After Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers this past offseason for $700 million, one of the first things he did was buy reliever Joe Kelly’s wife a Porsche to thank the family for Joe letting him wear No. 17.
This week, he decided to buy another Porsche for somebody else in the organization, only this one wasn’t quite as expensive.
It didn’t take long, but Ohtani has already broken the Dodgers’ team record for home runs by a Japanese-born player, a record that used to be held by manager Dave Roberts with seven homers, and as a thank-you gift for paving the path for him to walk down, Ohtani also got Roberts a Porsche, except Dave’s was a toy purple Porsche that is now sitting on his desk.
In anticipation of breaking Dave Roberts’ Dodgers record for home runs by a Japanese-born player, Shohei Ohtani bought his manager a car.
A toy car, that is. The purple Porsche is sitting on Roberts’ desk right now, he said.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 4, 2024
Roberts joked leading up to his record being inevitably broken that Ohtani should buy him a Porsche when he breaks his record, but he probably should have specified what kind of Porsche.
This one might not have broken the bank quite like Kelly’s did, but it’s a testament to what Ohtani brings to the clubhouse.
Not only is Shohei arguably the best player in the world, but we are learning more and more about what a good guy he is and the value he adds behind the scenes by keeping things light and being a good leader.
Los Angeles is on fire lately and leads the league in just about every major offensive category, and Ohtani is at the forefront of it.
