Shohei Ohtani has been a superstar in Japan for more than a decade, but one day earlier this year, a Tokyo resident named Tatsuo Shinke noticed something different.
Shinke, the CEO of Mint, a leading trading card store, had already watched as Ohtani’s soaring popularity had fueled the Japanese collectibles industry, spiked Japanese television ratings for Major League Baseball, and pushed baseball news into every corner and crevice of the country’s vast media ecosystem.
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Yet as Ohtani made history in his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, becoming the first player in history to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season, Shinke observed another data point:
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