The Richest Athlete Of All Time Is Asian (Shohei Ohtani)

The largest sports contract in history now belongs to Japanese baseball player Shohei Otani. What does this mean for baseball and Asians in sport? Yeah, she means that America's pastime, she is becoming like California, the state of California, all Asians and Latinos. Um, Andrew, Shohei Otani, 10 years, 700 million. It's the biggest contract in the history of sports. Clap it up for Shohei. Wow. He's considered the best two-way baseball player of all time. I guess, would this be comparable to like being Tom Brady on the quarterback side and Ray Lewis on the linebacker side? Or maybe it's not that extreme, something like that. No, we're going to talk about why he got paid so much. And it does all kind of work out in the math of things. But there's a couple pressing questions. First of all, shout out to Shohei. Because, but I have a question. Is this going to inspire a bunch of Asian parents to push their kids and particularly boys into baseball? Okay. Number two, how does this change the perception of Asian guys and Asians in sports in general? Right? And then also number three, if baseball viewership is going down, how can they pay somebody so much? Yeah, these are all good questions. Like we said, we're not baseball experts. We're going to do our best to answer them. So make sure you like, subscribe and turn on your notifications. But you know what is popping right now? Maybe it ain't doing Shohei numbers, but it's doing numbers. I would love for Smalasas to become the Shohei Otani of chili oils. Will it become? I don't know. Only with your help. Only if you try it out, get it right now. Smalasas.com. I think my real quick thoughts are, I don't know if Asian American parents will push their kids in a little bit. Yes and no. I think the success of Steven Kwan or the other Asian American players might more encourage them because Shohei Otani ultimately is gigantic. He's massive. When he stands next to Yuta Watanabe, they look like brothers. And Yuta Watanabe is a Japanese guy who's in the NBA right now. And he came through the Japanese developmental system, just like Ichiro, you know, like all the other great Japanese players before. So people may be like, well, we're not Japanese growing up in Japan. We would have to come through the American farm. No, but what about what about parents in Japan then who see someone who graduated from the Japanese system making this much money? How money focused are Asian parents? Because I know Asian parents do support baseball, soccer, tennis, and golf over football and basketball. Small ball sports, less contact, specifically football. Super hard contact, obviously CTE. And basketball, you need to be really tall. Yeah. And then another question is, you know, like, you know, there's baseball superstars, megastars that have kind of crossed over, like Derek Jeter, who's kind of considered like this baseball playboy. You're saying it's a mainstream culture beyond sports. A-Rod, you know, you got Shohei. When are rappers, people going to start referencing Shohei Otani? Because now he is the GOAT baseball player, arguably the GOAT of all time. Drake just had a line about him, though, or something. Oh, did he? I think I want to say Drake had a Shohei Otani line. Drake would. Drake would be the one that has it, yes. Yeah, I mean, just to put this in perspective, LeBron is on a two-year, $99 million contract. What will Shohei Otani do with all the money? There was a lot of jokes about like, you know, even though he's getting $70 million a year over 10 years, California is going to take half of it off the rip. So he already is down at $34 million. Right, right, right. Other people were saying, you know, this is going to inflate all the contract numbers throughout baseball because baseball is the only sport, Andrew, I believe, no salary cap. So that changes the economics completely. Yeah. And we'll talk about how it's actually justified to pay him $700 million because that was a question I was like, wait, for 10 years until he's 39 years old, you're going to be paying him $700 million? That's almost, almost a billion. Well, let's get into the comment section. Somebody said, is baseball still popular enough for someone to be paid that much? And someone said a lot of baseball is dying and people are going to the ballpark less. However, people are still watching it on TV. But a lot of people really brought up, Andrew, ultimately it comes down to the value because he is a ultra big superstar in Japan. And guess what is the number one sport in Japan, which is a top three economy in the world? Right. Baseball. I don't think it's because he's from Japan though. That's why the price, I disagree with that narrative. I think it's the TV deal that the Dodgers have, which is gigantic. And the Dodgers, although may not always be an amazing team, they have huge TV deals because they have a huge fan base. Right. And, and to justify his contract, he is a two-way player. So it's like you're getting a top-level running linebacker and a top-level quarterback in one person that can play both sides of the field. So of course the contract's going to be bigger. I think for sure the Japan marketability certainly plays into the size of the contract or the length of the contract. I think it helps. The Dodgers are already a huge team in Japan because a lot of Japanese already live in LA. So the Japanese media doesn't even need to move or anything like that. Well, it's like if not, not the same level, but if Jeremy Lin during Linsanity happened on the Lakers, then he probably gets a larger contract. But I'm not saying- I mean, it happened on the Knicks. It couldn't happen on a higher profile team than the Knicks in a way too. Right, right, right. So I think that, yeah, obviously marketability comes into play. I think he'd be probably a $500 million player regardless, but the extra $200 million might be because of all the deals like the Dodgers, like ownership is going to secure on the back end with, you know, Tokyo and things like that. Possibly, you guys let us know. Somebody was just talking about the taxes and like, man, it's so crazy that the government takes half your money and gives it to other countries. So it's really interesting, Andrew, because I was looking up a bunch of Shohei Otani posts and the discussion on each comment section went in a whole different direction. Other people started, you know, criticizing sports contracts or how much they're more paid than civil workers, civil service workers. Other people are criticizing like government expenditures. Why do you think anytime somebody gets the biggest contract in sports history, it's just like, it just sparks all these other seemingly unrelated discussions? Yeah, I mean, people, I'm sure, you know, people were talking about Patrick Mahomes contract, which is pretty large too. And it's like, I guess it's tough because if you understand entertainment, you're going to be able to justify the $700 million over 10 years based off TV deals, endorsements, the marketability. Jersey sales. The fact that he is a great baseball player on both ends. So it's like. I'm going to go ahead and say one most overlooked aspect is back end deal making in like, let's just say a Japanese like water filtration company wants to do business. I mean, I'm not going to lie. Facilitated at Dodger Stadium in a luxury suite. I'm not going to lie. I had a horrible hot dog. The one game I went to a Dodgers game, but I want a Shohei jersey. Yes, I might get a Dodgers Shohei jersey and I don't even rep the Dodgers like that. Let's get into the other aspects. What do you think it'll do for Asian guys that the biggest contract in American sports history or Western sports history? I know some of the Saudi deals on a year per year basis. They sort of match up, but it's almost like a lot of people don't really count those, you know, because it's like oil money. But I'm saying that. What do you think about like an Asian has the biggest contract in American sports history? Yeah. And I heard someone was like, yo, it's guaranteed to. Like there's not as many stipulations. Like he might actually just get paid that full 700 million, which is crazy. Or do you think it matters that it's small ball sports and people view Asians to be good at badminton, golf, you know what I mean? Yeah. Snow sports, more of the less brutal sports. Well, you know, we've always had good Japanese baseball players from Japan. Great Ichiro, great players from Japan. MVP or in the running for all stars. MVP level baseball players from Japan. So it's been like that for decades. So did that change Asian America like so much? Like I think it's great because Shohei is a good role model. He's six foot four. He's a big thick dude. Great smile. It doesn't really speak that much English, but now he's like just an amazing baseball player. And it's like, I guess that's a good role model, but it does not shift that much. Right. I don't think he's really considered a sex symbol. He's more like a cool symbol. It reminds me of Ichiro. Ichiro was considered more cool than anything. Yeah. I think in a way Ichiro per dollar was considered cooler than Shohei, although Shohei is the greatest baseball player of all time. Now, how does this change for Asian guys? I mean, I think, I don't know. I don't know. Do Asian guys get really perceived differently because of this? Because how many, I think amongst maybe guys, like bros might care more than girls. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, there may be some trickle down impact. I can't think about it right now, but I guess, what do you think about this tweet that went viral that said that Yuta Watanabe needs to go to LA and hit up all the clubs and pretend that he's Shohei? Is that even valid? They do look kind of like brothers though. Yeah, they actually have a really similar smile, which is funny, but no, they don't look the same. Not really. Come on. I mean, that's a funny joke. Asian Americans need to stop walking on eggshells and begging for validation from all these other different communities. We got to have our own self-respect for ourselves. So I don't really know exactly what this means. I have an idea, but I would like to see Asian guys rock Shohei Otani jerseys, just like I used to rock that Ichiro jersey so hard around Seattle because I was just like, yo, man, I want to represent. Yeah, I think Otani is a great player. I think Japan being the country that all other Asians, to be honest, on some level look up to. Let's be real. He comes from the top Asian country. Or love and hate. Right. But most people take influences from Japan, whether you're Korean, Chinese, Southeast Asian. The truth is this. Japanese are really on point. When they put their mind to something, they execute it at a 10 out of 10 level. I'm not saying they got the best hearts. I'm just saying they do the best work. Ultimately, Andrew, what are your takeaways, man? I always root for all the Asian American players. I also root for the players from Asia. But I understand that they came up differently. They're coming through academy systems, private club systems. They're getting hyper-trained, focused training from a very young age in a country that wants to produce pros. Whereas, obviously, being Asian American, when you're young, you're more thinking, yo, I got to study the best. I got to be the smartest. I got to be the best well-read. Because ultimately, my path to success in the West is going to be more as a brain. I mean, let's be honest. Shohei, he's a prodigy. He's a physical specimen. Six-foot-four, can do everything. Yeah, when he stands next to Utah, he's almost the same size. Right, left hands, you know. So he's already a outlier. He's a unicorn. But yeah, I do think it's inspiring. I think it's inspiring to Asians and Asian guys to just show you like, yo, the greatest baseball player of all time, arguably, most people agree, and the highest paid sports athlete of all time is an Asian dude. He's full Asian. Let's not downplay what it means. I don't want to overrate what it means. It doesn't mean Asian dudes are a sex symbol now. I think even K-pop did more as a whole industry, of course, because it's like a multi-billion dollar industry, did more for Asian guys in a way than obviously one singular Shohei Otani. Because his physicality was all the way up, his offense is all the way up, and his pitching is all the way up. When Shohei, though, if he does start to do media and movies and skits, like being on SNL or being in movies and having these funny, cool roles, I think that'll be cool to see. Would it be a little bit like Yao Ming having the skill set of Joel Embiid? You mean if Yao had been like Joel's skill tier in Yao Ming's body? Right, right, right, right. It's hard to say, but... Yao was still a really great all-star, top three center of his era easily. I mean, ultimately, guys, let us know what you think in the comment section below. I don't really know what the answer is. It's cool to see. When you see that a Japanese guy has the biggest sports contract in world history, it's noteworthy. I don't know what it means, but it's noteworthy. Do you think the number of Asian-American baseball rec teams is exploding? Maybe, maybe Asians are like, yo, bro, instead of playing basketball, why don't we start baseball team? I'll say this. I know an Asian guy who played D1 college baseball, and he quit because he wasn't having fun anymore, and now he's looking at the success that Asian-Americans like Steven Kwan and obviously the players from Asia, whether Japan or South Korea are having, and he kind of regrets it. Yeah. Well, you know what a lot, I think a lot of, whenever you see something so crazy like this, like the biggest contract, a lot of people, they imagine, hey, you know what? If I could just get 1 10th of that, if I could just get one, if I could get 5% of that contract, I'm happy. You know what I mean? So if I can be 5% as good as Shohei in the pros, that's all I need, or even 1% technically. I mean, yeah, that's still $7 million. So anyways, guys, let us know in the comments down below how you feel about it. Does it affect the way you think about Asians in sports? Does it change how you view how you're going to raise your kids? Let me know in the comments down below, guys. Shohei Otani, the richest athlete of all time and the greatest baseball player of all time. Noted. Until next time, we out. Hop out, boys. Peace.