As a life-long Dodger fan I’m really disappointed in them right now. I even rooted for the Cubs today when they hosted the Dodgers in Chicago (and the Dodgers lost, which is just karma.)
What on earth could make me so mad? The way the Dodgers treated a fan this week who managed to catch a home run ball hit by new Boy in Blue Shohei Ohtani. She was sitting in the pavilion at Dodger Stadium, a location I’ve been before; baseball game tickets are expensive these days.
The team is promoting Ohtani as their new star, having paid a lot of money for him after losing some big hitters to free agency. And I don’t have anything against Ohtani; I think he’s a great addition to the roster and will probably do good things on the field. But on Wednesday, when Ohtani hit his seventh-inning homer padding out LA’s lead against the fucking Giants, the ball landed in the hands of Ambar Roman. And that’s when the trouble began.
Roman reports that security staff descended on her, separated her from her husband, and made an incredibly low ball offer to buy the ball from her. She says that the pressure was unwelcome, and that they even made threats to withhold the certificate of authenticity from her if she decided to keep it and take it home with her.
Two baseball caps signed by Ohtani. That was their offer. Auction house representative Chris Ivey, from Heritage Auctions, says that ball is worth US$100K easy. In fact, the Dodger fan store is selling a ball hit and signed by Ohtani for US$15K, and it wasn’t even a fair ball. The fact that the offer was bumped to include a bat and a ball (Ivey says is worth maybe a grand) doesn’t make this any better.
Roman has been posting about this on social media. Her Twitter (you can’t make me call it the dumb new name, Elon) handle is, and I swear I am not making this up, Sugar Titts. Her pinned post is the video of her catching that ball, clearly a proud moment for her. When she’s asked, she repeats that it’s not about the money, but the treatment, and I believe her. It was a big moment, and she acknowledges that it’s a big moment for Ohtani as well. He hit the ball, he should get the momento.
She didn’t even get to meet him to hand the ball off, although apparently Ohtani’s translator may have given that impression.
Today the front office said they’d be willing to do a little more and offered Roman and her husband, Alexis Valenzuela, a private box for her birthday. At least at that point, she’ll get to meet the team, not just Shohei Ohtani. The front office says they’re going to review their protocols for important situations like this in the future. Even today as I write this, they’re saying they’re open to trying to make it up to Roman for all this bad feeling.
But their immediate actions and the reporting on it has tainted my view of the team, and that’s no small feat after almost 4 decades of following the team.
Gotta say on this one, I’m on Team Sugar Titts.