Ohtani gives teammate amazing gift in exchange for No. 17
Joe Kelly handed over the No. 17 to Shohei Ohtani, so the new Dodgers superstar responded in kind by handing over the keys to a brand new Porsche.
Kelly¡¯s wife, Ashley, who had done her part to court Ohtani for the Dodgers in free agency with her amazing #Ohtake17 campaign, posted about the generous gift on Instagram on Saturday night, sharing a video of her opening the front door to their house to reveal the car waiting in the driveway.
¡°It¡¯s yours, from Shohei,¡± a man at the door says in the video. ¡°He wanted to gift you a Porsche.¡±
After Ohtani¡¯s signing with the Dodgers became official and it became clear that Kelly would be surrendering the jersey number he¡¯d worn for the past three seasons, Ashley Kelly had some fun with the news. She posted another video on Instagram showing her excitedly tossing heaps of No. 17 Kelly Dodgers gear around the front yard of the family¡¯s house.
When Joe Kelly was asked about giving up the number, he had the perfect response.
¡°I wasn¡¯t going to give it up to just anybody,¡± he told reporters. ¡°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.¡±
As for what he wanted in return?
¡°Oh there¡¯s a list, but no comment.¡±
Whether the Porsche was on that list is unclear at the moment, but what¡¯s very clear is that his new teammate ¨C fresh off inking a $700 million contract ¨C is nothing if not generous.