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Is Shohei Ohtani the Best Baseball Player Ever? (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Roger Bassett.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: And I'm Alice Irizarry. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first paid baseball team
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  Speaker 1: in 1869. It was almost 100 years later that the
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  Speaker 1: first Japanese player, Masanori Murakami, was permitted to play in
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  Speaker 1: the United States for Major League Baseball. Murakami only played
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: two years in Major League Baseball before returning to play
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  Speaker 1: in Japan. Thirty years later, Hideo Nomo became the second
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  Speaker 1: player from Japan to play in Major League Baseball. Several
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: years later, Ichiro Suzuki, who was later chosen for the
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  Speaker 1: National Baseball Hall of Fame, began playing in the major leagues. Slowly,
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  Speaker 1: more Japanese baseball players got a chance to play in
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  Speaker 1: the United States. Then in 2018, a new Japanese baseball
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  Speaker 1: player made his appearance in Major League Baseball. But this
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  Speaker 1: player was different. He could do things on the field
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  Speaker 1: that no one had ever done. In just a few
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  Speaker 1: short years, people began to wonder if he was the
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  Speaker 1: best baseball player ever.
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  Speaker 2: Today's Spotlight looks at the baseball player Shohei Otani. Baseball
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  Speaker 2: is a game played with a bat for hitting a
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  Speaker 2: ball between two teams of nine players. The ball is
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  Speaker 2: 23 centimeters around a rubber core. The bat is a smooth,
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  Speaker 2: rounded stick made of solid wood. It is usually 86
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  Speaker 2: centimeters long. Baseball is played on a big field that
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  Speaker 2: has two areas called the infield and the outfield. The
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  Speaker 2: infield has four bases.
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  Speaker 1: A player on one team called the pitcher throws the ball.
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  Speaker 1: A player on the other team tries to hit the
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  Speaker 1: ball with his bat. If a player hits the ball,
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  Speaker 1: he must run to the next base. If a defender
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  Speaker 1: catches the ball or throws the ball to his teammate
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  Speaker 1: before the batter reaches a base, the batter is out.
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  Speaker 1: If the hitter reaches the base before the ball does,
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  Speaker 1: he is safe. This is called a hit. A player
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  Speaker 1: must touch all four bases to gain a point for
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  Speaker 1: his team. Each team can make three outs before the
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  Speaker 1: other team gets to bat. When both teams have taken
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  Speaker 1: a batting turn, One inning is complete. There are nine
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  Speaker 1: innings in a baseball game. The team that gets the
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  Speaker 1: most points wins.
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  Speaker 2: From the 1920s to the 1950s, baseball was the most
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  Speaker 2: popular sport in the United States. Several great players, like
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  Speaker 2: Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, helped make baseball popular. But
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  Speaker 2: there was one player who had the biggest influence on
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  Speaker 2: the sport's rise in popularity. Babe Ruth. He was a
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  Speaker 2: powerful hitter. He hit many home runs. A home run
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  Speaker 2: is when the batter hits the ball over the fence
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  Speaker 2: at the back of the outfield. The batter gets to
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  Speaker 2: run and touch all four bases to get a point.
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  Speaker 2: Fans loved watching Ruth hit home runs. Ruth hit 60
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  Speaker 2: home runs in one season. It was a record for
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  Speaker 2: over 30 years. When he stopped playing baseball, Ruth had
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  Speaker 2: hit 336 more home runs than anyone in history.
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  Speaker 1: But before Ruth became a great hitter, he was a
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  Speaker 1: pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He was one of
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  Speaker 1: the best pitchers in Major League Baseball. The Red Sox
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  Speaker 1: traded Ruth to the New York Yankees for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of money. Ruth and the Yankees decided he should switch
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  Speaker 1: to hitting because he was so good at it. Also,
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  Speaker 1: as a pitcher, Ruth would not get to play every game.
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  Speaker 1: After pitching, he had to rest his arm for a
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  Speaker 1: few games. Other pitchers took turns in pitching games. Ruth
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  Speaker 1: wanted to play every game. The Yankees knew they could
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  Speaker 1: sell more tickets if Ruth played every game. Ruth stopped
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  Speaker 1: pitching and became a full-time hitter. One baseball writer.
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  Speaker 3: Wrote, Ruth changed how baseball was played. He made the
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  Speaker 3: home run the most exciting part of the sport. His
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  Speaker 3: style of play led to more points and more interesting games.
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  Speaker 3: This increased baseball's popularity. New fields were built. Record numbers
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  Speaker 3: of fans attended games.
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  Speaker 2: After Ruth retired, most baseball fans believed he was the
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  Speaker 2: best player ever. No one else had been both a
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  Speaker 2: great pitcher and a great hitter. No one believed someone
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  Speaker 2: could do both again. But Shohei Otani changed that.
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  Speaker 1: Otani began playing baseball for Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.
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  Speaker 1: He played for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham fighters for five seasons.
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  Speaker 1: Otani hit many home runs and pitched successful games, He
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  Speaker 1: then switched to Major League Baseball in the United States.
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  Speaker 1: Otani played for the Los Angeles Angels. He won the
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  Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year award that goes to the best
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  Speaker 1: first-year player in the major leagues. A few seasons later,
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  Speaker 1: Otani hit even more home runs and struck out many batters.
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  Speaker 1: A strikeout is when a batter fails to hit three
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  Speaker 1: pitches that the umpire, or official in charge, decides were
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  Speaker 1: well thrown. Each of these three pitches counts as a strike.
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  Speaker 1: Three strikes makes an out.
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  Speaker 2: Over the next few seasons, Otani continued to improve. He
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  Speaker 2: led the league in home runs and won 10 games
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  Speaker 2: as a pitcher. He won the Most Valuable Player award
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  Speaker 2: that goes to the best player in the league. Otani
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  Speaker 2: then received the biggest job offer in sports history. The
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  Speaker 2: Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball gave Otani $ 700
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  Speaker 2: million to play for them for 10 years. In his
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  Speaker 2: first season with the Dodgers, Otani helped his team win
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  Speaker 2: the championship. He also became the first player in Major
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  Speaker 2: League Baseball history to hit 50 or more home runs
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  Speaker 2: and steal 50 or more bases in one season. A
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  Speaker 2: player can try to steal a base by running from
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  Speaker 2: one base to the next base while the pitcher is
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  Speaker 2: throwing the ball to the batter. If the man catching
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  Speaker 2: the ball from the pitcher cannot throw the ball to
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  Speaker 2: his teammate standing on a base before the runner arrives,
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  Speaker 2: the player has successfully stolen the base. The following season,
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  Speaker 2: Otani won another Most Valuable Player award and another championship
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  Speaker 2: with the Dodgers.
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  Speaker 1: Before Otani, baseball trainers did not think it was possible
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  Speaker 1: to be great at both hitting and pitching. Babe Ruth
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  Speaker 1: was the only player who had ever done it. But
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  Speaker 1: Ruth only hit and pitched in games for two seasons
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  Speaker 1: before concentrating on hitting. Trainers said pitchers should work on
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  Speaker 1: throwing the ball. There are different kinds of pitches that
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  Speaker 1: must be mastered, like fastball and curveball. It takes a
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  Speaker 1: lot of time and work to learn to pitch. Hitting
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  Speaker 1: a baseball is considered one of the hardest things in
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  Speaker 1: sports to do. It also requires a lot of work
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  Speaker 1: to learn how to hit. Trainers said it would take
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  Speaker 1: too much time and energy for one player to try
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  Speaker 1: to hit and pitch well. Players had to choose one.
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  Speaker 1: But Otani changed that thinking. He proved that it is
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  Speaker 1: possible to be great at both hitting and pitching. Otani
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  Speaker 1: created the chance for players in the future to hit
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  Speaker 1: and pitch in the same game.
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  Speaker 2: There may not be another player who reaches Otani's level
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  Speaker 2: of skill at both pitching and hitting. But some players
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  Speaker 2: will now have a chance to be good at both.
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  Speaker 2: Many baseball players in high school and college do well
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  Speaker 2: at both hitting and pitching. But in the past, when
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  Speaker 2: these players were paid, they were not permitted to continue
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  Speaker 2: to do both. Because of Otani, many will now be
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  Speaker 2: offered the chance to follow in his footsteps.
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  Speaker 1: Is Otani the best baseball player ever? For over a
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  Speaker 1: hundred years, baseball trainers have hoped to find five tool players.
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  Speaker 1: These tools are the skills of a baseball player. It
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  Speaker 1: is rare for one player to have five tools. The
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  Speaker 1: skills are the ability to hit home runs, run fast,
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  Speaker 1: throw the ball hard, get many hits, and catch the
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  Speaker 1: ball well. Otani has five tools, but Otani has added
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  Speaker 1: a sixth tool. He not only has a strong arm,
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  Speaker 1: but it is so powerful and skilled, he can pitch well.
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  Speaker 1: In the past, a strong arm only helped someone play
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  Speaker 1: better defense. A player could throw the ball to his
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  Speaker 1: teammate faster than the batter could run to the base.
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  Speaker 1: Otani's arm is so strong, and his control is so good,
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  Speaker 1: that he can be a pitcher. Sports writer Neil Payne.
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  Speaker 4: Said, Otani changed how we do a simple study of
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  Speaker 4: baseball statistics. His skills are so far outside of what
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  Speaker 4: is usually considered normal for the purposes of reporting on
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  Speaker 4: a baseball game.
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  Speaker 2: It is Otani's special speed, strength and pitching ability that
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  Speaker 2: sets him apart from everyone who has ever played the game,
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  Speaker 2: including Babe Ruth. Ruth did not have Otani's speed. Ruth
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  Speaker 2: did not hit and pitch for as long. Otani is
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  Speaker 2: doing things that people said were impossible in baseball. In
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  Speaker 2: a recent game, Otani hit three home runs and struck
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  Speaker 2: out 10 batters. He hit one of his three home
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  Speaker 2: runs so hard it flew out of the ballpark. Maybe
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  Speaker 2: the most amazing thing is that Otani is only 31
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  Speaker 2: years old. Imagine what he will do next.
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  Speaker 1: Have you seen any of Otani's games? What do you
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  Speaker 1: think is the most special about the way Otani plays baseball?
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever played baseball? Would you like to go
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  Speaker 1: to one of Otani's games one day? You can leave
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also
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  Speaker 1: find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X. You
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
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  Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Peter Anderson. The producer
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: was Michio Osaki. The voices you heard were from the
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  Speaker 2: United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
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  Speaker 2: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
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  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight programs are written, voiced,
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  Speaker 2: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
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  Speaker 2: where in the world they live. This episode is called,
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  Speaker 2: Is Shohei Otani the Best Baseball Player Ever?
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
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  Speaker 1: Spotlight Advanced episode. Goodbye.