City criticized for displaying Ohtani-donated gloves, not gifting to kids

A municipal government in Japan has been criticized on social media for having displayed youth baseball gloves donated by Shohei Ohtani at its office instead of delivering them to elementary school children as he had wished.

Yasuhiro Nagano, mayor of Beppu in southwestern Japan, told a news conference on Wednesday that he “wanted to make citizens and children happy” by displaying the gifts from the major league superstar.

Given the criticism, the municipal government has shortened the period that the gloves will be displayed for and will distribute them to schools in the city on Friday.

The gloves arrived at the office on Jan. 17 before being placed into a glass case with a message from the Los Angeles Dodgers player.

Ohtani said in November on his Instagram account that he would donate youth baseball gloves to every elementary school in Japan, roughly 60,000 gloves to approximately 20,000 schools, expressing his hope that kids would enjoy playing baseball.

There have been other cases where municipalities displayed the gloves at their offices until they were ready to send them to schools.

The maker of the gloves, which Ohtani has signed with, said each school would receive a total of three — two for right-handers and one for left-handers — and that they would be delivered around between December and March.