Mark Gubicza has an thought, and he’s simply the man to make it occur. As a pitcher within the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s, Gubicza was a teammate of Bo Jackson on the Kansas Metropolis Royals. As a tv analyst now, he calls video games for the Los Angeles Angels, the crew of Shohei Ohtani. His dream pregame present would carry the 2 gamers collectively.
“Bo Is aware of Sho,” Gubicza mentioned this week, by the Angels’ dugout at Yankee Stadium. “I feel we’re lastly going to get it this 12 months.”
Ohtani, the Angels’ pitching and hitting sensation, was born in the summertime of 1994, simply as Jackson’s celebrated athletic profession was ending. Jackson completed as a member of the Angels, of all groups, and performed his ultimate sport within the very ballpark the place Ohtani is forging his personal two-way legend.
Jackson was a two-way star in a unique sense, the one participant ever to be an All-Star in baseball, as an outfielder for the Royals, and a Professional Bowler in soccer, as a operating again for the Los Angeles Raiders. Bo didn’t know pitching, like Ohtani, however he may have.
“We might joke round: ‘Do you ever suppose you might shut?’ And he’d say, ‘Yeah, if I needed to,’” Gubicza mentioned. “He may have finished it simply, as laborious as he threw. It was phenomenal simply watching the stuff he did: the pace he had, the ability he had. However then I have a look at Shohei and I may say the identical about him: the pace, the ability.
“I performed in opposition to Deion Sanders and he was phenomenal, too, don’t get me incorrect. However Bo, his presence, his athleticism and that wow issue is similar to Shohei.”
Ohtani wowed the Bronx crowd in his first at-bat on Tuesday, ripping a line drive that sizzled into the Yankees’ bullpen in proper at 116.7 miles an hour. It was the third hardest-hit ball within the majors this season.
“Nothing new to me,” mentioned Mike Trout, a three-time winner of the Most Useful Participant Award for the Angels, shaking his head and smiling after the sport. “That ball was hit fairly effectively — and low.”
Ohtani added a stolen base on Tuesday, smashed one other ball over the fence on Wednesday — the Yankees’ Aaron Choose introduced it again for a juggling catch — and would be the beginning pitcher at residence on Friday in opposition to the Royals. He has made 11 begins in a row with out permitting greater than two runs, the longest lively streak within the majors.
One of the best fashionable comparisons to Ohtani, Gubicza mentioned, can be Jacob deGrom and Bryce Harper — an ace right-handed pitcher and a slugging left-handed hitter who additionally runs effectively. To be a fusion of each is unprecedented: Final season, Ohtani turned the primary participant ever with sufficient plate appearances to qualify for the batting title and sufficient innings to qualify for the E.R.A. title. Solely a 62-homer season from Choose saved Ohtani from repeating because the American League M.V.P.
“He desires to be that particular person that everybody will discuss without end — not in a ‘have a look at me and the way good I’m’ approach, however simply ‘have a look at what I’m in a position to accomplish,’” mentioned Gubicza, who has spoken with an outdated teammate, David Cone, about Ohtani’s mind-bending feats.
“I speak to Coney on a regular basis, ‘We couldn’t even stroll after we pitched. Our shoulders, elbows, ribs, again, butt, all the pieces was sore. And the following day he’s going through a man throwing 98 and hitting a house run!’ It’s unimaginable to have that type of self-discipline — for us mortals.”
Gubicza was there when Jackson turned mortal, dislocating his left hip throughout a Raiders playoff sport at Los Angeles Coliseum in January 1991. Jackson had gotten Gubicza a sideline move, and it was Gubicza who discovered Jackson’s sons within the stands and introduced them to their father.
The harm ended Jackson’s N.F.L. profession after simply 4 seasons, however he made sufficient of an impression to usually be thought of the best athlete ever. The creator Jeff Pearlman, who wrote the definitive Jackson biography, “The Final People Hero: The Life and Fantasy of Bo Jackson,” in 2022, believes that, and sees Ohtani as one thing of an inheritor.
“Shohei Ohtani type of is Bo Jackson,” Pearlman mentioned. “It’s not precisely the identical, clearly, nevertheless it’s somebody doing one thing we’ve by no means seen earlier than at an insanely excessive degree. So, to me, it’s as shut as we’ve seen to Bo Jackson.”
Their origin tales help the parallel, Pearlman mentioned. Sports activities followers may see each phenomena off within the distance, however with solely a obscure notion of what was actually coming.
At Auburn within the Nineteen Eighties, Jackson was not precisely mysterious, however he was not but ubiquitous, both: He was a operating again who additionally hit residence runs and may — or won’t — do each within the execs. In Japan within the 2010s, Ohtani was effectively chronicled as a pitching and hitting star, however no person knew if — or how effectively — he may do each within the majors.
When each gamers went on to exceed expectations, they held followers and friends in awe.
“They’re each mythological creatures in a world that doesn’t have that many,” Pearlman mentioned. “It’s wonderful how Ohtani really transcends the fashionable factor the place we now have all the pieces on video, so we really feel like we’ve seen all the pieces and it’s not that thrilling. It’s like, I’ve seen Kevin Durant hit a jumper, I’ve seen Ja Morant dunk, however there’s one thing about Ohtani doing stuff that nobody’s ever seen earlier than that nearly defies technological entry to all the pieces.”
There was no precedent for a participant succeeding at soccer and baseball to the diploma that Jackson did. And there’s no precedent for a participant starring as a full-time hitter and pitcher the way in which Ohtani is; even Babe Ruth by no means fairly did each on a full-time foundation in the identical season.
Ohtani’s Tuesday homer got here on the a hundredth anniversary of the opening of the unique Yankee Stadium — The Home That Ruth Constructed — in 1923. Ohtani mentioned he was conscious of the timing, however with free company arising after this season, he wouldn’t provide greater than pleasantries concerning the setting.
“It’s an attractive discipline, passionate followers,” Ohtani mentioned by way of an interpreter. “I at all times look ahead to taking part in right here.”
Traditionally, Ohtani has not hit effectively at Yankee Stadium: Although he had 4 homers in 12 video games earlier than Thursday’s matinee, his profession common within the Bronx was .140. Tuesday’s stolen base was his first in New York and his first of the season; the Angels are reluctant to danger harm to a participant so precious, however Ohtani has the pace to run like Jackson.
“Different guys have been quick, consider me, however no person regarded and sounded as quick as Bo taking place the road — it seemed like a freight practice,” Gubicza mentioned. “Now, with Shohei, you don’t even hear him. He’s received the Willie Wilson-type strides.”
Wilson was one other long-ago Royals teammate, a batting champion and a stolen base chief. However for sheer quantity of elite expertise, Ohtani almost stands alone.
“I simply don’t know the way you throw 101 and hit a ball 115 miles per hour off the bat,” Gubicza mentioned. “I don’t know the way you try this.”
Bo is aware of — or no less than is aware of one thing prefer it. Now Gubicza simply must get him on the pregame present with Ohtani.