Famed actor Rob Lowe has revealed the incredible gesture Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani made when the two met in the team’s locker room earlier this year.
Ohtani is arguably baseball’s biggest star and receives levels of attention nearly unmatched in the sport.
When Lowe got a chance to meet him, Ohtani was sitting alone in the locker room in shorts and just his team jersey.
When the host of ‘The Floor’ wanted a photo, Ohtani told him to give him a moment to change into his full uniform before taking the photo.
Later, as the game was underway, Ohtani asked a Dodgers representative if Lowe would be okay with him posting the photo of the two.
Shohei Ohtani posed with Rob Lowe for a photo posted to his Instagram in May.
“I walked into the clubhouse. He was alone. He was wearing training shorts and his uniform shirt. I introduced myself and told him I was a fan,” Lowe said on “The Talk.”
‘I asked him what I could wear for the photo. He said yes, without hesitation. Then I thought he would stand up and we would take the photo. He got fully dressed and said, “Give me a minute.” Stirrups, socks, cup, pants, belt, hat. I thought it was a symbol of his level of respect for the game and his attention to detail.’
“And then I think, would any other superstar do something like that? So I sat in my seat and I was with a Dodgers representative. And he said, ‘Oh, this is from Shohei. He’s texting me and he asked if Rob would mind if I posted our picture. ‘ I can’t imagine there’s a sports superstar doing that.”
Ohtani is attempting to complete the first 50-50 season in Major League Baseball history, as no player has ever recorded 50 stolen bases and 50 home runs in a single campaign.
With 10 games remaining in Los Angeles’ regular season, Ohtani needs two home runs and a stolen base to accomplish that feat.
Before this season, only five players had joined the 40-40 club in those same statistics: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Alfonso Soriano, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Jose Canseco.
Acuña came closest to reaching 50-50 among those five, being the only one to steal more than 50 bases during his individual season, doing so last year.