Money Today Reporter Lee Chang-seop | 2023.03.26 20:15
The story that Shohei Ohtani (29, Los Angeles Angels), a major leaguer who led the Japanese baseball team to the WBC championship, rode a Hyundai Sonata in the early days of entering the United States is attracting attention again.
On the 21st, an article titled ‘Ohtani, who rode a Hyundai Sonata for two years after entering the United States’ was posted on an online community in the May 1, 2018 issue of Flash, a Japanese weekly magazine.
At the time, Flash published an article titled ‘Ohtani’s commuter car is a Korean sedan that cost only 2 million yen (about 20 million won)’ and paid attention to his frugal life.
After the 2017 season, Ohtani, then 23 years old, signed a contract with the minor leagues in accordance with the major league’s ‘foreign player contract under the age of 25’ rule and received an annual salary of 60 million yen (he earned approx. 600 million).
At the time, Ohtani was riding in a car provided by the club, but he chose his own Hyundai Sonata. Ohtani reportedly refused, even though the club recommended he use a better car.
Ohtani didn’t have a driver’s license at the time, so a Japanese translator drove and went to work with him. Ohtani always sits in the front passenger seat, but the reason is that he doesn’t like to sit in the back seat and act like it’s going to happen.
Flash said, “I’ve been living a frugal life since the days of the Nippon Ham Fighters.”
Netizens responded to Ohtani’s prudent side by saying, “Why are there no cons?”, “Waves and waves are just pretty stories”, “I knew this was a translator’s car, but Ohtani chose,” “It’s still age discreetly. preserves the manners of a passenger’s seat”. left
Since then, Ohtani, who obtained a driver’s license, is known to use a Tesla vehicle, but since last year, he has been using a Porsche that he signed an ambassador contract with.
Meanwhile, Ohtani will become a free agent (FA) player after this season. Currently, the US sports market estimates that his ransom has won 500 to 600 million (650 to 780 billion won) based on a 10-year contract.
[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
