※Translated with Notion AI. (Plus version)
News of the dismissal of Ippei, the dedicated interpreter for Dodgers player Ohtani, due to his gambling, has been sweeping not only baseball fans but also all over Japan.
While early reports of any scandal may be speculative and based on anonymous sources, some of the current speculative reports are atrocious.
Ippei confessed in the players’ locker room after the opening game in Seoul on the 20th that “I am a gambling addict” and “I have never bet on baseball” in Korea, and it has been reported that he informed that the issue would be reported in an article.
According to the Major League Baseball (MLB) regulations, players, umpires, and team officials are allowed to participate in betting on sports other than baseball, but participation in illegal gambling is punishable, and this led to the dismissal this time.
Therefore, it is almost certain that Ippei was gambling on sports.
However, regarding “transfers from Ohtani’s account,” “recognition of illegality,” and “Ohtani’s involvement,” everything remains speculative until the truth is reported.
I do not intend to defend Ippei, but I feel scared as a person, not as an athlete, about the “hype” articles by the media that are excessively “strange from the student days” and so on.
I, too, have had the experience of having a sports newspaper reporter in Japan write something baseless. It was “○○ of ○ team disappeared with a woman in a hotel while slightly drunk”.
My wife cried, but I thought that if I countered it, I would fall into the reporter’s trap.
I had “already quit drinking alcohol for five years at the time of the report.”
And the specific time and place were not in the reported area, but I was adjusting in the minor leagues and had not gone out from the team dormitory.
Perhaps he resented me for refusing to be interviewed by a reporter because I was not in good condition.
However, I wonder how it is to make up something that does not exist and manipulate impressions.
I consulted with the Minor League Director, but he told me to “ignore it as a famous tax.” The press is really scary.
To what extent the facts are reported depends on the reliability of the source, the involvement of legal authority, official statements from the individuals or organizations involved, etc., but after Ippei was dismissed, the statement of Ohtani’s lawyer will be the first fact.
That statement is
