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.
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.
“My hope this time is to throw the ball without it bouncing.”
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.
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.”
The overall success of the Tokyo Series collection delighted Murakami, who said he remembers playing catch with his father as a child.
“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.”
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.”
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