Ben Verlander, brother of three-time Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander, is a huge Shohei Ohtani fan. You can’t fault him for that, Ohtani is the best player in the game. But the “Flippin’ Bats” host and Fox Sports analyst is seemingly unaware of Los Angeles Dodgers history. In championing the Ohtani signing as the “most important” in team history he omitted Jackie Robinson, whose signing could be argued as “most important.” Verlander is now being dragged online.
“This means everything,” Verlander said Tuesday. “It’s the most important signing in Dodgers history, I have no problem saying that. It’s the most important, it’s the biggest and I think it will be the most impactful and it’s already impactful. Not on the field, but odds-wise the Dodgers are now the odds-on favorite to win the World Series.”
Jackie Robinson Was A Seminal Figure In MLB And US History
As a reminder for the youngsters out there. Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, breaking the MLB color barrier.
Over the course of his 10-year MLB career, Robinson won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons, and was the first Black player to have won the National League Most Valuable Player Award. He played in six World Series and helped the Dodgers win the 1955 World Series championship.
In 1997, MLB retired his uniform No. 42 across all major league teams; he was the first professional athlete in any sport to be so honored. MLB created an annual tradition, “Jackie Robinson Day” for the first time on April 15, 2004, on which every player on every team wears No. 42. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962.
Ohtani Is A Better Player
Ohtani is a better baseball player than Robinson, and there is no doubt there. He might help the Dodgers win another World Series title and when he enters the Hall of Fame he’ll probably go in as a member of the Dodgers.
But Robinson has got to be the most important signing in club history. The cultural significance of breaking the color barrier and everything Robinson means with his MLB platform to the larger civil rights movement, all of that was huge.
This was an egregious error from Verlander, who should know his baseball history better. He’s being rightfully dragged from all sides.
Can’t say if this was a purposeful omission or not. It could be an honest mistake. Either way it was bad and he likely won’t hear the end of it for quite some time.
