The Shohei Ohtani afterglow was still shining bright on Monday, Oct. 20, three days after his mammoth feat at Chavez Ravine.
More on that in a moment.
But if there was ever, ever some common ground — a moment of sheer conversation that isn’t about our fractured political discourse, that isn’t about inflation, that isn’t about L.A.’s ridiculous traffic or just the general state of the world — surely, this must have been it:
In game four of the National League Championship Series, which would lead the L.A. Dodgers to sweep their opponents for a consecutive trip to the World Series — Ohtani, the starting Dodgers pitcher, throws six innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits and ringing up 10 strikeouts, and then belts three home runs out of the ballpark, one out of Dodger stadium.
C’mon, man. Unreal. But real.
In baseball terms, it was just momentous, epic, historic, all wrapped into one – whether you love the Dodgers or are a sworn, card-carrying enemy.
And on Monday, people young and older were still talking about it, and indeed, still trying to grasp a little piece of that history of their own.
That’s where the memorabilia shops come in.
Enter Burbank Sportscards on Monday and you could feel the buzz. The initial weekend rush had dissapated a bit. But the place, like others across the region, has been seeing a spike in demand for all things Ohtani and Dodgers.
Since Friday, Ohtani has dominated sales.
Let’s face it. People know history when they see it. And some are willing to pay a little price to make sure they’ve gotten pieces of that history.
Daniel Nakamura, 43, is among them.
He grew up in L.A., a fan of the Dodgers. Then came Ohtani. For a 43-year-old, collector, proud of his own Japanese ancestry, the slugger is a hero on a seismic scale.
Nakarmura, like many inspired by Ohtani performance on Friday, was at Burbank Sportcards on Monday, eager for something Ohtani – jerseys, cards, you name it.
“Best game I’ve ever see in my entire life,” he said, standing outside the busy shop, next to a giant mural of, you guessed it, Ohtani. “I don’t think I’ll see a game that great ever again,” he said, noting that “it’s an an honor to have someone in our culture be so great.”
On Monday, he was buying as many Ohtani baseball cards as he could.
“I told myself I wasn’t going to buy any Ohtani jerseys again,” he said. “But I’m buying Ohtani jerseys again.”
Rob Veres, owner of the Burbank Sportscards, said business has been through the roof since Friday.
Fortunes rise with the Dodgers’ fortunes, of course, but Friday’s game was a giant, he said.
“The Ohtani craze, the Dodgers craze, in general, has been amazing for our business,” he said.
He said certain showcases of Ohtani cards can’t stay on the shelves, he said.
“The demand is wild. We simply cant buy enough to meet demand,” he said.
The business sold a couple hundred so called “graded cards” – known for their authenticity – over the last two days.
“It’s great for our business, it’s great for the hobby, and, in my opinion, it’s great for Los Angeles,” he said.
The range of sales has been stunning, he said, from $2 cards in a box, to a Bowman Chrome rookie autographed card sold for $30,000.
Veres put this most recent run in historical perspective.
“Ohtani is dominating right now,” Veres said. “We sell everything, but this spike in Ohtani … . This is kind of like the glory days with the Lakers. That’s what were seeing with Ohtani and the Dodgers right now. We haven’t seen something like this in a good 15 years.”
Joe Price, who runs the Baseball Reliquary at Whittier College, studies the game’s history and people.
By Monday, he was reflecting on Friday’s game, and it’s downright “uniqueness.”
Was Ohtani’s gigantic performance more or less incredible than a 1930s-era Babe Ruth pointing at the seats before his legendary home run? More stupendous than Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956 World Series game? More unbelievable than Kirk Gibson’s walk-off — let’s say hobbling-off — home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series?
Price wasn’t taking a side. But what he did say was Ohtani’s three gargantuan home runs and pitching performance together were truly a unique moment in the game’s history.
“Which one is better? You can’t do that.They are all unique.”
But if a moment can put us on some common ground culturally, that’s a good thing, he said.
“In the same way that Fernando-mania bridged cultural dissonance, so to Ohtani bridges cultural difference in ways that bring different communities together, in the best of baseball fandom,” Price said.
In the meantime, here comes the World Series.