Dave Reardon: Baseball has something special in Shohei Ohtani

You know you’re great when they change a rule because of you.

Lester Hayes intercepted too many passes, so they banned stickum.

Greg Pruitt left too many tacklers frustrated, so the tear-away jersey became no more.

After Bob Gibson fashioned a 1.12 ERA in 1968, they lowered the pitching mound.

This time, though, baseball changed a rule — albeit temporarily, and not in a “real” game — to help a star shine brighter.

Baseball knows it’s got something special with Shohei Ohtani, so a slight alteration was made to the statutes that govern MLB, and Ohtani was allowed to stay in the All-Star Game as the designated hitter after his one inning as the American League’s starting pitcher.

Ohtani is the greatest double-threat as a hitter and pitcher in the AL since Babe Ruth. He came into the All-Star break leading the majors with 33 home runs and a 4-1 record in 13 pitching starts.

He didn’t do anything outrageously spectacular in the Midsummer Classic, but he did pitch a perfect inning in the bottom of the first after grounding out to start the game. He went o-for-2 at the plate before he was replaced as the DH. That one inning gave him the pitching win as the American League prevailed 5-2.

One reason we love the Ohtani story is that we’ve all seen this before, the best pitcher being the best hitter, too — when we were kids, or maybe high school. Before last night, I saw a pitcher bat leadoff just once. He was 11.

KHON news anchor Sam Spangler was a pitcher at the University of Hawaii and has the same hope that I do … that Ohtani’s exploits will mean more managers and coaches let more hitters pitch and more pitchers hit, at all levels.

“I was actually a much better hitter than pitcher in high school. My senior year I was first-team all-state as an outfielder,” Spangler said. “I pitched a little bit because I was a lefty.”

Then, in junior college, Spanger became exclusively a pitcher.

“At UH we got a pitchers batting practice as a reward because we threw a shutout,” Spangler said. “Our batting coach, Keith Komeiji, liked my swing. He kept trying to get me a chance to hit in a game, but Trap (head coach Mike Trapasso) didn’t like the idea.”

Trapasso did let another pitcher, Jessie Moore, play second base and bat in a few games.

“I was like, ‘Why not me? I raked in high school,” Spangler said.

I always thought it was strange that even before the DH, on MLB rosters there were two distinct lists of participants: “pitchers” and “players.”

There was no written rule that pitchers couldn’t play other positions or vice versa, but you almost never saw it. I do recall the Pirates doing something slick with their relief ace Kent Tekulve in the ninth inning of a close game.

It had to do with lefty-righty matchups. After the right-handed Tekulve got one guy out, they brought in southpaw Grant Jackson, who was a better match for the next batter, lefty slugger Darrell Evans. But instead of sending Tekulve to the showers, manager Chuck Tanner put him in left field in case Jackson didn’t retire Evans, as the next batter swung from the right side.

Jackson got his man … on a pop fly to Tekulve, and the Pirates won.

I guess Tanner was comfortable putting Tekulve out there because pitchers shag so many flyballs before games.

One thing I am quite sure of: Kent Tekulve would not have hit 33 home runs in half a season if he was in the daily lineup.

There are relief pitchers who can hit, though. Spangler mentioned Michael Lorenzen, the Cal State Fullerton great who is a pitcher and outfielder for the Reds. He’s injured now, but he hit a grand slam as a pinch hitter against the Brewers in 2018.

Don Robbs is my friend who knows the most about baseball in Japan — he’s followed it closely since the ’60s. He said Ohtani’s success is not due to coming from a different system than American baseball, as Japan has always segregated pitching and hitting same as the U.S. does.

Robbs, the retired voice of University of Hawaii baseball, reminded me of Derek Tatsuno’s hitting ability. Robbs’ son Scott overheard that, and told us not to forget about Billy Blanchette — a great college pitcher and hitter and the heart of some outstanding Rainbows teams. Then there was Larry Gonzales … a catcher good enough to make it to the majors (coincidentally, with the Angels) who also pitched in on the mound at times at UH.

“He’s the most dominant player from Japan I’ve seen,” Robbs said of Ohtani. “My concern is that the Angels may be using him too much. I’d hate to see overwork now affect him two or three years down the road from now.”

I think he should be OK. When not pitching he rarely plays a position in the field — he’s the DH. If he were a catcher on his non-pitching days? That would be crazy in the pros.

But who knows? Ohtani’s deeds capture our imagination and make us wonder what else might be possible, or what could have been. What might Babe Ruth have done if there was a DH rule in his day? Perhaps 300 wins to go with those 714 HRs?

From what we know, Ohtani doesn’t live on a diet of hot dogs and beer like the legendary stories tell us about Ruth.

Despite his lack of English language skills,

Ohtani’s likable personality comes through loud and clear via his facial expressions and body language on the field.

“I’m not an Angels fan, but I watch all of their games I can,” Spangler said. “It’s so much fun watching Ohtani. It’s like watching that big kid in Little League who’s better than everyone else and already has a mustache and beard.”