\n<\/p>\n
Shohei Ohtani is a soft-spoken, 6-foot-4 powerhouse. He is a unicorn: one of baseball\u2019s best hitters and pitchers, the first to dominate both in nearly a century. He might one day be considered the greatest ever to play the game.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also from Japan, the former colonizer<\/a> of South Korea. The nations\u2019 relationship is still marked by tension<\/a> and intense rivalry<\/a>. But that hasn\u2019t stopped South Korean baseball fans from idolizing a fellow East Asian player whose achievements are so rare they nearly defy imagination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Fans say they admire his blend of understated charm and herculean athletic prowess, which earned him a record $700 million<\/a> to play with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 10 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When he landed in Seoul on Friday for a series of games<\/a> that will open the Major League Baseball season, he was greeted<\/a> at the airport by a crowd resembling one that might arrive for a K-pop idol.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if he\u2019s from Japan,\u201d said Yoo Jee-ho, a veteran South Korean sports journalist. \u201cIf you\u2019re a baseball fan, you appreciate that kind of talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For what\u2019s being billed as the Seoul Series at Gocheok Sky Dome, tickets rapidly sold out to see the 29-year-old phenom play for his new team, the Dodgers. The series will include the first regular season M.L.B. games in South Korea, with the Dodgers playing the San Diego Padres on Wednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n When Kim Sohye, a 15-year-old from Busan, arrived in Seoul for the Dodgers\u2019 exhibition game against a South Korean team on Sunday, the first thing she did before entering the stadium was to purchase a Shohei Ohtani jersey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe\u2019s handsome,\u201d she said, laughing shyly and blushing a little. \u201cHe\u2019s tall, and he\u2019s really good at baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n Ohtani\u2019s 2023 season was one for the ages. He struck out his then M.L.B.-teammate, Mike Trout, to lead Japan to victory<\/a> at the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n A fan on Reddit<\/a> described Ohtani as \u201cnot a human\u201d after his feats at the tournament, which included crushing a double at 118 miles per hour<\/a>, a feat of incredible strength, and stealing third base, which requires remarkable speed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat he is able to do seems like it should be impossible,\u201d the fan wrote.<\/p>\n His season ended early because of an injury<\/a> to his throwing elbow. Still, he became the first player to unanimously win baseball\u2019s Most Valuable Player<\/a> Award twice<\/a>, which he celebrated in typical low-key fashion by high-fiving his dog on camera and not speaking to the media. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When Ohtani played in his new team colors on Sunday against the Kiwoom Heroes, Lee Suhyeon, 41, was there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI barely got a ticket after someone else canceled,\u201d said Lee, a longtime baseball fan from Daegu, a city about two hours from Seoul, who had never cheered for a Japanese athlete before. He managed to secure a seat for $45.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just about his skill,\u201d Lee said, \u201cbut also his personality, his attitude, his mind control, his professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n South Koreans\u2019 embrace of Ohtani coincides with thawing diplomatic relations with Japan. President Yoon Suk Yeol announced last year that South Korea would stop demanding reparations from Japan for wartime forced labor<\/a>. Japan\u2019s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, then traveled to Seoul<\/a> for a bilateral meeting, the first such visit in 12 years.<\/p>\n And maybe the sting has finally begun to fade from South Korea\u2019s loss to Japan in the 2009 World Baseball Classic championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cJapan and Korea, they\u2019ve always had a great rivalry,\u201d Ohtani acknowledged at a news conference in Seoul on Saturday. \u201cI\u2019ve always watched the games between Japan and Korea,\u201d he added, \u201cand always respected, looked up to Team Korea and the Korean players.\u201d<\/p>\n Ohtani was previously in the South Korean capital as part of Japan\u2019s 18-and-under team when it played in the world championship in 2012. South Korea was \u201cone of my favorite countries\u201d at the time, he said, and he was glad to return.<\/p>\n At least some of the demand for tickets for the games in Seoul is fueled by fans of the South Korean players who are returning home, like the Padres\u2019 Ha-Seong Kim, who last year became the first Asian-born infielder to win a Gold Glove<\/a>, given to the best fielder at each position in each league. Many South Koreans are also fans of the Dodgers, for which Chan Ho Park, the star pitcher, once played.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But the South Korean fervor for the Japanese star is real. A YouTube short<\/a> about Ohtani on a South Korean fan\u2019s account was viewed at least 5.9 million times.<\/p>\n