Shohei Ohtani has quite the sense of humor.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed before Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Braves that the Dodgers superstar Ohtani had gotten him a funny gift. Ohtani entered the game with seven home runs on the season for the Dodgers. That was just one away from breaking Roberts’ record for most home runs by a Japanese-born player in a Dodgers uniform.
To commemorate the occasion, Ohtani got Roberts a car. The only problem was that the car … was a toy. Ohtani left a purple toy Porsche on Roberts’ desk before the game, Roberts revealed.
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
Ohtani delivered on his end though, cranking homer No. 8 off Braves righty Bryce Elder in the bottom of the third inning on Saturday to officially break Roberts’ franchise record.
Shohei Ohtani crushes his 8th homer of the year! pic.twitter.com/CCpbRo57Yc
— MLB (@MLB) May 5, 2024
Roberts was far from a power bat during his playing career and just happened to play three seasons as a rare Japanese-born hitter for the Dodgers. But that toy car gift was still some hilarious insult-to-injury from Ohtani, especially when you consider that Ohtani bought an actual Porsche for the wife of one of his Dodgers teammates.
