Celebrities

Shohei Ohtani gifts Porsche to wife of Dodgers teammate Joe Kelly for viral jersey number campaign

  • Shohei Ohtani, a pitcher for the LA Dodgers, wanted to thank his teammate’s wife for helping him join the team
  • When he still was a free agent, Joe Kelly’s wife, Ashley, used her social media presence to help Ohtani get a contract with the Dodgers
  • Ohtani signed a 10-year contract with the Dodgers that’s worth nine (!) figures

Published on Dec 27, 2023 at 8:07 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis

Last updated on Dec 28, 2023 at 3:59 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Adam Gray

We all deserve a Shohei Ohtani in our life.

Ohtani, a pitcher for the LA Dodgers in the Major League Baseball (MLB), bought a brand-spanking-new Porsche as a gift for someone else.

Specifically, he bought a Porsche for his teammate Joe Kelly’s wife.

Check out her reaction in the clip down below!

We know what you’re thinking and no – it’s nothing like that.

The reason behind Ohtani’s expensive gift to his teammate’s wife is actually pretty noble.

Joe Kelly’s wife, Ashley Kelly, helped Ohtani big time when he was still a free agent.

Ashley knew that Ohtani was a free agent and her husband Joe Kelly, also at the LA Dodgers, believed Ohtani would be a perfect fit for the team.

For that reason, Ashley used her social media presence to campaign for Ohtani to join the team.

And amazingly, it worked.

Her #Ohtake17 campaign – 17 being Ohtai jersey number and Ohtake being one of the player’s nicknames – paid off.

Ohtani signed a massive 10-year contract worth $700 million with the Dodgers and as a thank-you, Ohtani gave her a $150,000 Porsche.

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After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.