Asian American fans say Shohei Ohtani does for them what the late Dodger star Fernando Valenzuela did for Latino fans. Hetty Chang reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, 2024.
Major League Baseball is back, and Dodger fans can hardly wait to see the 2024 World Series Champions play again.
This season, it is especially true for Southern California’s Asian American community.
Diana Iketani, a lifelong Dodger fan, got up at 3 a.m. to watch the Dodgers’ two-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome March 18 and 19.
“It's so exciting to see teams with major Japanese players and foreign-born players that are out there competing and being Japanese American,” Iketani said.
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Asian American fans say Shohei Ohtani does for them what the late Dodger star Fernando Valenzuela did for Latino fans.
“I'm half Filipino, and I take pride in my heritage,” said Luca Samson, a 12-year-old fan. “I went to this Filipino Dodger game, and they gave us these cool jerseys.”
Aside from Ohtani, manager Dave Roberts and pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki were born in Japan.
While Tommy Edman is half Korean, infielder Hyesong Kim from South Korea is making his MLB debut this year.
“It’s super cool to see Asian people going into the league and becoming the best,” Samson continued.
