GENEROUS SPIRIT

Dodger Superstar Shohei Ohtani Gives Porsche to Teammate’s Wife

Ashley Kelly, wife of Dodger pitcher Joe Kelly, launched a social media campaign to lure the Japanese superstar. Ohtani gave back in a big way.

Newly inked Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is already ingratiating himself with his new teammates.

Earlier this month, Ohtani made baseball history by signing a 10-year, $700-million contract—the most expensive in the history of sports. Joe Kelly, a pitcher and one of Ohtani’s new teammates, is already seeing some trickle-down benefits from the mega payday. Kelly’s wife, Ashley, posted a video to Instagram early on Sunday showing a new Porsche in her front driveway. “It’s yours,” Joe, the pitcher, tells Ashley in the video. “From Shohei.”

The gesture left Ashley almost speechless. “He wanted to gift you a Porsche,” Joe continued. “I swear.” As Ohtani was deciding where his next destination would be—resulting in a fervent sweepstakes among top MLB clubs, given his rare ability to pitch and hit—Ashley launched a viral social media campaign to court the Japanese pitcher to the Dodgers. Dubbed #Ohtake17, Ashley promised Ohtani her husband would give him his current squad number, 17, and switch to a different one if the modern day version of Babe Ruth signed for the club.

It worked.

“Shut the…” Ashley said before biting her tongue, staring at the white sports car in her driveway.

Ohtani will indeed take the number 17 from her husband, who will switch to the number 99.