Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Have you seen tweets about a guy named Tungsten Arm O’Doyle? Or jokes about him and something having to do with the Los Angeles Angels? We’re here to help.
Yes, Tungsten Arm O’Doyle. A baseball legend right up there with Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown.
But you may have seen his name pop up a lot in connection with the Los Angeles Angels and you might be confused. And that makes sense! We’re here to help you with that. Let’s dive in here:
Wait, who?!
You know, Tungsten Arm O’Doyle! You must have heard about him from back in the day, right?
The Angels are 1-for-1 on Tungsten Arm O’Doyle games this season. https://t.co/ymPNh3uvU3
— Caroline Darney (@cwdarney) March 31, 2023
Aaron Judge with an Opening Day homer in a victory, Shohei Ohtani with an Opening Day Tungsten Arm O’Doyle feat in defeat https://t.co/GRFuGX4ayS
— Jay Jaffe (@jay_jaffe) March 31, 2023
He was ... real?
Sadly no. I was kidding.
This all started with a tweet back in 2021 from @matttomic:
every time I see an Angels highlight it's like "Mike Trout hit three homes runs and raised his average to .528 while Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn't been done since 'Tungsten Arm' O'Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Tigers defeated the Angels 8-3"
— ℳatt (@matttomic) May 18, 2021
So why am I seeing it everywhere now?
Because it continues to be true. Ohtani and Trout continue to wow us, but then the Angels keep losing despite having two of the best baseball players in the world. Heck, on Opening Day 2023, this happened!
Shohei Ohtani’s outing was the 26th since at least 1901 with 10+ strikeouts and no runs allowed on Opening Day
it’s the first time that pitcher’s team lost the game
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) March 31, 2023
We'd call that a Tungsten Arm O'Doyle Game?
You bet! And when Ohtani faced Trout in the World Baseball Classic, the joke was everywhere:
the WBC finals is officially the ‘tungsten arm’ o’doyle bowl https://t.co/vSpstyMQmz
— alex (@steven_lebron) March 21, 2023
I wish he was real.
Well, he is. Sorta.
If you search ‘Tungsten Arm O'Doyle’ on Baseball Reference it directs you to Shohei Ohtani’s page
I AM CRYING pic.twitter.com/7MVlSpz3kq
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) March 31, 2023
