Baseball Has a New Superstar in Shohei Ohtani

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KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2021

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani is having the season of his career. Last week the Los Angeles Angels pitcher hit his 40th home run of the season, setting a franchise record for the fastest player to reach the figure. Ohtani’s performance both on the mound and at the plate is drawing comparisons to another top pitcher with a big swing: baseball legend Babe Ruth. Amidst all the fanfare, though, Ohtani’s rising stardom is revealing long-standing biases in baseball and sports media after two commentators made ignorant and offensive remarks regarding his race and nationality. We’ll talk about the excitement surrounding Ohtani and his impact on baseball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:32.1	From KQED.
0:35.1	Welcome back to Forum.
0:36.7	I'm Nina Kim.
0:38.4	Shohei Otani hit his 41st homer of the season this week, but here's the moment when the Angels All-Star hit his 40th against the Tigers.
0:49.0	Otani got it. He got it. Number 40!
0:53.5	A franchise record for left-handed hitters, three-to-one Hamos.
0:59.2	Oh, Uncle.
1:02.1	Joe Otani, number 40.
1:07.0	Seven incredible innings on the mound, and he just smashes a baseball a mile.
1:12.7	As you heard, a franchise record for left-handed hitters, and he did it after pitching seven innings.
1:20.7	Listeners, what do you think we're witnessing here with Shohei Otani?
1:24.1	You can share your thoughts at 866-733-6786. Again, 866-733-6.86. You can also email us, forum at kQED.org or get in touch on Twitter or Facebook at KQED forum. Let me tell you who is with me. J.P. Hornstra is a major league baseball reporter for Southern California News Group. J.P. Thanks so
1:44.2	much for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me. June Lee is also with us, a staff writer for ESPN.
	...

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