Shohei Ohtani is already making friends with his new team.
The Dodgers superstar gifted a brand-new Porsche to the wife of his new teammate Joe Kelly after she campaigned to lure the then-coveted free agent to sign with Los Angeles.
“It’s yours. From Shohei,” Ashley Kelly is told in a video posted to social media. “He wanted to gift you a Porsche. I swear.”
Kelly stood at her front door in shock as she was told she was the new owner of the silver four-door sports car, which was parked at the end of the driveway.
“Shut the …” she said before catching herself mid-sentence.
Ashley Kelly’s viral #Ohtake17 campaign took the internet by storm as she offered up her husband’s No. 17 and jokingly changed her seven-month-old’s name from Kai to ShoKai.
She also recruited Ohtani with every piece of Kelly No. 17 apparel she owned including a purse with a bedazzled strap, and plenty of jerseys and showed off a “Zaddy 17” sweater she was going to wear upon the superstar’s arrival.
Ohtani signed a 10-year contract with the Dodgers worth $700 million USD ($1bn AUD) on Dec. 13 — the largest contract in sports history.
Ohtani will wear his No. 17 jersey while reliever Joe Kelly changed his number to No. 99.
Joe Kelly has worn the number during both his stints with the Dodgers, beginning in 2019.
Ashley Kelly announced the number swap when she boasted about the signing in an Instagram video, where she threw out her husband’s old jerseys and drew a brand new No. 99 “jersey” onto his white shirt.
“#Ohtake17 Campaign SUCCESS! Merry Christmas Dodger Fans,” she wrote in an Instagram caption.
Last year, the Dodgers acquired Kelly from the Chicago White Sox in a deal involving pitcher Lance Lynn.
Kelly re-signed with the Dodgers this offseason for $8 million USD for one year.
Kelly’s campaigning may have rubbed off on Ohtani, as the superstar reportedly played a huge role in helping his new team sign Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Yamamoto spurned the Yankees and Mets to sign a record-setting deal worth $325 million USD over 12 years.
This story originally appeared on the NY Post and is reproduced with permission.
Discussion about this post