Picture a world where Lionel Messi could keep goal like Gordon Banks. Where Chris Froome could win titles both on a mountain bike in the Alps and a motorised one on the Isle of Man, or where Lewis Hamilton sandwiched Formula One races between hoovering up world rally championships. What price would you pay for such glorious all-round talent? How about $700million? Todd Boehly’s record in the transfer market at Chelsea leaves a lot to be desired, but with his latest capture he may be right on the money. The newly crowned richest athlete in history has been called a ‘freak’, a ‘unicorn’ and a Manga cartoon character by his contemporaries. And as of last Saturday night, he’s earning more than a million pounds a week. For the next 10 years, Boehly’s LA Dodgers will pay Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani $700m (£552m), a world-record total that eclipses the £537m Messi earned in his final four-year deal at Barcelona. Shohei Ohtani (above) is a lethal pitcher but also capable of brilliance with the bat The richest athlete in history has been called a ‘freak’, ‘unicorn’ and Manga cartoon character There’s an awful lot of money in Major League Baseball — 14 of the 20 richest contracts in sporting history — but this breaks new ground, and with good reason. Ohtani, 29, can hit and pitch, and both to the highest level. In the 2023 season alone he threw a baseball 102mph as a pitcher, hit one 493ft (150.3metres) as a batter and chased after another at 20.5mph, considered an elite sprint speed and in spite of his 6ft 4in, 15st frame. A cricketer who can bat and bowl isn’t worth seven million, never mind 700million, but even in baseball it is unprecedented. Babe Ruth was held up as the original two-way player but the myth hides the fact he only excelled doing both for a season or two. By the time his hitting began to grow into the force that would make him the ‘Sultan of Swat’ and bring 714 home runs, he had long given up pitching. Even if you aren’t also pitching, hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sport. So say qualified judges Ted Williams, who squeezed a Hall of Fame career around being a fighter pilot in the Second World War and Korea, and Deion Sanders, the only man to have played in a World Series and a Super Bowl. The average MLB pitch will travel from pitcher to batter in 100 milliseconds, or quicker than the blink of an eye. Moreover, pitching takes so much specialisation and toil that pitchers need four days off after each outing. Precision-engineering your arm to be able to throw a baseball at 90mph-plus a hundred or so times in an evening requires stringent training programmes even on those days off. Pitchers don’t have time to learn how to bat and are the rabbits of the lineup, almost always batting ninth of nine. Or they were — the American League, one of MLB’s two conferences, have allowed teams to have a ‘designated hitter’ who does not field instead of a pitcher in the lineup since 1973, and the other, the National League, followed suit last year. But Ohtani doesn’t bat ninth. He bats third, where a team puts their best hitter. The MLB record for most career home runs by a pitcher was Wes Ferrell’s 38 across 15 interwar seasons. Ohtani hit that many just from April to August this year for the LA Angels, all while dominating in his other role. Todd Boehly’s LA Dodgers will pay the Japanese baseball player over a £1million-a-week Most starting pitchers have three types of pitch they can deploy to stymie an opposing lineup. Ohtani has seven, from sweepers and fastballs to cutters, change-ups and curveballs. Arriving in the US in 2018, Ohtani initially struggled with the switch from his native Nippon Professional Baseball league, where starting pitchers work once every seven days compared to once every five in MLB, and with the Angels’ caution, as they managed his historic workload. In 2021, they threw that caution to the wind and made Ohtani available to play every day of the 162-game season, and his performances went stratospheric. In the past three seasons he is fourth for home runs as a hitter and 14th in strikeouts as a pitcher, winning two Most Valuable Player awards. Since he made what people thought impossible a reality, he may already be the best player of all time. Other teams tried to sample the magic. Playing as both a pitcher and hitter is common until university, and now teams push players further. But there is only one unicorn. Brendan McKay was hailed by the New York Times as the ‘next Ohtani’. He lasted three months of trying to pitch and hit in MLB and has ended up with minor-league teams Charleston RiverDogs and Montgomery Biscuits. In March, Ohtani clinched the 2023 World Baseball Classic (the World Cup) for Japan by striking out Mike Trout, his Angels team-mate and the man he dethroned as the best player in the sport. It was the start of a takeover, on and off the field. Ohtani has been on the cover of Time magazine and billboards in Times Square. He earned £28m in endorsements this year from the likes of Hugo Boss, Seiko and New Balance, when the next highest for a baseball player was £5m. He was rated more popular with the American public than Michael Jordan. Babe Ruth's held up as the original two-way player but he only excelled at both for a brief time Fans from Japan, where baseball is the national sport, make the pilgrimage. Economist Katsuhiro Miyamoto calculated he was worth $337m (£269m) to the US economy in 2022, and $70m (£55.2m) to the Angels just in merchandise and ticket sales. Ohtani’s Dodgers debut will be in South Korea on March 20. Ticket prices shot up to £8,000, then sold out in hours. This storm is why no one is too worried that Ohtani has torn two elbow ligaments, meaning he did not pitch in 2019 and won’t again next year. While he recovers, his value with bat and brand will make the investment sound. When his Angels deal expired this winter, all 30 MLB teams pitched battle for him. A highly reserved figure who once turned down Japan’s highest national honour as he felt he hadn’t earned it, Ohtani told teams he would cut communication and discount them from the running if they revealed details of any talks. For a time it looked as though Ohtani would flee across the border, to join the Toronto Blue Jays. But as so often, it was Boehly who reached for his chequebook and wrote the largest number.
