Shohei Ohtani enters 40-40 Club with walk-off grand slam

[jmowreader]

https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtani-40-40-club

The 40-40 Club is an exclusive group of MLB ballplayers who hit 40 home runs and stole 40 bases in the same season. Until last night, when Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers did it in the most spectacular fashion imaginable - a grand slam that won the ballgame - there were only five players in it: Alfonso Soriano, Jose Canseco, Ronald Acuna Jr, Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds.

He accomplished the feat in the 126th regular-season game of 2024, which means he’s got enough time to hit ten more homers and steal ten more bases to join a club no one else is in.

The press isn’t mentioning that the other five players already had the 40 stolen bases they needed before the game they got their 40th home run because of how long it took them to hit the HR. Soriano got his in his 147th game, and the rest got theirs in the 150s. Ohtani got both last night.

[ificandream]

1. I'm a Giants fan, so it's hard for me to root for him ...

... but he's acting like Superman. And he has started throwing off the mound for next year. Good God!

[jmowreader]

2. You'll love this...

If you ever get a chance to go to Yankee Stadium, like I did on July 24, visit the Yankees Museum. They've got a docent in there that is absolutely great - this guy, who can't be more than thirty years old, knows Yankees history like the back of his hand. I'm standing in front of this display of Babe Ruth memorabilia with the docent, a father and a kid who plays Little League, and in the display is one of Ruth's bats. I asked a very innocent question, "do you know what the weight on this bat was?" (Ruth swung extremely heavy bats.) Not only did this guy know what weight it was - 42 ounces - right off the top of his head, he knew every bat weight the Bambino ever used and when he used them.

Anyway, this guy just couldn't stop talking about how much he liked Ohtani.