One of the biggest campaigners to get Shohei Ohtani to the Los Angeles Dodgers was reliever Joe Kelly's wife, Ashley. Before Ohtani agreed to his unprecedented $700 million contract earlier this month, Ashley Kelly was happily offering Joe's uniform number (No. 17) to Ohtani and plenty of Dodgers swag to go with it. Her efforts didn't go unnoticed.
This week, Ohtani thanked her with a brand new car. Ashley was in disbelief when she saw what was parked in front of her home in a video the Dodgers posted on social media Saturday night.
"It's yours. from Shohei," the delivery man told her. "He wanted to gift you a Porsche."
“It’s yours…from Shohei.”
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) December 24, 2023
Shohei gifted Joe Kelly’s wife Ashley with a new car for her Ohtake17 campaign. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/Vsb3PqMthF
Ashley started the #Ohtake17 campaign on social media as the two-way superstar was choosing a new team in the most anticipated MLB free agency in recent memory. She jokingly promised to change her baby's name from Kai to ShoKai and also offered Ohtani and his family all the No. 17 Dodgers merchandise in her home.
Ohtani, the reigning American League MVP, agreed to the record-breaking deal with the Dodgers earlier this month. Ashley delivered on her promise, and even posted a hilarious video in which she got rid of all her husband's No. 17 items and assigned him No. 99.
Her hard work paid off and the Dodgers -- who also recently signed Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (without any jersey enticement) -- enter the 2024 season as World Series favorites. As for Joe Kelly, he actually doesn't mind giving up his number, in fact, he said he could potentially benefit from it.
"I wasn't going to give it up to just anybody," Kelly told the Associated Press. "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."
