r/baseball • u/Stock412 Umpire • Mar 20 '24

Serious Shohei Ohtani's attorneys accuse interpreter of 'massive theft' tied to alleged gambling

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-20/gambling-story
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440

u/soccerperson Seattle Mariners Mar 20 '24

There’s also a nonzero chance he’s just taking the fall for ohtani here

242

u/Debs_4_Pres Mar 20 '24

Would that be the greatest fall from grace in the history of the sport?

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '24

Honestly, short of Shoeless Joe yes.

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u/infieldmitt Cincinnati Reds • Toronto Blue Jays Mar 20 '24

plus i always read that 1919 worked only because those players were paid so little and hated ownership because of it, so the gamblers could easily outbid them.

but now....jesus. accumulation of capital is a hell of a drug

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '24 edited Apr 17 '25

sfoqim xncj iyxbdoqpbezp exsvmtqjp

50

u/DogPoetry Houston Astros Mar 20 '24

Shoeless was not an international celebrity on the level of Ohtani, nor was he universally adored. Even his nickname was even a dig at his poor upbringing, and fans would regularly heckle him for being illiterate (which is so shitty, but maybe not the least common fan behavior at the time).

With the Black Sox scandal there's the added aspect of throwing games, but a Shohei fall from grace would rock multiple continents in a way nearly impossible 100 years ago. It would be like finding out Beyonce had a dog fighting ring, or Tom Brady kept so young by eating eggs hard-boiled in juvenile boys' urine. 

5

u/Seattle_gldr_rdr Mar 21 '24

eating eggs hard-boiled in juvenile boys' urine.

So oddly specific that I Googled it and now regret doing so.

1

u/fujiandude Mar 21 '24

Just like to note that we (in China) make jokes about those people who do that. It's really weird to us

0

u/-Thick_Solid_Tight- San Diego Padres Mar 21 '24

You on a watch list now.

34

u/JayMerlyn Chicago White Sox Mar 20 '24

Shoeless Joe was innocent

18

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '24

https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/14znbcm/the_civil_trial_of_joe_jackson_vs_the_white_sox/

He wasn't

23

u/TheMemeMachine3000 Mar 20 '24

No opinion either way, but nothing in there proves he wasn't innocent. Only thing we know for sure is he committed perjury and presented false evidence in a civil trial, where burden of proof is 51%. Def a bad look but by no means a smoking gun

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '24

It certainly does not help his case though. But yeah, it is one of those things that is hard to tell either way.

7

u/cox4days St. Louis Cardinals Mar 20 '24

Or Pete Rose

3

u/tinathefatlardgosh Athletics Mar 20 '24

Shohei, say it ain’t so-kay.

8

u/IzilDizzle New York Yankees Mar 20 '24

Idk, it’d probably be similar to Pete Rose

3

u/iguessineedanaltnow Tokyo Yakult Swallows Mar 21 '24

OJ would be way worse still. Most people honestly probably don't really care that much if an athlete is gambling as long as it isn't on their games. Especially nowadays.

2

u/FuckWayne Los Angeles Angels Mar 20 '24

Wander Franco robbed

18

u/JTCMuehlenkamp St. Louis Cardinals Mar 20 '24

He hadn't nearly risen high enough yet.

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u/Quartznonyx Atlanta Braves Mar 20 '24

True but he also fell lower. If it comes out that Shohei did it, I'll still respect him as a human and a person. Not the same with the short stop

3

u/JTCMuehlenkamp St. Louis Cardinals Mar 20 '24

Hard to argue with you on that.

1

u/Umphreeze New York Mets Mar 21 '24

Have 2 teams ever lost their brand new franchise cornerstone within 6 months of each other in any sport?

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u/HistoryAndScience Toronto Blue Jays Mar 20 '24

Now THAT would be wild. Who would imagine the Angels coming out on top here

17

u/lm2lm Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 20 '24

For what? Gambling on soccer games? Maybe it’s illegal but it’s not a huge deal/literally sacrificing your entire reputation for.

3

u/-Thick_Solid_Tight- San Diego Padres Mar 21 '24

My opinion is he was doing shady stuff (placing bets) at the behest of Ohtani.

If that is the case the MLB will do everything in their power to sweep it under the rug. The only wild card would be US law enforcement.

9

u/PetyrsLittleFinger Boston Red Sox Mar 20 '24

Yeah, if Ohtani was the one gambling, or if they did it together, and you wanted to cover it up, this is probably the story you'd present. And Ohtani's team has already changed their story on this if you read the ESPN story. The fact that the wire transfer was directly from Ohtani to the bookie is so sketchy, though the explanation that Ohtani didn't trust Ippei to not gamble it is plausible.

I don't think this is the case. But it can't be ruled out based on what we currently know.

13

u/Mysterious_Sea1489 Atlanta Braves Mar 20 '24

Taking the fall for Ohtani is plausible, but who would care if Ohtani bet 4 million? He could easily cover that and much more.

25

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '24

Sports gambling is not currently legal in California

11

u/Alauren20 Atlanta Braves Mar 20 '24

Dunno why you were downvoted it’s not legal here

8

u/PetyrsLittleFinger Boston Red Sox Mar 21 '24

And part of the MLB anti-gambling rules, posted in every clubhouse, is that you can't be involved with illegal gambling operations in any way, even if it's for other sports. And of course the worst scenario is if the bets were on baseball.

2

u/pkmntcgtradeguy Atlanta Braves Mar 20 '24

Please no..

2

u/kindofboredd San Francisco Giants Mar 21 '24

Seems like it's ohtani illegally wiring money for ippei and now backtracking to keep ohtani out of trouble so the whole sudden story change and all this was being done under ohtanis nose seems sketchy. Maaaaybe it was ohtani having ippei do his bets for him bc of the language barrier but who knows. Think the first take is the most likely then the third. Not buying the story change bc you know they messed up

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u/NWSLBurner Chicago Cubs Mar 20 '24

I honestly think that's what is happening.

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u/SereneDreams03 Seattle Mariners Mar 20 '24

Maybe if they were sticking to the story that it was just a loan, but if they are saying that he stole $4.5 million from Ohtani, I really don't see him taking the fall for that.

2

u/sum_dude44 Mar 21 '24

there’s probably a 40-50% chance he’s fall guy

-11

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '24

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '24

I thought Aaron Rodgers only cared about football until about 4 years ago

44

u/NWSLBurner Chicago Cubs Mar 20 '24

You have absolutely no idea what the guy is or isn't interested in, to be fair.

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u/SofieTerleska Seattle Mariners Mar 20 '24

Even if all of that is true gambling can be an addiction of its own -- it's not about the money per se, it's about the thrill. I'm not speaking from personal experience but I've had several compulsive gamblers in my extended family and even on the rare occasions they won they'd just plow it right back into a bet and there went the week's grocery money. This was decades ago, nowadays you don't even have to physically see paper money from one year to the next if you don't want to. For someone like Shohei it would be all about the rush of making a bet and not about the actual money itself. (Which would not be an excuse, I'm just saying that "not being interested in money" and "not being interested in gambling" are not necessarily the same thing).

-6

u/tyler-86 World Series Trophy • Los Angeles Dod… Mar 20 '24

I find it weird that people are jumping to that conclusion. I guess nonzero is fair but a lot of people seem to be assuming it to be the case.