Behind the halo of Shohei Ohtani – the two-way superstar dubbed “the living wonder of modern baseball” – is an unlikely story: a poor boy in the town of Oshu (Japan) who used to practice in the cold rain, with torn shoes and a dream bigger than any ball field could hold.
 

 

“I didn’t have much, but I had faith,” Ohtani once said in an old interview. And it was that faith that led him from a schoolboy who was told he was “too small to play professional baseball” to a man who signed a $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers – the biggest sports contract in human history.

Born into a modest family, Ohtani grew up in the midst of Japan’s economic recession in the early 2000s. His father, a factory worker, would wake up at 4 a.m. just to take his son to the dilapidated ballpark outside town. “He taught me that if I wanted to beat people better than me, I had to practice harder than them,” Ohtani recalls, his eyes shining with emotion.

From his first pitches at Hanamaki Higashi High School to his rise to prominence with the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Ohtani’s path was never easy. He endured snide remarks, skeptical looks, and even the occasional admonition to “hit or pitch, don’t try to do both.” But it was that stubbornness—the belief that he could break any limit—that made Shohei Ohtani a living legend: an All-Star pitcher and hitter at the same time.

In MLB, Ohtani not only defeated his opponents – he also defeated fate. He turned those long, lonely nights in Japan into motivation to conquer the world. In the 2021 season, he was named Most Valuable Player (MVP), and then repeated that feat in 2023, 2024, and 2025 – something unprecedented in modern history. But when asked what he is most proud of, Ohtani doesn’t talk about titles, doesn’t talk about money. He just smiles: “I’m proud of not giving up – because my parents never let me forget where we came from.”

They say that no one can be both Babe Ruth and Ichiro in the same body – until Shohei Ohtani came along. He did what the world once thought was impossible. But more than anything, he remains the same simple boy he was back then, who only had an old bat and boundless faith.

Now, as the Dodgers approach a new era, Ohtani is no longer just a superstar – he is a symbol of hope, proof that origins do not define a man, only the will to create a legend.

And in the moment the lights fell on Dodger Stadium, when he looked up at the stands – where thousands of Japanese flags fluttered – Ohtani simply said:
“This is not my dream alone. This is the dream of everyone who has ever been told ‘you’re not good enough’.”

A poor boy from years ago has now become the world’s MVP superstar – but in Shohei Ohtani’s heart, the greatest journey is not over yet…