The New York Yankees are getting a little weird with it at their team store.
A photo went viral this week amid the Yankees’ home series against the Los Angeles Angels. The photo showed a store at Yankee Stadium selling red Shohei Ohtani Angels jerseys along with their regular merchandise.
https://twitter.com/SotoP_23/status/1531809923956240390
Ohtani’s popularity obviously transcends all borders and team boundaries. The Yankees also have a strong contingent of fans from Japan, owed in part to the Japanese players they have rostered over the years like Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, and Masahiro Tanaka. But it is still pretty odd to be selling an opponent’s jerseys at your own team store, especially while playing a series against said opponent.
Maybe this is the Yankees’ way of recruiting Ohtani, who can become a free agent after the 2023 campaign if he does not agree to an extension with the Angels. But that would be a double-edged sword since the Angels also seem to be recruiting one of the Yankees’ stars during this current series.
