Category Archives: MLB

MLB star Shohei Ohtani’s translator fired after allegations of ‘massive theft’

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  • Ippei Mizuhara admits to have run up gambling debts
  • Ohtani is world’s most famous baseball player

The interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, the biggest star in baseball and one of the most famous people in Japan, has been fired after lawyers for the player said there had been a “massive theft” from the slugger’s account.

ESPN reported that several sources said Ippei Mizuhara had run up large debts to a Californian bookmaker. Initially a spokesperson for the player said Ohtani had transferred $4.5m to cover Mizuhara’s debts. But when ESPN asked further questions, the spokesperson backed away from their claim and said Ohtani’s lawyers would soon make a statement.

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Shohei Ohtani: a Japanese baseball star so loved even Koreans flock to him

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The Japanese star is considered one of the most talented players in history. Now he finds himself in an unfamiliar role as a cultural ambassador

The sport is American, the venue South Korean. But when the LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres open the Major League Baseball season with two games in Seoul this week, all eyes will be on a Japanese superstar: Shohei Ohtani.

It says much about Ohtani’s singular appeal that South Korean baseball fans are as excited about his imminent presence in the batter’s box at Gocheok Sky Dome as his legions of admirers in Japan.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Ex-MLB player arrested in connection to 2021 Lake Tahoe shooting death

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Danny Serafini was one of two people arrested after investigation into fatal shooting of Robert Spohr and wounding of his wife

A former professional baseball player was one of two people arrested on Friday in connection to an infamous Lake Tahoe shooting that killed a man and badly wounded his wife in 2021.

After a two-year investigation, Danny Serafini, 49, and Samantha Scott, 33, were arrested separately in Nevada, hundreds of miles apart in Las Vegas and north-west of Reno.

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Oakland A’s fans stage ‘reverse boycott’ at plans to move team to Vegas

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  • Crowds demand owner sells team rather than relocate
  • Fans chant and throw garbage on to field in protest

Furious Oakland Athletics fans came en masse with a single message to owner John Fisher. “Sell the team!” they chanted thousands of times during the A’s 2-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Friends Brian Guido and Scott Finney of Sacramento left work early on Tuesday because they did not want to miss the festivities a couple of hours away in Oakland.

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Ron DeSantis blocks funds for Tampa Bay Rays after team’s gun safety tweets

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  • Florida governor defends vetoing funds for training facility
  • Rays had joined Yankees in tweeting about gun safety

The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has defended his veto of $35m in funding for a potential spring training site for the Tampa Bay Rays, after the Major League Baseball team used social media to raise awareness about gun violence after mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas.

“I don’t support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums,” DeSantis said on Friday, when asked about the veto of the sports complex funding.

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US Capitol evacuated as baseball parachute display seen as ‘probable threat’

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  • Army parachutists landed at home of Washington Nationals
  • Congressional staffers as police alert of possible threat

The US Capitol was briefly evacuated on Wednesday evening after police identified an aircraft that they said posed “a probable threat” to the heart of American government.

The plane turned out to be members of the US Army Golden Knights, who parachuted into Nationals Park for a pregame display. The stadium, home of the Washington Nationals baseball team, is a little more than a mile away from the Capitol.

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Donald Trump chops with Atlanta Braves fans before World Series game

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Only months after calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball, former US president Donald Trump did the tomahawk chop with Atlanta Braves fans at Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night.

Trump stood beside his wife, Melania, as he chopped away with fans before the game between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros from a private suite.

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NBA joined by MLB teams in boycott to protest police shooting of Jacob Blake

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  • Bucks’ home of Milwaukee is close to site of shooting
  • George Hill says team is ‘tired of killings and injustice’
  • MLB and WNBA teams also boycott in solidarity

On an extraordinary day for the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, leading the NBA to reschedule all other Wednesday night playoff games.

Milwaukee’s baseball team, the Brewers, also confirmed they would not play their game scheduled for Wednesday evening.

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Donald Trump booed and greeted with ‘lock him up’ chants at World Series

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  • President attended Sunday’s baseball game in Washington DC
  • Crowd booed when Trump appeared on video screen

Donald Trump once claimed he was courted by several major league baseball clubs in his youth but turned them down because they couldn’t offer him enough money. On Sunday, baseball got its revenge.

The President attended Game 5 of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros at Nationals Park, a short journey from the White House. When Trump was shown on the video screens in the stadium he was loudly booed by fans. That, perhaps, was predictable: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and both Bushes were all booed while attending baseball games as President. What came shortly afterwards was a little more personal in a city that is heavily Democratic as cries of “Lock him up!” rang out, a reference to the chants about Hillary Clinton used at Trump’s rallies in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections.

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