Dodgers merch collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is a natural fit
Artist Takashi Murakami winds to throw the ceremonial first pitch before an exhibition baseball game between the Dodgers and Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo on March 15, 2025.
(Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press)
A month ago Dodgers gear festooned with colorful flowers in the unmistakable designs of acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami sold out in minutes at a pop-up on Fairfax Ave. A couple hundred Angelenos lined up overnight to purchase gear, generating $40 million.
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The pop-up, called the MLB Tokyo Series collection, preceded the two-game, season-opening series in Japan between the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs, and items soon hit the secondary market for four times the purchase price.
The merchandise was so popular that Murakami and the Dodgers responded by approximating the famous words of Hall of Fame Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks: "Let's play two!"
A new collection will be available April 28 during Japanese Heritage Night at Dodger Stadium and the Dodger Clubhouse store, then can be purchased only online. Murakami, 63, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch as he did before an exhibition between the Dodgers and Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome on March 15.
"It's been two months since I started practicing for the first pitch in Tokyo, but given my age, it's not so easy to pick up new skills," Murakami said playfully in an interview with The Times. "Still, compared to the first day when I couldn't throw the ball at all, I've improved significantly.
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"My hope this time is to throw the ball without it bouncing."
Read more: 'Beautiful, happy, dopamine-injected.' Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami's frenzied comeback
Murakami is unquestionably adept with a brush, a pen or a computer, creating iconic art that features manga, anime, cartoons and brightly colored anthropomorphic cherry blossoms, mushrooms and assorted flowers. He began delivering commissioned projects for luxury brands and celebrities 20 years ago, and a financial pinnacle came in 2008 when his provocative life-size figure "My Lonesome Cowboy" sold for $15.1 million at auction.
Since then Murakami has integrated his art on Louis Vuitton handbags, a Kanye West album cover, and the Kid Cudi collaboration Kids See Ghosts. He also had a solo exhibition in 2022 at The Broad titled Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow that included sculpture, painting, wallpaper and immersive installations.
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Now his attention has turned to baseball. The MLB Tokyo Series collection had his familiar colorful flora sprinkled across jerseys, bats, balls, hoodies, flip-flops and a Shohei Ohtani bobblehead. The surprise medium might have been collaborating with Topps on baseball cards.
"Since 2023, I have been creating trading cards and trading card games with my team, so I felt I approached this project with a good understanding of the context," Murakami said. "But when we filmed the unboxing event for the Topps Complex Series and Tokyo Series on YouTube, I recognized anew how profound the world of American sports trading cards is, which shook me with excitement."
Read more: Review: Takashi Murakami captivates at Blum & Poe
The overall success of the Tokyo Series collection delighted Murakami, who said he remembers playing catch with his father as a child.
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"Honestly, I had thought baseball wasn't as major a sport in Japan these days, so I was surprised by the overwhelming response," he said. "I received messages from childhood friends and was approached by neighbors afterwards, which made me realize that baseball remains the beloved sport among the Japanese public."
The addition of Japanese megastars Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki made collaborating with the Dodgers a natural. The team's popularity in Japan has never been greater.
"The Dodgers are the team Hideo Nomo joined when he first played Major League Baseball, overcoming various obstacles," Murakami said. "His success had a significant impact on Japanese players entering the majors, and his achievements are vivid in my memory.
"Shohei Ohtani joining the Dodgers feels like a fateful story for Japanese baseball, and I'm deeply moved by it. In that sense, I consider myself a Dodgers fan."
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Read more: All eyes are on Ohtani in Tokyo | Dodgers Debate
Murakami added that he has felt comfortable in L.A. since his exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2007-2008.
"I believe my career as an artist in the contemporary art world took off in Los Angeles," he said. "The [MOCA] exhibition, curated by Paul Schimmel, was pivotal in establishing my career in America. Whenever I visit Los Angeles, I feel a strong connection, as if it's my second hometown, with fans saying hello to me around the city. So I'm especially grateful for this new relationship with the Dodgers in Los Angeles."
Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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But, while Ruth was a good fielder, Phelps was not, and the Senators traded him to the Chicago Cubs, who decided to convert him to catcher. It was a strange move, because the Cubs had a great catcher in Gabby Hartnett. After two seasons as Hartnett's backup, his contract was sold to Brooklyn, where he became the backup to Al Lopez. Phelps hit .364 in 47 games, so the Dodgers traded Lopez after the season and named Phelps the starting catcher. He hit .367 in 1936, finishing second to Paul Waner for the batting title. His .367 average is still the highest for a catcher who qualified for the batting title. Phelps remained a strong hitter throughout his Dodgers career, but he put on weight every season too, getting so out of shape that his teammates nicknamed him Blimp. His offense didn't suffer, but his defense did, and he became relatively immobile. He was considered one of the nicest guys in the league and was a fan favorite. Before the 1940 season, the Dodgers made a change that eventually ended Phelps' career: they started traveling by plane, and Phelps was terrified of flying. He made one flight with the team, and then refused to go on another flight, traveling by train throughout the season while the rest of the team flew. The Dodgers acquired Mickey Owen before the 1941 season, and held part of their spring training in Cuba. Phelps refused to fly to Cuba, so the team worked out without him. Owen was named the starting catcher. Then, on June 12, 1941, the team was going to travel ... by train ... to Pittsburgh. Phelps never showed up. Eventually reached by telephone, he said the stress of travel was too much and he was having heart palpitations. He had claimed this before and the Dodgers' team doctor examined him and said he was fine. Thinking he was faking it or a hypochondriac, manager Leo Durocher demanded that Phelps be traded. Finding no takers, the Dodgers suspended him. 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They replaced him with Rod Barajas, while Martin signed with the Yankees and put together several solid seasons after that. He returned to L.A. for his final season in the majors, and hit .220 in 83 games, sharing catching duties with Austin Barnes and then-rookie Will Smith. He played in one of the five postseason games against Washington that season, going two for four with a double and a homer. He became a fan favorite in 2019 for pitching four scoreless innings during the season, giving up only two hits and striking out two while throwing a low-80s fastball. Whenever the Dodgers' bullpen had problems that season (see, this season is nothing new), fans would often call for Martin to pitch. He is one of 12 catchers since 1901 to steal at least 100 bases, and his 67 steals is the most by a catcher in Dodgers history. 9. Mickey Owen (1941-45, .258/.319/.315, 80 OPS+, 4-time All Star) Much like Roseboro, Owen is remembered for something (that passed ball in the 1941 World Series) that has overshadowed a solid career. He was a four-time All-Star and during that 1941 season had set a then-record for most consecutive errorless chances handled by a catcher (508). He is also the first player to hit a pinch-hit homer in the All-Star game, which he did in 1942. Arnold Owen (no middle name) was born April 4, 1916, in Nixa, Mo. (By the way, isn't baseball amazing? Here we are, 109 years after a player was born, talking about his career). Owen signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1935 and quickly became known for his defense. He was quickly promoted to the majors, and played 80 games with the Cardinals in 1937. After four seasons of solid defense but subpar hitting, the Cardinals traded him to Brooklyn before the 1941 season for catcher Gus Mancuso and $60,000. Owen was called Mickey because of his resemblance to the great catcher Mickey Cochrane. However, when he came to the Dodgers, manager Leo Durocher refused to call him that, referring to him as Arnold. Owen was considered the best defensive catcher in the NL, and if the Gold Glove had been around, probably would have won at least five. He was drafted into the Navy midway through the 1945 season and while he was in the Navy on April 1, 1946, Jorge Pasquel of the Mexican League announced that he signed Owen to a five-year deal as a player-manager for the Veracruz Blues. Commissioner Happy Chandler announced that any player who jumped would be banned for five years if they tried to return. Owen did not like playing in Mexico and, in 1947, petitioned to return to the majors. Chandler denied the appeal. He eventually dropped the suspensions before the 1949 season. The Dodgers released Owen and he signed with the Cubs. Owen retired after the 1954 season and started a baseball camp for kids in Missouri. He ran the camp until 1985, and the camp remained active until 2005. You would often see ads for it in the Sporting News, nestled among the baseball box scores. Owen died in Mt. Vernon, Mo., of complications from Alzheimer's Disease. He was 89. 10. Joe Ferguson (1970-76, 1978-81, .245/.359/.419, 119 OPS+) The Dodgers had two good, young catchers in the early 1970s, Ferguson and Yeager. They eventually decided to go with Yeager because of his superior defense, but Ferguson was a much better hitter. He also played in the outfield quite a bit for L.A. and his most famous Dodger moment probably came as an outfielder, when he cut in front of Jim Wynn to catch a fly ball and throw out Sal Bando trying to score in the 1974 World Series. You can watch that play by clicking here. Watch how far Ferguson had to run to get to the ball, and watch how well Yeager blocked the plate. Ferguson's other great moment as a Dodger came in 1980. The Dodgers were three games behind the Houston Astros with three to play ... all against the Astros. In the first game, the Dodgers and Astros were tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the 10th. Houston's Ken Forsch went to the mound for his 10th inning of work. On Forsch's first pitch, Ferguson homered to left to give the Dodgers the walk-off win. 'I go up in that situation and I'm looking to hit at least a double,' Ferguson said, 'I've got to drive the ball. It wasn't that Forsch was losing command of his pitches. It was just that he didn't have that little extra. He knows what I can do, because I've done it against him before.' You can watch that home run here. By the way, the winning pitcher in that game: Fernando Valenzuela. Almost 1,486 ballots were sent in. First place received 12 points, second place nine, all the way down to one point for 10th place. Here are your choices: 1. Roy Campanella, 1,209 first-place votes, 15,867 points 2. Mike Piazza, 124 first-place votes, 11,733 points 3. John Roseboro, 82 first-place votes, 8,642 points 4. Mike Scioscia, 33 first-place votes, 8,256 points 5. Will Smith, 13 first-place votes, 7,918 points 6. Steve Yeager, 19 first-place votes, 7,006 points 7. Russell Martin, 5,774 points 8. Joe Ferguson, 2,803 points 9. Mickey Owen, 2,444 points 10. Jeff Torborg,1,512 points The next five: Paul Lo Duca, Yasmani Grandal, A.J. Ellis, Rick Dempsey, Norm Sherry. Who are your top 10 Dodgers first basemen of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list to top10firstbasemen@ and let me know. Many of you have asked for a list of players to consider for each position. Here are the 40 strongest first baseman candidates, in alphabetical order. 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To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.


Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
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