going 0-for-2 at the plate. The Japanese star with the 100 miles-per-hour fastball led the majors with 33 home runs at the All-Star break and was third in runs batted in with 70. Ohtani was also 4-1 with a 3.49 ERA in 13 starts as a pitcher.
That’s when we knew we were watching one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. Ohtani would go on to be the unanimous pick as 2021 AL Most Valuable Player after finishing with 46 homers and a 9-2 record and 3.18 ERA on the mound. In 2024, Ohtani signed with the Dodgers and promptly became the first player to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season, leading the Dodgers to a World Series title. But he didn’t pitch that season while recovering from surgery on his right elbow.
Ohtani was the whole package last year in his fourth MVP campaign. He hit 55 home runs and returned to the mound to post a 2.87 ERA. He became the first player ever to hit three homers and strike out 10 batters in one game (and it came in a playoff game). Ohtani also had a record nine plate appearances in Game 3 of the World Series against Toronto and got on base all nine times, including two homers and two doubles in the Dodgers 18-inning win. He then was the starting pitcher in Game 7 of the Series, and the Dodgers won it to become the first repeat champion in a quarter-century.
Babe Ruth was the only player in the same universe as Ohtani as a pitcher and a hitter. But the Babe had only two true two-way seasons, in 1918 and 1919 with the Boston Red Sox. He was traded to the New York Yankees in 1920, and that’s when he became the Sultan of Swat. Ruth was a dominating pitcher with the Red Sox and posted a career record of 94-46 on the mound with a 2.28 ERA. He notched 107 complete games (when that was the norm) and 17 shutouts. In the World Series, he had a 3-0 record with a microscopic 0.87 ERA, including a then-record 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.
Ohtani’s career record as a pitcher is 47-22, and his ERA is 2.83. And he has 301 career home runs. This season Ohtani’s on track for his best year yet on the mound if he stays healthy, as he’s 8-2 with an ERA of just 1.79. At the plate, it’s just another year at the office—he’s batting .293 with 22 homers. Ohtani is going to skip the All-Star Game Tuesday night to rest his ailing left knee, something that bothers his pitching but not his hitting. His goal this year was to win the Cy Young Award, but it appears Ohtani is ready to set that aside in favor of focusing on a third straight World Series title.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
