Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gives a thumbs up after the team’s 11-2 victory in a baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Washington.
10:59 JST, May 5, 2024
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dave Roberts recently joked that Shohei Ohtani should give Roberts a Porsche if Ohtani breaks his Dodgers’ record for most home runs by a Japanese-born player.
Ohtani agreed, just perhaps not in the way Roberts imagined.
Before Friday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, the Dodgers slugger presented Roberts with a purple toy Porsche in his office. Roberts said the car is on his desk.
Ohtani hit his seventh home run, tying Roberts with a home run in Toronto on April 26.
“He did indeed buy me a car. I don’t think I mentioned what type of car,” Roberts said before Saturday’s race. “So I can’t say he never gave me anything.”
Ohtani gave Ashley Kelly, wife of Joe Kelly, a Porsche for Kelly, who gave up No. 17 when Ohtani signed with the Dodgers last December. Kelly’s wife took to social media as Ohtani weighed his free agency decision, promising he could get the song and all the gear that comes with it.
Born in Naha, Okinawa, Japan, to a Japanese mother and an American father, Roberts hit seven home runs for the Dodgers from 2002 to 2004
Ohtani has 178 home runs in the majors. He surpassed Hideki Matsui earlier this month largely by a Japanese-born player. Matsui had 175 during a ten-year career.
Los Angeles Dodgers design hitter Shohei Ohtani greets teammates before a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in Los Angeles, Saturday, May 4, 2024.
