Shawn Green was driving back to Orange County from Stanford, where he had dropped his youngest daughter off for her freshman year of college, when the text messages began pouring in.
“My phone started blowing up,” the former Dodgers slugger said, “so it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on.”
Green set a franchise record with 49 home runs in 2001, but as he approached the Southern California basin Thursday afternoon, Shohei Ohtani tied that mark with a two-run homer to right-center in the sixth inning of a 20-4, postseason-clinching victory over the Miami Marlins in loanDepot Park.
By the time Green pulled into the garage of his Newport Beach home, Ohtani had slugged home run No. 50, a two-run shot to left field in the seventh inning, and No. 51, a three-run bomb that traveled 440 feet to the upper deck in right-center in the ninth inning.
That capped a six-hit, three-homer, two-double, 10-RBI, 17-total-base game in which Ohtani notched his 50th and 51st stolen bases of the season, making him the first player in major league history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in a season.
Green, 51, did not see Ohtani break his record in real time, but he turned on the television in time to see highlights on the postgame show.
“If you’re gonna lose a record, you want it to be to a great player, and he’s the greatest player who has ever lived,” Green said of Ohtani, the two-way star who has been relegated to hitting while he recovers from elbow surgery. “And the fact that he did it in such historic fashion may be even better.
“To get to 50-50, that’s not a Dodgers thing, that’s an unprecedented Major League Baseball milestone. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe how amazing he’s been throughout his career, but especially this first season with the Dodgers, with all the pressure coming over. It’s really mind-boggling what he’s been able to do.”
Shawn Green greets teammates in the dugout after hitting his fourth home run during a win over Milwaukee on May 23, 2002.
(Los Angeles Dodgers)
Green is one of a handful of big leaguers who experienced the kind of dominance Ohtani displayed during his demolition of the Marlins.
On May 23, 2002, the left-handed-hitting Green smashed four home runs, a double and a single, amassing a major league-record 19 total bases and driving in seven runs to lead the Dodgers to a 16-3 shellacking of the Milwaukee Brewers in Miller Park.
Had Ohtani’s first-inning double, which hit the right-field wall on the fly, been a few feet higher, he would have matched Green’s four homers and 19 total bases.
“What an amazing game,” Green said. “But with him, you’re not surprised by anything.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was the team’s center fielder in 2002, so when he was asked if he had seen a game like Ohtani’s, he harked back to Green’s monster day.
“I saw Shawn Green go six for six with four homers,” Roberts said, “but I think just seeing the magnitude of what [Ohtani] was on the cusp of doing, and ironically, he broke Shawn Green’s Dodgers record … sorry, Shawn, but in totality, I don’t know that I’ve seen anything like this.”
Was Ohtani’s day in Miami better than Green’s day in Milwaukee?
“Oh, you gotta ask someone else that question,” Green said. “That’s for all the talk-show people who debate those types of things. That’s not for me.”
Green was not surprised to see his home run record fall to Ohtani, who slugged 46 in 2021 and 44 in 2023 for the Angels, winning American League most valuable player in each season.
“The thing that blows me away the most is the stolen bases,” Green said. “I had a year when I stole 35 bases [for Toronto in 1998], and it was really hard. I’m the same height [6 feet 4] as Ohtani, and elite base stealers are usually more compact, guys like Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman and Maury Wills, who can get quick first steps.
Is Shohei Ohtani having the greatest Dodgers season ever? os Angeles Times beat writer Jack Harris with columnists Dylan Hernández and Bill Plaschke talk about the historical significance of today.
“But to have his size … it takes a huge toll on your body, not just for the 50-odd times he attempts to steal, but the times you’re running and the ball is fouled off. And if you’re gonna steal bases, you have to have a more aggressive approach with your running, your warmups, every day, and that takes a toll on your body during a long season.”
Ohtani entered Friday with a .294 average, 1.004 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 34 doubles, seven triples, 120 RBIs and 123 runs to go with 51 homers and 51 stolen bases, but one number Green finds just as remarkable is that Ohtani has been caught stealing just four times.
“That’s just nuts,” Green said. “And it’s not like he’s sneaking up on people, especially as he’s going for 50-50. Every time he’s on base, they think he’s going to run. Every time he’s up, they’re worried about him hitting a home run. To be able to do that with such a focus by the other team on preventing those two things is even more amazing.”
Ohtani became the fastest player to reach 40 homers and 40 stolen bases when he hit a walk-off grand slam against Tampa Bay on Aug. 23, and he reached 50-50 in equally dramatic fashion. Entering Friday he had nine more regular-season games left to pad those numbers.
“This guy is doing things no one can believe, and for all we know, he could end up at 60-60,” Green said. “It’s must-watch baseball at this point.”