This is the third and final chapter of Bear’s excellent expose on Dodgers World Series Heroes.
1974
The baseball landscape had changed since the Dodgers last World Series appearance. Both leagues had expanded to 12 teams in 1969 with the addition in the National League of the San Diego Padres, and the Montreal Expos. The AL’s new teams were the expansion Senators, and the Seattle Pilots. By 1974, both of those franchises had relocated, Seattle after one season, moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers. The Senators moved to Dallas-Ft. Worth and became the Rangers in 1972.
The Dodgers won the division title over the Reds by four games finishing with a 102-60 record. It was the first year as a unit for “The Infield” Steve Garvey at 1st, Lopes at 2nd, Cey at 3rd and Bill Russell at SS. All except for Cey were converted from other positions. Garvey was a third baseman whose wild throws threatened the patrons behind first base.
But he had a solid bat, so he was moved to first. Lopes and Russell were converted outfielders. Over the winter of 73, the Dodgers made two trades that greatly impacted the team. On Dec 5th, they traded longtime Dodger CF, Willie Davis to the Montreal Expos for reliever, Mike Marshall. The next day they traded Claude Osteen and minor leaguer Dave Culpepper to the Astros for power hitting Jimmy Wynn, “The Toy Cannon.”
This was the first season that the draft class of 1968 made it’s presence felt. They had two catchers, Joe Ferguson and Steve Yeager. Yeager was the defensive guy and Ferguson was a power hitter who could also play some outfield. With Wynn in center, two youngsters, Willie Crawford and Bill Buckner, were in the corner outfield spots.
Marshall anchored the bullpen with mates, Charlie Hough, a knuckleballer, Jim Brewer and Geoff Zahn. The starters were Andy Messersmith, obtained in the Frank Robinson trade after the 72 season, Don Sutton, Tommy John, obtained for Dick Allen after 71, Doug Rau and Al Downing, who had won 20 for LA in 71 but who now was a spot starter. His biggest accomplishment in 74 would be serving up Hank Aaron’s 715th homer in Atlanta.
Garvey hit .312 with 21 homers and 111 driven in, he won the MVP vote. Wynn hit 32 home runs and drove in 108. Buckner hit .314 to lead the team. All of the starting 9 hit double figure homers except Russell and Buckner. Joe Ferguson added 16.
Messersmith led the starters with a 20-6 mark. Sutton, 19-9, Rau, 13-11 and John 13-3 rounded out the staff. Marshall won 15, lost 12 and saved 21. He set a major league record by appearing in 106 games, finishing 83 of those.
They now faced the Eastern division champion, Pirates. The series opened in Pittsburgh with Sutton shutting out the Pirates 3-0. Jerry Reuss was a hard luck loser giving up only 1 run in his seven innings of work. Sutton tossed a masterful four-hit shutout. Dodgers scored 2 in the top of the 9th to ice the game.
Game 2 in Pittsburgh featured Messersmith against Jim Rooker. This game was a tight affair with the Dodgers up 2-0 by the fourth, Cey hit a homer in that inning. But in the bottom of the 7th, the Pirates rallied for two off of Messersmith. But in the top of the 8th, the Dodgers pushed across three runs off of Dave Giusti and Marshall pitched two perfect innings for the win.
Back to LA for game three. Bruce Kison turned the tables on the Dodgers and they were shut out 7-0 with Rau getting the loss. He gave up 5 in the first inning on a three-run shot by Stargell, and a 2-run blast by Richie Hebner. LA had six walks to go with four hits, but never pushed a run across.
Sutton came back to pitch game 5. The Dodgers scored a run in the first and never looked back. Sutton gave up 3 hits with the only run scoring on a Stargell homer in the seventh. Meanwhile the Dodgers piled up 12 runs on 12 hits. Garvey hit 2 homers and drove in three. Wynn and Yeager also drove in three. One of Garvey’s homers was off of future teammate, Jerry Ruess.
The Dodgers won the pennant and awaited the arrival of the two-time champion A’s at Dodger Stadium. All of the games would be tightly contested. Four of the five games ended with scores of 3-2.
The A’s jumped out on top with a 3-2 win in game one. Andy Messersmith went 8 innings and gave up all three of Oakland’s runs, one of which was unearned. Holtzman started for the A’s but was relieved by Fingers in the fifth. He would allow one run in 4.1 innings for the win, with Catfish Hunter getting the final out on a strikeout for the save.
Wynn hit a homer off of Fingers in the 9th inning for the Dodgers final run. In game 2, the Dodgers got a run in the bottom of the second when Cey was scored on a single by Yeager. Sutton kept the A’s at bay, and Ferguson hit a 2-run homer off of Vida Blue in the 6th. Those of us who were watching that day remember that Lasorda, who was the third base coach at the time, was mic’d up and said if Blue threw Fergie a fastball, he was going to hit it out.
Sutton got in trouble in the top of the 9th with Bando and Jackson scoring on Joe Rudi single. Marshall closed the door for a save.
The series moved to Oakland for the next three games. This time the A’s went up 3-0 by the fourth inning. 2 of their three runs were unearned as Ferguson made two errors. Downing lasted 3.2 innings. The Dodgers were shut out until Buckner hit a homer off of Hunter in the 8th, he was replaced by Fingers, who only allowed a solo shot to Willie Crawford with no outs in the 9th before shutting the Dodgers down for the save.
Game four was the only game not decided by a 3-2 score. With the A’s up, 1-0 in the top of the 4th, Garvey singled and Ferguson walked. Bill Russell then hit a triple off of Holtzman to drive in two and give LA the lead. Holtzman had given the A’s that lead with a homer off of Messersmith. The A’s then chased Messersmith with a 4 run 6th, a two run single by Jim Holt knocking in the last two runs. LA could mount nothing against Rollie Fingers and lost 5-2.
Game 5 was played on October 17th. The A’s were up 2-0 by the bottom of the second, a Fosse homer off of Sutton and a sac-fly by Bando driving in the runs. In the top of the 6th, the Dodgers finally broke through against Blue with a sac-fly by Wynn driving in Paciorek who had singled, and a single by Garvey scoring Lopes who had walked.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, Bill Buckner complained that the A’s fans were throwing debris on the field. The start of the inning was delayed. During the delay, Marshall, who always pitched in short sleeves, did not take any warm up pitches despite just coming in from the pen. Joe Rudi then hit Marshall’s first pitch for a home run.
In the top of the 8th, Buckner hit a ball that got past Bill North, Buck had an easy double, but tried to stretch it to a triple. Two perfect relay throws nailed Buck at third, and the Dodger last gasp was over. Fingers got his 2nd save of the series and was named MVP. I always thought that it was pretty arrogant of Marshall to not take any warm-up pitches that night. But that was the kind of guy he was. He always felt he was smarter than most.
A couple of Dodgers had good series at the plate. The team actually out-hit the A’s, .228-.211. Both teams hit 4 homers. Garvey hit .381 but only drove in one run with his 8 hits, none of which went for extra bases. Yeager hit .364 with one driven in. Ferguson, Russell and Wynn all had 2 driven in to tie for the team lead.
1977
Walter Alston had retired, and Tommy Lasorda had taken his place. It was a whole different atmosphere. Alston was called the Quiet Man. Lasorda was a whole different animal altogether.
Lasorda praised the Great Dodger in the Sky, and preached that if they believed, they would win. As for the players, the infield was still intact, but some new players had been added to the outfield. Messersmith had challenged the reserve clause and won. He was declared a free agent and signed with Atlanta just before the 1976 season began.
The new outfielders were Rick Monday, who had come over in a trade before spring training for Buckner and DeJesus. Dusty Baker, who was traded to LA along with Ed Goodson for four players including Jimmy Wynn after the 75 season, and Reggie Smith, brought over in June of 76 in a trade with the Cardinals that sent Joe Ferguson and Bobby Dethridge to the Cards.
The rotation was Sutton, Hooton, John, Rau and Rick Rhoden. John won 20, Sutton 14, Hooton 12, Rhoden 16, and Rau 14.Charlie Hough was the closer winning 6, losing 12 and saving 22 in 70 games. Elias Sosa and Mike Garman helped out.
The starting 8 all hit double digit home runs except Russell. Smith hit .307 to lead the team, but the historic part was four players hitting 30 or more homers. Garvey, 33, Smith, 32, Cey and Baker, 30. And Baker hit his on the last day of the season off of Astros ace, J.R. Richard.
Manny Mota was activated from the coaching ranks and hit .395 off of the bench. He and Glenn Burke hit their only homers of the year on the last day also. Lee Lacy was the main utility player and Johnny Oates backed Yeager.
The team basically led from the first week. They went into first place by themselves on April 16 and never looked back. They ended up winning the division by 10 games over the Reds.
They went to the NLCS against the Phillies. It was Phils ace, Steve Carlton, against John. The Phils got two unearned runs in the first after a Dodger error put a man on base and then Luzinski homered.
The Phils got two more in the bottom of the fifth, again, both unearned because of the second Dodger error of the game. LA got one back in the bottom of the 5th. The Phillies put up their fifth run in the top of the 6th. In the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers loaded the bases with 2 outs. Then Ron Cey hit a grand slam homer into the left field pavilion to tie the game.
In the top of the 9th, the Phils rallied for 2 runs off of Elias Sosa, and won the game, 7-5. Sutton faced Jim Lonborg in game 2 at Dodger Stadium. He allowed the Phils a run in the top of the third and then shut them down the rest of the way. The Dodgers rallied for 4 in the bottom of the fourth after having tied the game in the third. This time Dusty Baker touched Lonborg for a grand slam.
They would score single runs in the sixth and seventh and win, 7-1. The series shifted back to Veterans Park in Philadelphia for game three. LA scored two in the top of the second, but the Phillies took the lead scoring 3 off of Hooton and knocking him out of the game. Hooton had been complaining about the calls by home plate umpire, Harry Wendelstedt. The Phillie boo birds got on him and the usually unflappable Hooton came unglued. With the bases loaded, he walked the next three players bringing in the Phillie runs. LA tied the game in the fourth and it stayed that way until the Phils scored 2 in the bottom of the 8th inning. Down 5-3, the Phils brought in their ace reliever, Gene Garber.
Garber got the first two outs and then a strike on pinch hitter Vic Davalillo. Davalillo noticed how far back Ted Sizemore was playing at second and pulled a surprise drag bunt for a single. Lasorda sent up Mota to hit for the pitcher, Lance Rautzhan, and Mota hit a drive to left that caromed off of Luzinski’s glove, on to the wall, and back. Luzinski tried to throw out Mota at second, but the ball skipped past Sizemore and Davalillo scored with Mota moving to third.
Lopes then hit a wicked grounder to third that hit Mike Schmidt in the knee. Larry Bowa barehanded the ricocheting ball out of the air and fired to first, but on a close play, Lopes was called safe. Mota scored the tying run. The Phils protested the play, but to no avail. Garber then tried to pick Lopes off, but he threw wildly and Lopes went to second. Russell then singled to center scoring Lopes.
Garman set the Phils down in the 9th and The Dodgers were one win away from the pennant. The fourth game was delayed two hours by rain, and the Phils, facing elimination, brought back Carlton to face John. John atoned for his bad first game by pitching a 7 hitter and allowing only 1 run. Dusty Baker hit a 2-run shot that put LA in front. They scored 2 more in the 5th to seal the win. The umps were continually meeting with National League president, Chub Feeney about postponing the game due to the almost unplayable conditions. But the game continued and LA won the pennant.
Now for the first time since 1963, they would once again meet the Yankees. The Yankees had returned to the series for the first time since 1964 in 1976. They had been swept by the Big Red Machine. The 77 Yankees won 100 games and were led by a strong lineup with Thurman Munson as their captain. Nettles and Jackson hit 37 and 32 home runs respectively, and Nettles, Jackson and Munson drove in 100 runs or more.
The pitching staff had four pitchers win in double figures and Sparky Lyle was the closer with 13 wins and 26 saves. The first two games were in New York. NY took the first game in 12 innings 4-3 against Rhoden, who allowed 2 hits and a walk without getting an out. Russell and Cey drove in runs in the first for a 2-0 lead.
The Yankees scored single runs in the first, sixth and eighth to go up 3-2. Lacy singled home Baker in the 9th to tie.
Game two LA got a complete game from Burt Hooton to beat Catfish Hunter. Cey, Smith, and Yeager hit homers off of Hunter to put LA up 5-0 by the third. New York got an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth. Garvey hit a solo homer off of Lyle in the 9th and LA won, 6-1.
NY would win games 3 and 4 by scores of 5-3 and 4-2. Game four was notable for Lasorda’s profanity-laced tirade against Doug Rau in the second inning when Rau could not get anyone out. Lopes hit a 2-run shot off of Guidry in the third for LA’s only runs.
Game five in LA was won by the Dodgers 10-4 as they jumped all over Don Gullett and Sutton went 9 for his second win, not giving up runs until the seventh and eighth innings. Yeager hit a three run shot off Gullett and Smith a two-run shot off of Tidrow.
Back in New York for game six, the Dodgers jumped to a 2-0 lead and the Yankees tied it in the second. Smith gave LA a 3-2 lead with a homer in the top of the third, but then Reggie Jackson took over and hit three straight homers in three straight at bats against three different Dodger pitchers and the Yankees won 8-4.
Garvey hit .375 for the series with a homer and 3 driven in. Yeager hit .316, with 2 homers and 5 driven in. Baker hit one homer and drove in 5. Smith hit 3 homers and drove in 5. Sutton and Hooton got the lone wins for LA.
1978
For the first time since 65-66, the Dodgers would win back to back pennants. They squeezed out a win in the division over the Reds by 2 1/2 games. As opposed to 77, none of their hitters had 30 homers. Smith led the team with 29. Garvey and Cey hit 21 and 23 respectively. Only Garvey drove in 100 runs. Rick Monday hit 19, and Lee Lacy 13 as the main subs off of the bench.
They got Bill North in May from the A’s in a trade for Glenn Burke. North hit .234 with no homers. He did steal 27 bases, adding some speed to the lineup. 5 pitchers recorded double digit wins, and rookie Bob Welch added 7. He also had 3 saves. Terry Forster and Hough did the heavy lifting in the pen. Forster had 22 saves and Hough 7.
They met the Phillies in the NLCS. No weather controversy this time. They won game one, 9-5, Welch getting the win in relief of Burt Hooton. Phillie scored first, taking a 1-0 lead. But the Dodgers put up 8 over the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th innings. Garvey hit two homers, one off of Christenson, the other off of McGraw in the 9th. Lopes hit a 2-run homer off of Christenson, and Yeager homered off of Rawly Eastwick. The Phillies knocked Hooton out with 3 in the bottom of the fifth. Welch came on and only gave up a 9th inning homer to Martin.
Game 2 pitted Tommy John against Dick Ruthven. John shut down the Phils with a 4 hit shutout. Lopes homered off of Ruthven for the first run in the fourth. They scored 2 more in the 5th, and a final run in the 7th for the 4-0 win.
The series went back to LA for game three, facing elimination, the Phils used ace, Steve Carlton. The Phils scored 4 in the top of the second. 3 of the runs scored on a three-run homer by Carlton off of Don Sutton. The Dodgers got one in the bottom of the second, and two in the bottom of the third to close to 4-3. It was all Phillies after that as they scored 5 over the last four innings and the only run LA got was a solo shot by Steve Garvey off of Carlton in the 8th.
Game four pitted Randy Lerch against Doug Rau. This one was a nail-biter. Ray went 5 innings, allowing two runs on a homer by Luzinski. Lerch went 5.1 innings and allowed three runs, both solo shots to Cey and Garvey, his fourth homer of the series. Rhoden gave up the game tying homer in the 7th to Bake McBride. After that, Rhoden shut the Phils down in the 8th and 9th, Tug McGraw kept the Dodgers off the board in the 9th after replacing Ron Reed. Forster kept the Phillies off of the board in the 10th.
In the bottom of the 10th, McGraw got the first two outs. He then walked Cey. Baker hit a line drive to center field that Garry Maddox got a late break on. It looked like he was going to catch it, but it fell in for a hit. Russell then lined a single to center, with Cey running because there were two outs, Maddox made a do or die play, but the ball skipped past him, and Cey scored the winning run. Garvey was named NLCS MVP.
Again their foes in the series would be the New York Yankees. The day after the series ended, long-time Dodger player and coach, Jim “Jr.” Gilliam passed away. Gilliam had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage on September 15th. After surgery he lapsed into a coma from which he never woke up. He died 9 days before his 50th birthday. The Dodgers dedicated the World Series to Jim. The team retired his #19 jersey 2 days after his death prior to game one of the series.
Along with Fernando Valenzuela, whose #34 was retired last season, they are the only two Dodgers whose numbers are retired and are not in the Hall of Fame.
The Yankees had their own issues. Billy Martin had been fired and replaced mid-season by Bob Lemon. But the team put all of that aside and still won 100 games. Nettles and Jackson hit 27 homers each, no player drove in 100 runs. Roy White was their best bat off of the bench.
The pitching staff was anchored by 25 game winner, Ron Guidy,or Louisiana Lightning as they called him and 20 game winner, Ed Figuroa. Hunter won 12 and along with Goose Gossage, was the only other pitcher in double figures. Gossage also saved 27.
In LA for the first two games, the Dodgers brought the heavy lumber. They scored 3 in the bottom of the second on a solo shot by Baker and a 2-run homer by Lopes. They never looked back. They were up 7-0 before the Yankees scored 3 in the seventh. The Dodgers got the 3 right back. Lopes had hit his second homer off of Ken Clay in the 4th, a 3-run shot. The Yanks scored 2 in the 8th and the Dodgers one more in the bottom of the 8th for an 11-5 win. Lopes went 2-5 and drove in 5 runs.
Game two pitted Hooton against Hunter. Cey drove in all of the Dodgers runs with a single and three-run homer. Jackson drove in the first two runs with a double. He then drove in the Yankees third run with a ground-out in the top of the 7th.
In the 9th inning, Terry Forster had gotten two outs, but between them he allowed Dent and Blair to get on base. With Jackson coming up, Lasorda brought in Bob Welch. In one of the most classic power on power deuls I have ever seen, Jackson worked the count to 3-2, then he fouled off several pitches. Welch then threw a wicked fastball by him and the Dodger Stadium crowd went nuts.
They headed back to New York for the next three games. Guidry started for the Yankees, but this game belonged to Graig Nettles. Guidry would allow 8 hits, walk seven and strike out only 4. But Nettles glove work saved at least 4 runs. The Dodgers only run scored on a single by Bill Russell. A White homer and a ground out by Dent had given the Yankees a 2-0 lead. They held on and scored 3 more in the 7th for the 5-1 win.
In game four, the Dodgers went up 3-0 on a Smith homer off of Figuroa. In the bottom of the 6th, the famed Reggie Jackson, non-interference play occurred. Jackson singled to score a run. Then with Munson on second, and Jackson on first, Pinella hit a soft liner to Bill Russell. Now, some claim Russell did not catch the ball on purpose, Russell fielded the ball, stepped on second, and threw to first. Here is where the controversy occurred. Looking at the play as a Dodger fan, you can see Jackson stick his hip out and deflect the ball away from Garvey. Yankee fans say Reggie was confused and did not stick his hip out. Garvey, instead of going after the ball immediately, started arguing with the umpire about interference. Meanwhile Munson scored the second run.
Lasorda came out to argue and went totally bat shit nuts. Haller, the first base umpire and brother of former Dodger and Giant, Tom Haller, ruled there was no interference.
With the score now 3-2, the Yankees tied it in the 8th when Munson doubled home Blair, and won the game in the bottom of the 10th when Welch walked White, gave up a single to Jackson and then the game winner to Pinella.
With the series now tied at two apiece, the Dodgers looked to go home up 3-2. But young Jim Beattie, would end up throwing a complete game, even after the Dodgers went up 2-0. After that, it was all New York. The Yankees would score 12 unanswered runs. The Dodger pitchers did not allow a Yankee home run, but 18 hits, 3 errors, and 4 walks were more than enough to fuel the rout.
Back in LA, the Dodgers sent Sutton to the mound. LA took a 1-0 lead on a homer by Lopes, but the Yankees scored 3 in the second and never looked back. The final was 7-2, and the Dodgers were done.
The Dodgers out-homered the Yanks, 6-3 but New York out hit them and scored 36 runs to their 23. The Dodgers made 7 errors in the six games and the Yankees 2. Davey Lopes and Bill Russell were the hitting stars, while guys like Garvey .208, Baker .236, Smith .200 struggled.
And Beyond
Since we all pretty much know who the stars have been since the 78 series, there is really no reason to list them here. Guerrero, Yeager and Cey were MVP’s in 81. 88 was Orel’s big year. Then after that nothing for more than 30 years.
The 2017 series left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, and in 18, they were simply beaten by a much better team. 2020 brought some relief. Thank you Corey Seager and every other player who helped win that one.
For more than 65 years, it took an extra 4 wins to be champions. In that format, the Dodgers won four titles. Actually it took six in 59 since they had to play two tie-breakers. In 81, they had to win 10 games to win the title.
At that time, that was the most a team had to win. In 2020, they had to win 2 in the wild card round, 3 in the NLDS and then 4 in the NLCS just to get there. That year, they became the first team to win 13 postseason games. So in two of their championships, both truncated years, they won more games than any other team had to win before. That is quite an accomplishment.
Now with the extended playoffs, unless you are the division winner with a bye, You have to win 13 games. If the team with a bye wins the division series, they only need 11. Houston is the only team who had a bye to accomplish that. 2022.
So do not let anyone get the idea that getting to the World Series is easy in this day and age. It is not, it is extremely difficult and the best team does not always advance or win. The 5 day layoff for the bye teams has proved to be a huge hurdle.
It says Reggie Smith hit three homers, but that should be Reggie Jackson. Change in plans, my sis is taking a train here, she will arrive Thursday afternoon. She needs some alone time, and the train ride will give her that. Then on Saturday morning, we will be leaving for California. I will be out there a couple of weeks. Jeff, if you can, change that Smith to Jackson.
Fixed.
Yesterday’s game looked like the “then after that nothing for more than 30 years” period. 3 hits, 1 for 2 WRISP. The team looked drugged. Maybe they’re just marking time until Thursday.
Bear would like to inform you that the Dodgers have never taken drugs, never will take drugs and distain anyone who has taken drugs (even Advil is evil).
I didn’t waste my time on the Freeway Series, I really can’t stand exhibition games to tell you the truth. I was the same way when I was playing sports, just couldn’t get excited in practice games, turn the lights on and I’ll be ready to go.
Where the hell did that come from???? I said I don’t take drugs, never have and never will, if you on the other hand feel the need to imbibe, knock yourself out.
Literally
Many are questioning how Ohtani didn’t notice his interpreter pilfering 4.5 million from his account and find the story implausible.
But Ohtani isn’t the first athlete to have his money stolen right under his nose. Muhammad Ali went through 82 million is mismanaged money either through giving it away or being basically robbed by his trusted entourage. Many members of his entourage had access to his bank account and just misused his money
The thing that caused Ali to finally seek help running his finances was when $2.5 million that was being held in an escrow account to pay his taxes went missing.
He was being managed by Herbert Muhammad, the son of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad claimed the money had gone for expenses but Ali finally brought in a rescue team to look at his finances.
Those who took a look at Ali’s financial and legal affairs included Robert Abboud, chairman of the First National Bank of Chicago, and Barry Frank of IMC, a talent management group.
What they discovered was a total mess.
The rescue team pushed aside Ali’s inner circle including Drew Bundini Brown. If my memory serves, part of the deal to get Ali out of his financial trouble was a 4 fight tour including London with a new cast of responsible financial managers. Brown was off the list. But Brown showed up to take the plane with Ali to London. When told he couldn’t go, Ali stepped in allowing his cornerman to go, againt the deal the new management group had made with Ali. Later, in London, Brown apparently was caught on the street selling Ali memorabilia out of a trunk for his own profit.
Within two years the management group had built up a trust fund of $2,500,000 and Ali’s future was more secure.
Are you sure about that stuff with Bundini Brown?
Bluto, I’m sure of that story – as I remember it from book I read on Ali many years ago. So, no I’m not positive. It’s my recollection yet I don’t plan to dig through research to verify the story. You can take it at face value but it was very impactful on me as an example of Ali’s entourage ripping him off for large sums by having access to his bank account.
My point here was to point out that Ippei served many role for Othani besides interpreting. He was more of a personal valet and likely had access to a bank account for Ohtani’s needs. Now if that extended to 4.5 million raises my eyebrows. The simple explanation offered by Ohtani yesterday can be true. He was being ripped off by this guy and didn’t know it.
But I will refrain from any judgement in this deal as I did with Bauer’s. I learned from the Duke Lacrosse fiasco to not jump to conclusions until more facts are in.
I have no reason not to believe Ohtani in the meantime.
Phil, I get that management and accountants and even wives have access to certain wealthy people’s bank accounts, but an interpreter? And there’s that Ippei interview with ESPN. Why in the world would he say that Ohtani helped him with this debt if he knew full well it was lie? It initially sounded plausible it was a good buddy helping out with a debt. I find that more believable than he had access to a private bank account and Ohtani knew nothing about it.
But again, I don’t know what happened. I just know it smells foul to me. And until we know the whole truth – Ippei Kai Yei mother***kers.
Ippei has been found to lie about his resume. So Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus; latin for “false in one thing, false in everything. From a legal perspective a witness who falsely testfies about one matter is not credible to testify about any matter.
The only reason he was even ever an MLB interpreter was from when he went to Japan and lied and said he had been one for the Red Sox. Pretty weird that the Japanese didn’t check his resume either, isn’t it?
Ippei Kai Yei translates to Merry Christmas
It’s funny Ippei is being labeled as just an “interpreter”.
He was a lot more than that and yes, those in the inner circle of super wealthy powerful rich folks have access to accounts.
I know, as I work for powerful wealthy people in Asia. I’ve seen myself how numerous high level people under him stole money from him as well because the elite powerful folks don’t monitor their bank accounts daily like we all do. They put people they trust in those positions, and unfortunately, those trusted folks have the ability to be shady if they wish.
This story is very plausible to me, as I’ve seen it (much like Jeff has, but without his accounting background).
From the Athletic:
“There are approximately a thousand other questions, but here’s what I keep coming back to:
Why did a “crisis communications specialist” from Ohtani’s camp initially quote Ohtani as saying, “Yeah, I sent several large payments. That’s the maximum amount I could send,” before the story later changed to Ohtani knowing nothing?
• If Mizuhara’s résumé was, as Sam Blum reported over the weekend, rife with inconsistencies, how did he get the job interpreting for Ohtani in the first place? As reported by Britt Ghiroli, Mizuhara was the interpreter for English players on the Nippon Ham Fighters, the team Ohtani played for in Japan, so it’s possible that Ohtani simply chose him and that was that. But the inconsistencies are basic — shouldn’t they have raised a red flag?
• For that matter, how does this (as reported by Fabian Ardaya) happen? “Every communication from the Dodgers, agent Nez Balelo or his representatives at CAA went through Mizuhara, even without Ohtani present. That meant no one from the Dodgers or CAA supposedly ever talked to Ohtani directly about the looming story involving Mizuhara before the interpreter addressed the club after Wednesday’s season opener.” (Emphasis mine)”
I am skeptical by nature. A lifetime of being lied to will do that to a person. I hope you guys are right. But more answers are needed here.
The key point in your post is “a lifetime of being lied to”
Ohtani has a HS education. No experience in anything other than baseball. I am not the same person I was when I was in my 20s. Largely because mistakes, especially in business, are the greatest teacher. And I am highly educated. And I still made stupid mistakes.
I posted this on another blog…
“On a side note. I was talking to a friend yesterday after the press conference. He owns a business with a long time friend (the business is in sales). He confided in me that he has managed every detail of his friends personal finances for a decade (he’s quite wealthy and lives in Europe half the year). He said his friend doesn’t even know, or care to know, where his money is at. Never opens his statements. My friend has control of all his accounts, has every conceivable security question. He’s the trustee of his estate. His friend just has his bank card and credit cards. He’s done this as a favor to a business partner. He is now reevaluating the wisdom of being in that position. If he were ever to be accused of something.especially since his wealthy friend has a new, much younger, wife. They are close friends but this Ohtani incident has scared him.
My point is, yea. There are people out there who don’t want to deal with their finances. Don’t want the hassle and don’t care to understand investments and banking. Very wealthy people. Now this guys isn’t Ohtani wealthy, but he’s “can travel around the world and never work another day in his life wealthy”. And he trusts everything to his friend/business partner of 15 years. So when I hear people go on and on that it’s “impossible” that Ohtani’s interpreter could have access to his accounts without his knowledge, well…. No it’s not. Stupid? Yes! But certainly not impossible.”
great post Jayne.
“He owns a business with a long time friend”
Ohtani has known Mizuhara 6 years.
We’ll just have to wait and see if there’s any more to this.
Nice Die Hard reference.
I read a story about how Ohtani is completely apathetic when it comes to money. Like it barely means anything to him. Apparently when he played in Japan he lived in the dormitories that teams have that are usually reserved for first and second year players. But he chose to live in the dorms the entire time he was in the league. More plausible than not that 4.5 million would be meaningless to him.
A’s acquire LHRP TJ McFarland from LAD for cash. Good for him. I personally would have preferred McFarland with Vesia being optioned. But I do not get to make those decisions.
by any chance, is it international spending cash, or a few bucks for us to get some In n Out?
In n Out cash.
With all this talk about interpreters and translators going on I thought I would share my interpretation/translations for defendants Betts and Lux–they will be as good as Russell and Lopes. Betts was a middle infielder who got pushed to RF because that was how Boston got his bat into the lineup. Russell and Lopes were outfielders that found their MLB opportunities in the middle infield.
The infield defense will be fine as soon as the third base defense improves.
Wow, DBacks sign Jordan Montgomery.
Saw that. NL West is serious.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s an overpay.
One report has the deal at $25m for one year. That seems pretty weak after all the reports that Montgomery was seeking a long-term contract.
But now I’m wondering whether the Giants or D’backs have the better rotation. And how does the Dodger rotation rate? I’m trying to be optimistic about Yoshi and Glasnow…Sure hope Buhler and Kershaw come back strong.
Nice to see Lux join Freddie and Will with a HR. And it wasn’t a cheap one, either. Nice outings for Hurt and Karros.
Guy won’t pitch for a month or so. He has a clause that kicks in 20 mil for next season if he reaches the escalators. I am not worried about the D-Backs rotation. Kelly is vastly over-rated. He pitched one good game against LA last year. Prior to that win, he was 0-11 against the Dodgers.
10 strikeouts in 5 innings. That’s Major League awful.
Couldn’t tell. Karros and Nelson were so busy chatting with Ebel, that you had a split screen all night and very few closeups.