Baseball beef that spans across generations.
Are you someone who believes in the saying, “Any publicity is good publicity?” I only bring that up because the MLB has certainly gotten an uptick in interest thank to the potential Shohei Ohtani sports betting scandal. And that’s even with baseball’s Opening Day right around the corner…
Major League Baseball was rocked last week with the news that Shohei Ohtani, more importantly his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, was involved in a multi-million dollar sports betting scandal. It was first reported that Ohtani, a rising star who just signed a massive contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, paid off his interpreter’s $4.5 million in gambling debts.
But then a day later, the story changed dramatically, and Ohtani and his team (his lawyer) stated that the star baseball player was a victim of “massive theft.” A spokesperson then said that Ippei Mizuhara has lied to the media about Ohtani paying his debts, and that Shohei had no idea his interpreter (who has also been described as Ohtani’s best friend) was facing a massive amount of gambling debt.
The MLB officially launched an investigation on March 22nd, and today, Ohtani talked to the media for the very first time since the scandal broke. He insisted that he was betrayed by his close friend, and that he never placed any bets on sporting events:
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports, or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf. I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
Guess we’ll just have to take his word for it?
As you might imagine, there are a lot of people in the sports world that aren’t buying the story that Ohtani and company are telling. Especially since the narrative quickly changed after the initial media story, leading some to believe that Shohei’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was made out to be the “fall guy” so that the Dodgers $700 million star could get away unscathed.
One of those people who don’t buy the “massive theft” story is non other than the legendary baseball player Pete Rose. In case you didn’t know, Rose is banned from baseball “for life” after it was discovered that he placed bets on the Cincinnati Reds while he was both playing for and managing the team. The decision to ban Rose also made him ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, a place where he would undoubtedly be without the scandal.
He was asked about the Ohtani story by someone on Instagram, and Pete Rose had this to say:
“Well, back in the 70s and 80s, I wish I would have had an interpreter. I’d be scot free.”
Shots fired there by Pete Rose…
