Before Ohtani’s arrival from the city rival Angels, Ashley Kelly campaigned, for example, by making a video in which she offered the star of the league the number 17, with which her husband played in the Dodgers. Ohtani, with 17 caps, spent the previous six seasons with the Angels.
Ohtani signed an MLB record deal with the Dodgers in early December. According to the media, the twenty-nine-year-old Japanese will earn 700 million dollars (15.9 billion crowns) in ten years.
Ohtani is a unique all-around player, with his ability to pitch and bat often drawing comparisons to American legend Babe Ruth. After a season in which he was unanimously voted the best player in the American League for the second time, his contract expired and he became a free agent.
In conjunction with his arrival, the club shared a post in which Kelly shows off to the camera all the tops and accessories from the home wardrobe that adorn the 17, offering it all to Ohtani and his family as part of a campaign called #Ohtake17. She added that she would rename her son Kai ShoKai.
In a new video, she is captured in the doorway of her home as she receives a brand new car. “This is yours, from Shohei. He wanted to give you a Porsche,” the recording said.
Kelly wore the number 17 during his stint with the Dodgers from 2019-21 and after returning last season. He has now moved to number 99 after signing another year for eight million dollars.
“I wouldn’t just leave it to somebody,” the AP quoted Kelly as saying after the club announced Ohtani’s arrival. “If Shóhei continues his performances, he will one day be a member of the Hall of Fame and my number will be retired. That will be the closest I will get to the Hall of Fame,” he added.