Baseball world and beyond react to Ohtani's historic day

September 20th, 2024

Shohei Ohtani's history-making performance on Thursday garnered a lot of attention not only around the baseball world, but even beyond. In becoming the first player to hit at least 50 home runs and steal at least 50 bases in the same season while going 6-for-6 with 10 RBIs against the Marlins in Miami, Ohtani left the watching world in awe.

Here are some reactions in the wake of Ohtani's unprecedented feat:

Monday on a historic Thursday

A beloved member of the Dodgers family, former outfielder and current broadcaster Rick Monday, had a unique perspective on Ohtani's day given that he has either played in or broadcast more than 7,000 games in his career. According to David Vassegh, Monday expressed that Ohtani's game on Thursday was "the single greatest game he's witnessed by a player considering everything attached to it."

A message from Magic

From a former Lakers player and current broadcaster to a Dodgers owner, basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson chimed in with his congratulations, posting on social media "On behalf of the @Dodgersโ€™ Ownership Group, I want to congratulate Shohei on being the 1st in MLB History to have a 50/50 season! Dodger Fans, we got a chance to be a part of MLB history!"

From one G.O.A.T. to another

Staying with the basketball theme, Lakers superstar LeBron James expressed what many of us felt as we watched Ohtani achieve more greatness when he posted the following message on social media for his 53 million followers: "THIS GUY IS UNREAL!!!! WOWZERS."

And another G.O.A.T. joins the conversation

Seven-time Super Bowl champion and three-time NFL MVP Tom Brady sent along a special video message: "Shohei, congratulations," Brady said. "The first ever to be in the 50-50 club; what an accomplishment, but I know you got bigger goals ahead, so good luck in the postseason."

Oh yeah, did we mention Ohtani punched his ticket to his first trip to the postseason?

A word from Mahomes

Legends from the hardwood weren't the only ones in the sports world outside of baseball to show their appreciation for Ohtani's incredible accomplishment. Three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes needed just one word to express his sentiment -- the superstar quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs posted the word "Insane!!!" while quoting an ESPN social media post.

One power-speed pioneer praises another

Back to baseball, how about some high praise from the man who was the first to hit at least 40 homers and steal 40 bases in a season? Jose Canseco did that back in 1988, and he took to social media to offer his congratulations to Ohtani with a post that read, "35 years ago I created the 40/40 club. Shohei Ohtani created the 50/50 club tonight. Congratulations to him."

Let's not forget the 10-RBI club!

And how about one of only 15 other players to have 10 or more RBIs in a single game? Fred Lynn, who drove in 10 runs against the Tigers at Tiger Stadium on June 18, 1975, posted that Ohtani's was an "unprecedented display of talent" before offering a "tip of the cap from one 10 RBI guy to another."

'The greatest player who has ever lived'

Ohtani made so much history on Thursday, that some of it even gets lost in the shuffle a bit, including the fact that he now owns the Dodgers' single-season home run record. The man whose record of 49 Ohtani passed with his three-homer game in Miami, Shawn Green, had a congratulatory message for him, as well.

"What an absolutely amazing accomplishment," Green said in a video for the Dodgers. "You're the greatest player who has ever lived and I'm honored to be mentioned in the same sentence as you, at least for this week. Keep it going, buddy."

'A ton of respect'

As news circulated around the Majors, Ohtani's peers also weighed in. Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert, who has faced Ohtani many times -- more times, in fact, than all but nine batters he's faced in his career -- said he's glad Ohtani is no longer in the American League West, or the AL at all, for that matter.

"Unbelievable season," Gilbert said. "Nobody's done it before, so I've got a ton of respect for him. And, yeah, glad he's on the Dodgers and not an AL team."

Time for an in-game update

Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said that he and his teammates were watching Ohtani on their iPads during their own game against the Red Sox.

"We had gotten news that he was 6-for-6," Walls said. "We're like, 'What?' And we're all pulling it up on the iPad, the home runs he hit, and it's like, dude is unbelievable. Three homers, [two] stolen bases, two doubles, 10 RBIs. Who does that? Nobody does that.โ€

In this case, only Ohtani does that. He is, after all, the only player to hit three homers and steal two bases in the same game.

'Really excited and happy for him'

It was a similar situation in Houston, where the Astros were keeping tabs on Ohtani's pursuit of 50-50. Thursday's starting pitcher for the Astros, Yusei Kikuchi, attended the same high school as Ohtani in Japan (Hanamaki Higashi High School). He was thrilled to see his countryman make more history.

"As I was finishing my warmup, I saw him hit his 50th home run," Kikuchi said. "I was really excited and happy for him. All my teammates were watching, too, and they were pretty excited, too. Iโ€™m happy that it was a Japanese player that was able to accomplish it.โ€

'That's true dedication'

Torey Lovullo, manager of the defending National League champion D-backs, was awestruck.

"It's pretty remarkable in this day and age where you have somebody that dynamic that can put the ball in the seats as freely and easily as he can, and then steal bases as successfully as well," Lovullo said. "It's not by luck. People think he's just running crazy and running wild. He is probably spending as much time studying pitchers and getting with their base running coach, as he is [consulting with] their hitting coach.

"That's true dedication. It's 50-plus bags with four caught-stealings. That requires a lot of study and a lot of work, and that's digging into the minutia of what's going to have you be successful. That's what stands out more to me than anything. I get a front row seat to watch him, and he's a pretty amazing player."