Interested in receiving newsletters from any of our 29 other beat reporters? Visit this page to subscribe or unsubscribe to any of our newsletters.

When Shohei Ohtani was honored by his teammates in the clubhouse after hitting his 100th career home run on Saturday, he not only received the ball he hit for his milestone homer, but one that may or may not have been signed by musician and Oakland legend MC Hammer. 

Angels staff assistant Tim Buss, otherwise known as the vice president of stuff and the one responsible for coming up with the cowboy hat celebration in the dugout after home runs, also came up with the idea of giving the MC Hammer “signed” ball to Ohtani. It made some sense, as MC Hammer was a batboy and clubhouse assistant at the Oakland Coliseum while growing up.  

Angels manager Joe Maddon said Ohtani was mostly confused by the presentation but once they blared MC Hammer’s hit, "U Can't Touch This," after he received the ball, Ohtani laughed and celebrated with his teammates. 

“MC Hammer has a great legendary tradition around here, and, of course, Shohei had a bemused look and had no idea what was going on,” Maddon said. “But then once we wrapped it up, they put the music on and now he knows who MC Hammer is." 

Ohtani said he enjoyed the celebration with his teammates and that he plans to keep both his home run ball and the autographed ball he received from Buss. He was given his home run ball in a special case, but he said he’s not sure where he’ll put it just yet. And while Ohtani had his doubts that the other ball was really signed by MC Hammer, he was happy to receive it anyway. 

"Afterwards, I heard it was fake,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “Either way, I plan on keeping it." 

SQUID GAMES

When a member of the Angels public relations staff went up to Andrew Velazquez to introduce himself at the start of Spring Training, Velazquez quickly made it be known that he likes to go by his nickname “Squid” instead of Andrew. Velazquez was given the nickname by D-backs coaches during his second year in professional baseball, and even he’s not quite sure of the origins of the name. But he thinks it could be because of his defensive prowess, as it looks like he’s playing with eight arms out in the field with his range. 

Either way, Velazquez has emerged as the Angels’ starting shortstop and has rated as an elite defender by both the eye test and advanced metrics. He entered Tuesday ranked second among all shortstops with five Defensive Runs Saved, just behind Houston’s Jeremy Peña with six. Velazquez, who was selected off waivers from the Yankees in November, has become a favorite of Angels pitchers because of his defense and has impressed those in the front office and the coaching staff as well. 

"He's really changed the game on the defensive side of things," Angels general manager Perry Minasian said. "When we acquired him, that's what we thought we were getting. He's someone who is a 'wow' defender. Not just a plus defender but a wow defender. And his bat is improving." 

As Minasian noted, Velazquez has been heating up at the plate recently after a slow start offensively. He carried a five-game hitting streak into Tuesday's game and batted .333 with a homer and three doubles over his previous eight games. His first homer came on Friday and manager Joe Maddon wasn't surprised by it. 

“He’s changed his approach and is getting his front foot off the ground,” Maddon said. “Everything looks better. He’s not getting stuck. He’s not trying to generate his power by torquing his body, it’s coming more naturally just by picking the front foot up. I know he’s not tall, but it’s harder to be stronger than him. So that did not surprise us and he’s going to do that more often than you think.”

TRIVIA

Which year saw the Angels post their only 100-win season?

A. 2002 

B. 2008

C. 2009 

D. 1982 

THIS WEEK IN ANGELS HISTORY 

Mike Trout had the first walk-off hit of his career with a three-run blast off Rays right-hander Brad Boxberger to give the Angels a 6-5 win on May 15, 2014. The Angels entered the ninth down by three runs but Trout helped them overcome it with his three-run shot to left field. Trout won his first American League MVP Award that season and led the Angels to the American League West division title. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

• Angels reliever Jimmy Herget threw a curveball with so much movement that it hit Tampa Bay’s Francisco Mejía after he swung for a strikeout. Herget has been dubbed the Human Glitch by @pitchingninja. 

• Ohtani didn’t waste any time hitting his 101st career homer, as he smacked a two-run blast off A’s right-hander Frankie Montas in the first inning on Sunday. MLB.com’s David Adler also took a look at Ohtani’s most impressive home runs of his career. Adler also took a deeper look at Herget’s slider that went viral.

• Here’s where you can find all of the coverage from Reid Detmers’ no-hitter on May 10. It was a crazy game that also featured Anthony Rendon hitting a home run left-handed off position player Brett Phillips in the eighth inning. Phillips also had some funny things to say about his pitching performance and how he kept Ohtani in the park with a double off the wall.

TRIVIA ANSWER

B. 2008

The Angels went 100-62 in 2008 to win the AL West by a whopping 21 games and set a franchise record for wins. They clinched the division on Sept. 10, which was the earliest to clinch a division title in club history. I was an intern covering the Angels in 2008 for MLB.com and even wrote about it when they won their 100th game to set the franchise mark. The 2002 Angels won the second-most games in franchise history with 99 but the A’s won the division that year with 103 wins.    

FORWARDED FROM A FRIEND? SUBSCRIBE NOW

To subscribe to Angels Beat, visit this page and mark "Angels Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Angels or that they're checked as your favorite team.