There was a time when baseball games were regularly broadcast on television during prime time in Japan.
Families would gather around the TV, watching games together, and both adults and children shared in the excitement.

Shohei Ohtani grew up in a household closely connected to baseball.
His father had played in company baseball, and his older brother was also involved in the sport.
On days when he had practice, Ohtani focused entirely on baseball, and when he returned home, he would watch games on TV.

At the time, many broadcasts featured the Yomiuri Giants, and Ohtani rarely missed their games.
Looking back, he recalls how the players he saw on television looked genuinely cool to him.

One of his favorite players was Hideki Matsui, and he was also a fan of Yu Darvish during his years with the Fighters.
As time went on, he also watched Japanese players such as Ichiro Suzuki challenge Major League Baseball.

For Ohtani, the baseball players on TV were figures of admiration.
Watching them only deepened his love for the game and made him eagerly look forward to the weekends, when he could play baseball to his heart’s content.

Today, the boy who once admired players on television has become one himself —
someone whose image on screen now inspires the next generation of children.

Source

This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.

SHO-TIME: Shohei Ohtani, the Man Who Changed 120 Years of Major League History, p.27