“HOF Con artist” – MLB fans react as WILD reports of Ippei Mizuhara’s educational background surface in gambling controversy

Ippei Mizuhara had claimed that he graduated from the University of California in the year 2007

Ippei Mizuhara (Image via Imago)

In the past few days the name of Ippei Mizuhara has been on the tongue of many baseball fans. The former interpreter of Shohei Ohtani was relieved of his duties by the Los Angeles Dodgers after allegations of “massive theft” and gambling came up against him.

On Wednesday after the first game of the season, reports emerged that Ippei Mizuhara had been gambling on sports and that a total sum of $4.5 million was transferred from Shohei Ohtani‘s bank account. Mizuhara first claimed Ohtani knew about his gambling addiction and helped him pay off the debt. However, he later changed the story and claimed Ohtani had no idea about this problem of his.

In the midst of investigation regarding this matter, new reports regarding Mizuhara has surfaced up. He had previously claimed that he graduated from the University of California, located in Riverside in the year 2007. However, according to the reports from The Athletic, the educational institution has refuted this claim and have no record of him.

On top of this, Mizuhara also said that he worked in the MLB before as the translator for Hideko Okajima when he was at the Boston Red Sox. However, the American League East team have denied this and claimed they never employed him in any capacity.

Mizuhara was never employed by the Boston Red Sox in any capacity and was not an interpreter for Hideki Okajima during the pitcher’s time with the team.

Boston Red Sox in a statement regarding Ippei Mizuhara.

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Ever since the news of Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara broke out, fans on social media have gone into frenzy mode. When the story came out, some fans wildly compared the MLB star to Michael Jordan by bringing up his gambling issues.

Ippei Mizuhara and Shohei Ohtani (Image via Imago)
Fans have once again raised their voice and have thrown in some wild reaction to this new update in the Ohtani-Mizuhara story. One fan brutally trolled him and wrote, “HOF Con artist“. Most fans joined this user and made some jokes about the situation. One user on the other hand pointed out Mizuhara’s claims of having worked in MLB and questioned whether it was this easy to lie to the organization.

Here are some of the top reactions from X on this incident: