Today, June ninth, marks the six month anniversary of showe Aotani announcing to
the world on social media that he had made his decision to sign with the
Dodgers. Breaking news from Major League Baseball, Breaking news from Major League Baseball,
Show hey Otani, Tani is signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sports
changed forever that Saturday afternoon. Not only did Shoe a Otani sign the largest
contract in Major League Baseball history, but he inked the richest deal in the
history of North American sports. Ten year, ten years, ten years,
seven hundred, seven hundred, seven hundred million dollars. The numbers are astronomical.
It was December ninth, twenty twenty three, the day Show Hey Otani
let it be known he was signing with the Dodgers. But remember the world
win. That was the day before internet rumors, false reports amateur air traffic
controllers following a plane across North America. Baseball fans everywhere that day wondered where
in the world is sho he Otani. Friday, December eighth, twenty twenty
three, five point thirty nine am Pacific time, John Morosi of the MLB
Network tweeted out source shoeotani decision is immining, possibly as early as today.
That one note from a national baseball insider sent the sports world into a dizzy.
This is getting a bit more real. Toronto is getting a little bit
more momentum than I thought they were going to. If he goes to Toronto,
he owns it, and he owns Canada, he owns the United States,
and he owns Japan, and he becomes an international star. Less than
an hour after the initial news that Otani's decision was imminent six point thirty one
am Pacific, a Toronto Blue Jays fan posted on a Reddit page that a
private plane was chartered to fly from Orange County to Toronto. That same plane
had flown to Florida five days earlier with Otani on it, so speculation was
swirling now that sho Heotani was headed to Toronto to sign with the Blue Jays.
The buzz on social media was growing as fans tried to connect the dots.
Instantly, fans became amateur air traffic controllers. They were tracking flight in
six one six RH as it made its way slowly across the country. Take
a look at the radar right there. It's a Bombardier Global five thousand.
Is this sho he Otani's airplane? The mystery continued ten fifty three am Pacific,
five hours after the report that Otani's signing was imminent. Jp Hornstruck,
a writer for a Dodgers blog, posted an article citing multiple sources that shoey
Otani was indeed planning on signing with the Toronto Blue Jays one oh one pm
Pacific. Over two hours later, MLB network insider John Morosi updated everyone with
a tweet sources Shoeyotani is en route to Toronto. Time Things were changing quickly.
To eleven pm Pacific, the story took a new twist as Bob Nightingale
of the USA Today posted on social media that showe Aotani was not on a
flight to Toronto, it was actually at home here in southern California. Forty
three minutes later, two fifty four pm Pacific, Evan Mitsui, a CBC
photographer, was dispatched to the tarmac and Pearson Airport in Toronto. When he
arrived, he got eyes on the most talked about plane in North America.
So what did he discover? It was not Shoeotani after all, It was
Robert Hrschovich, the Canadian businessman, an entrepreneur, and one of the stars
of the TV show Shark Tank. I had no idea. It was just
me and my five and a half year old twins. We Land and there's
a bunch of customs guys and go where's Otani? And then my text star
coming in. I put two or two together. They didn't even ask for
my passport. They were so disappointment. It was me. I've never been
more humbled in my life. A wild eight hours of reports, rumors,
and speculation. Where in the world was Shohyotani. Well he was not only
not in Canada, he was never even on a flight to Toronto to sign
with the Blue Jays, something that really upset fans north of the border.
No, no, no way. I don't want to hear about how fans
shouldn't believe things on social This rumor was awful. The idea that he would
come up and be a Toronto Blue Jay was going to change everything. Turns
out nothing was changing. As the sun set in in a wild Friday show,
Heyotani remained baseball's most sought after free agent. The next day, Saturday,
December ninth, Otani broke his silence and made it official he was signing
with the Los Angeles Dodgers.