Why does Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 feat resonate so much in baseball?

Among the roughly 23,000 men who played played Major League Baseball over the past century-and-a-half, none had a season with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases — until now.

Shohei Ohtani became the first 50-50 player on Thursday when the Los Angeles Dodgers star hit his 50th and 51st home runs and stole his 50th and 51st bases.

Why does Ohtani’s feat resonate so much among fans?

Home runs and steals are among the more popular baseball records — if not the most revered in the history of the game — whether it be most home runs (73) in a season or the modern-day mark for most stolen bases (130) in a season. So when one player reaches the once-unthinkable half-century mark in both, it stands out.

Ohtani has captivated fans by doing what no player has done in two of the game’s most admired skill sets in the game.

How many members are there of the 40-40 club?

Just last month, on Aug. 23, Ohtani became only the sixth 40-40 player when he stole his 40th base in the fourth inning against Tampa Bay and hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the ninth inning off Colin Poche for his 40th homer.

Oakland’s José Canseco became the first 40-40 player in 1988 and has been joined by San Francisco’s Barry Bonds in 1996, Seattle’s Alex Rodriguez in 1998, Washington’s Alfonso Soriano in 1996, Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2023.

Canseco had publicly set a goal that season of becoming the first 40-40 player.

“I’m greatly relieved at having done it,” he said after stealing two bases at Milwaukee to reach 40 in game 154, four games after hitting his 40th homer off Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen. “I didn’t want to go through the season and come up short and say I stuck my foot in my mouth.”

When was the first 30-30 season?

There have been just 72 30-30 seasons.

Ken Williams of the St. Louis Browns was the first to achieve the feat in 1922, the second season after the end of the Dead Ball Era. No one else reached 30-30 until the New York Giants’ Willie Mays in 1956 and ’57.

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