Shohei Ohtani wore No. 17 on his jersey when he played for the Los Angeles Angels, and it worked pretty well for him. But when the Los Angeles Dodgers were trying to sign the free agent, that number belonged to Joe Kelly. The veteran's wife, Ashley, saw no obstacle there and started a social media campaign to take the number off her husband's back and offer it to baseball's two-way superstar, CBS Sports reports. The Dodgers landed Ohtani, who apparently wanted to acknowledge the support. Ashley Kelly found the token of his gratitude in front of her house last week. "It's yours, from Shohei," the deliveryman told her. "He wanted to gift you a Porsche."
Ashley Kelly's successful campaign was multimedia and multifaceted. She posted a video on Instagram showing her tossing all the No. 17 Dodgers merchandise in her house onto the lawn and changing her infant's name from Kai to ShoKai. It showed her drawing a 99, her husband's new number, on his shirt—while he was wearing it. The pitcher sees an advantage to having the star hitter-pitcher wear his old number. "I wasn't going to give it up to just anybody," he said, Kelly said, per the AP. "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." (More Shohei Ohtani stories.)
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