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As Asian Americans denounce ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith’s claim that Japanese major league baseball star Shohei Ohtani shouldn’t be the face of the sport because he uses an interpreter, experts say such language reflects deeper and insidious beliefs. on which represents America’s historic pastime.
Smith, who apologized, was criticized Monday during a discussion of baseball’s declining popularity on the morning talk show “First Take.” He said that while he understands baseball is an international sport, “when you talk about an audience that revolves around the subway or the stadium… I don’t think it helps that face # 1 is a dude. who needs an interpreter. ” Hours later, he attempted to clarify his remarks by doubling down, saying he was “talking about the marketing and promotion of the sport.”
But experts say debates over marketing have often disguised racist ideas, especially in the context of a sport seen as so “traditionally American” and of an undeniably skilled player who is Asian, a member of a race that has long been seen as foreign.
“As far as ‘commercialization’ is concerned, this is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever heard,” said Stan Thangaraj, author of “Desi Hoop Dreams” and associate professor of anthropology, gender studies and international studies at City College. from New York. “What we have here with Stephen A. is a really misguided historical understanding of Asian players and Asian American players and their impact not only in Asia but in the United States and how much they are loved.”
Ohtani, who plays for the Los Angeles Angels, has shown both throwing and batting prowess, which has earned him a reputation as a unique athlete. With such a unique and elite skill set, Ohtani, 27, is poised to become what many sports commentators have called the “next Babe Ruth”. But experts point out that as rare as Ohtani is, his status as an international athlete in the major leagues is not. Those in other countries, especially the Caribbean and Asia, have been very successful, and they have done so with the help of translators.
Prior to Ohtani’s major league debut, several Japanese players impressed American audiences and used performers to communicate with the media. Pitcher Hideo Nomo, best known for his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the early 1990s, who is credited with opening the floodgates for Japanese players in the major leagues, triggered what was then called “Nomomania “, with kids across the country trying to emulate his winding-up signature. Others, like slugger Hideki Matsui, who landed a three-year, $ 21 million contract with the New York Yankees when he debuted in 2003, recorded some of the game’s best-selling jersey when it premiered. year.
One of the game’s most universally beloved athletes, Ichiro Suzuki, who retired as a Seattle Mariners icon in front of a sold-out crowd in Tokyo, has had die-hard fans throughout his career as a 28 seasons. And even though he knew English, he insisted on using an interpreter to communicate consistently with fans.
“All you have to do is look up the name of Ichiro Suzuki, who transferred from Japan, breaking all kinds of records in Japan and then coming to play for the Seattle Mariners,” Thangaraj said. “The box office exploded and his equipment was selling so quickly.”
Because baseball is seen as an American institution, the sport is in some ways a reflection of what people define as American, so the importance of media distribution is important, experts said. Smith’s fixation on language reflects the belief that the “boundaries of membership and citizenship” in the United States are negotiated through fluency in English, Thangaraj said.
“It allows us to really fall into the trope of belonging. It is no longer just seen as physical and by phenotype, but also cultural,” he said. “When we delve into the language and realms of culture, it becomes a way of portraying Asians as never enough American or impossible baseball players, not as genuine baseball players.”
Constancio Arnaldo Jr., assistant professor of Asian and Asian American studies at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, said the idea of emasculation of Asian men contributes to the idea that Ohtani is insufficient as a representative of sport. Ohtani’s Asianism challenges centuries-old ideas about what a dominant and powerful athlete looks like.
“It’s about masculinity.… Asians and Asian Americans are still seen as not masculine enough. Then you have a game that is seen as part of the embodiment of that white masculinity,” said Arnaldo. Ohtani “also questions what is acceptable in terms of athletic performance, baseball skills in particular, which points to those longer legacies of baseball as being that white American pastime.”
Christina Chin, associate professor of sociology at California State University, Fullerton, said that since Japanese players have entered the big leagues, the media has focused on their training, consistency, experience and accuracy.
“We don’t talk about them the same in terms of strong hitters, hypermasculine. We don’t talk about them in terms of strength and power,” Chin said. “Ohtani really changes that narrative.”
Arnaldo said baseball has long been steeped in white supremacist ideas of Americanity. For years the sport was separated in the United States, with the owners of the National Professional League instituting a “gentleman’s agreement” in 1876 to ban black players. Black players were relegated to their own traveling teams until a separate black league was formed in 1920. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with his integration into the white-only major leagues in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers .
“I think we also have to take into account that older legacy that major league baseball was not for people of color,” he said.
Thangaraj said that even comparisons between Ohtani and Babe Ruth reflect a standard of whiteness in the sport.
“We don’t assess Ohtani as that once in a lifetime talent, but rather through the whiteness of Babe Ruth, where we reinsert whiteness as the dominant way to understand baseball,” he said. “Babe Ruth is then made to normalize the whiteness of baseball and normalized English and all those other things.”
Chin agreed, adding that just as Japan has been portrayed as a threat to white American culture, especially in entertainment, such ideas carry over to the way Ohtani is framed to this day.
“We are talking about Babe Ruth. We are thinking of this legendary white success,” Chin said. “Ohtani’s presence is in many ways a kind of threat to what we see as white exceptionalism.… For Ohtani, a Japanese player, to potentially threaten those records and threaten this ranking, I could see that d ‘other people might see this as a potential threat to what we see as the old white American heritage in baseball. “
The inclusion of a language requirement in the perceived market value of Japanese players gives the impression that only the general white public “counts” as real baseball consumers. Thangaraj said it also made Ohtani a scapegoat for decades of baseball’s declining popularity. In fact, Ohtani’s stardom is, in every way, an asset to the game, experts said.
And at the very least, it can help expand the audience, attracting more Asian and Asian American fans. Chin said that in his research, young Japanese basketball players often cited Japanese major league baseball stars as inspiration, emphasizing their reach and the importance of diversity.
“It’s not even a sport that they necessarily play on their own, because they were basketball players, but they were talking about Ichiro or Hideki. They were talking about Japanese baseball players as being their role models. It’s important to have that representation, ”Chin said.
Ultimately, no language is needed to understand the legendary status that Ohtani is about to achieve.
“Speaking English is not a performance of Americanity. In many ways, it is an American national pastime, even though it is not American,” Arnaldo said. “He doesn’t need a translator to convey his thoughts or ideas. He does it through his game, through his body, the fact that he’s a dominant force in major league baseball.”
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