All Shohei Ohtani needed to snap his two-week home run drought?
How about Ice Cube in the broadcast booth.
On Tuesday night, the Dodgers did a stadium-wide Ice Cube bobblehead giveaway, featuring the LA entertainment icon in a Dodger blue low-rider along with the team’s last two World Series championship trophies.
To honor the occasion, Ice Cube was on hand –– throwing out the first pitch, announcing the traditional “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball” call before the start of the game, then joining the team’s television broadcast on SportsNet LA in the bottom of the third inning.
It was while Ice Cube was on the air that Ohtani came to the plate and went deep for the first time since April 26, and only the second time in his last 109 plate appearances.
As Ohtani’s drive sailed out to left-center field, Ice Cube injected excitedly on the TV call.
“Yes! There we go. Yeah, yeah!” he said. “Couldn’t have scripted it better.”
Before the blast, Ice Cube was in the middle of a discussion with Joe Davis and Orel Hershisher about his life-long Dodgers fandom, and role as the team’s unofficial hype man during their back-to-back World Series titles.
Over the last two years, he’s been part of plenty of memorable moments at Chavez Ravine, including a pregame concert during the 2024 World Series, more live performances at their championship parades, and opening day ceremonies in which he drove a blue low-rider onto the field to deliver the Commissioner’s Trophies to the team –– which inspired Tuesday’s bobblehead design.
“This is one of the craziest things that ever happened to me,” he said. “I love the Dodgers. I love being a fan. I like to just fan out … And then to be asked to be a part of it, against the Yankees, it was next level. I’ve just been on Cloud 9 ever since, for two years straight.”
That continued when Ohtani went deep, leading Davis and Hershiser to lay out so he could analyze the replay of Ohtnai’s swing.
“He smacks this thing, goes yard, the man,” Ice Cube said of Ohtani. “How great is it to be a Dodger fan right now, to see that.”
