When news broke that the Dodgers had signed superstar two-way player Shohei Ohtani to a MLB record-breaking 10-year/$700 million contract on December 11, 2023, among the first questions in the minds of longtime fans of the Oshu, Japan native and future first-ballot Hall of Famer was: What jersey number will he wear with his new team for the next decade since his favorite number, number 17, was already issued to popular Dodgers right-handed reliever Joe Kelly, who has sported that number for his four seasons as a Dodger?

Although the question had little to do with the game itself, it was soon learned that Joe Kelly’s wife Ashley Kelly had lobbied hard for the Dodgers to sign Ohtani, and that if having jersey number 17 was the hang-up in making it happen, her loving husband better give it to him.

As we all know, Joe Kelly did as his wife had asked (insisted), and when Ohtani learned of this (via social media), he gifted Ashley a brand-new Porsche. No, really.

This:

For This:

Sure enough, during Saturday’s annual FanFest event at Dodger Stadium, SportsNet LA’s John Hartung asked our generation’s Babe Ruth about THE trade:

Hartung: “Where did the idea come from to get a Porsche for Ashley Kelly, Joe Kelly’s wife, to get the number 17, of course?”

Ohtani: (through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara): “First off, all those videos she made (on Instagram), that was one of the greatest videos I’ve watched, got a great laugh at it. And secondly, I feel like your jersey number is really important, especially for a baseball player. I feel like, if he’s going to give that up to me, it’s big.”

This could very well end up being the biggest trade of the off-season for the Dodgers.

Well played, Shohei!

…and Ashley!

Play Ball!

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