It’s not always about Shohei Ohtani, even if he’s the one who makes headlines. On Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts met the press in Tokyo, where he touched on Ohtani but also his Okinawa heritage–basically none of which reached the general media.
Roberts was on hand to introduce commercial spots he filmed for the Kinoshita Group, a housing, health care and sports-promotion enterprise that began partnering with the Dodgers in May.
About a third of the presser was an advertisement for the ads. In the Q&A, Roberts touched on the issues the spots addressed, communication and mental health and the inevitable questions about Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but he also spoke honestly about his connection to Japan.
In March, I asked Roberts what it meant for him to be managing MLB games in Asia for the first time.
He said his focus was on the two games in Seoul and setting his team for the other 160 games to follow, but added, “On the flight over here, we passed over Okinawa and I had to pinch myself.”
On Thursday, Roberts received an award from Okinawa Prefecture, where he was born to an American father in the Marines, and a Japanese mother.
“Winning the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, for the city of Los Angeles, was incredible, but the final piece for me was to come to Naha, to be with my people and celebrate with you guys together,” he said.
Although it sounded as if Roberts was holding back tears, the snuffling was apparently coming from a Naha city councilman, whom Roberts hugged before making his exit.
Continue reading Dave Roberts comes home to Japan
