After the wife of reliever Joe Kelly offered her husband’s uniform number to help lure Shohei Ohtani to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the two-way star responded by giving her a Porsche.
The Dodgers shared a video featuring Kelly’s wife, Ashley, who had launched what she dubbed her #Ohtake17 campaign in the hope that the free agent from Japan would sign with the team.
She showed him all the No. 17 garb her family had that could be repurposed for Ohtani and his family, and offered to rename the couple’s baby, Kai, to ShoKai.
Photo: AP
In the video posted this weekend, she opens the front door to reveal a silver sports car parked in front of the house.
“It’s yours, from Shohei,” a man off camera says in the video to the stunned woman. “He wanted to gift you a Porsche.”
Ohtani received a record US$700 million, 10-year contract this month to make a 50km move up Interstate 5 to the Dodgers. He had worn No. 17 with the Los Angeles Angels.
Kelly, who wore No. 17 with the Dodgers from 2019 to 2021 and again last season, is switching to No. 99 after finalizing his own US$8 million, one-year contract.
“I wasn’t going to give it up to just anybody,” Kelly said after Ohtani was announced as his new teammate. “If Shohei keeps performing, he’ll be a future Hall of Famer and I’ll be able to have my number retired. That’s the closest I’ll get to the Hall of Fame.”
Asked what Ohtani was giving him in return, Kelly said: “Oh, there’s a list, but no comment.”
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