Shohei Ohtani’s contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers became one of the most extraordinary deals in sports history.
The agreement covered ten years, with a total value of 700 million dollars. Remarkably, 680 million dollars of that money was deferred and scheduled to be paid between 2034 and 2043.
At the time, it was the largest contract in Major League Baseball history.
But beyond the money and the length of the deal, one particular detail drew significant attention.
Ohtani included a clause allowing him to void the contract under specific circumstances.
The condition involved two people: Dodgers owner Mark Walter and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
Explaining the reasoning behind it, Ohtani said:
“At the same time I joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, I was essentially committing to these two key people as well. If that foundation were to fall apart, then this contract itself would also fall apart.”
This statement revealed how deeply Ohtani thinks about organizational leadership.
The Dodgers were not always the stable powerhouse they are today. In 2011, under previous owner Frank McCourt, the franchise filed for bankruptcy protection. The organization later entered a new era when Guggenheim Partners founder Mark Walter purchased the team.
Soon after, Andrew Friedman — who had previously transformed the low-budget Tampa Bay Rays into a league champion — was hired to lead baseball operations.
Together, Walter and Friedman built the foundation of the Dodgers’ modern golden era.
Ohtani understood that success at the highest level does not happen accidentally.
During his years with the Angels, he produced historic individual achievements, yet the team consistently failed to contend seriously for championships.
That experience shaped the way he evaluated organizations.
He was not simply choosing a city or a uniform.
He was choosing leadership, vision, and organizational philosophy.
To Ohtani, winning in team sports requires alignment between ownership, executives, managers, coaches, and players. A championship organization is created when everyone works together toward the same goal.
That is why the people leading the Dodgers mattered just as much to him as the roster itself.
Source
This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.
Shohei Ohtani 2024 Complete Edition: The Journey to the Top of the World Series, p.33