Robert Herjavec was an unlikely entrant into the Shohei Ohtani Cinematic Universe, and he decided to have a little bit of fun with it.
Friday was a day for the ages on social media thanks to the hysteria over the MLB superstar Ohtani’s impending free agent decision. The Toronto Blue Jays emerged as a surprise finalist for Ohtani’s services, and more fuel was added to the fire when Internet users began tracking what they believed to be Ohtani’s plane heading from Southern California to Toronto (read the full details here). The plot then thickened further when conflicting reports came from top national baseball reporters on whether or not Ohtani was actually on that flight.
By Friday evening however, the mystery was solved — the Toronto-bound flight did not have Ohtani on it. Instead in a Shyamalan-worthy twist, it was actually transporting the wealthy businessman Herjavec, who is of Canadian descent and was headed back home with his family. This was confirmed by CBC photographer Evan Mitsui, who was on the ground.
Our CBC photographer Evan Mitsui is messaging me from Pearson Airport right now.
He confirms new reports that Ohtani was NOT on the private jet.
It was in fact carrying Canadian businessman Robert Herjavec and his family.
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) December 8, 2023
Herjavec, who is best known as a regular on the popular ABC television show “Shark Tank,” responded to the hilarious case of mistaken identity with a truly phenomenal post to his Instagram page. He posted a badly-Photoshopped image of himself in a Blue Jays hat and poked fun at the whole thing in his caption.
“I’d like to thank the @bluejays organization for signing me today,” he wrote. “All joking aside – I’m not @shoheiohtani and he was not on my plane today ! Not sure how it all started but I’m calling the jays and seeing if they’ll sign my 5 year old for 600 mil ( he WAS on the plane and throws a mean pitch ).”
The reigning AL MVP Ohtani may very well end up with the Blue Jays regardless. But when it comes to the amateur sleuthing ability of the Internet, Herjavec can safely say, “I’m out.”
