One of a kind: Ohtani wins AP Male Athlete of Year award

By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani did things during 2021 that almost nobody alive had ever seen in sports. That’s why the Los Angeles Angels’ two-way superstar is the winner of The Associated Press’ Male Athlete of the Year award. The unanimous American League MVP put together a season with no analogue in the past century of his sport. No one else had been an everyday two-way player in the better part of the past century. Nobody has been both one of baseball’s top power hitters and one of its best starting pitchers since Babe Ruth starred at the plate and on the mound in 1919.