Dodgers’ Joe Kelly and wife Ashley Kelly honored at UC Riverside

He’s used to cheers on the baseball diamond, where he’s contributed to three World Series championships.

But on Saturday night, Jan. 18, Joe Kelly — and wife Ashley — were being applauded on UC Riverside’s basketball court.

The Kellys, both UCR alums, were honored during Alumni Appreciation Night as the Highlanders faced UC San Diego in the campus’ Student Recreation Center.

UC Riverside alum and former Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly attends the Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, men’s basketball game with his wife, Ashley Kelly, a former UCR soccer player, and their son, Knox Kelly, in Riverside. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

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Kelly, who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season but is currently a free agent, played baseball for UCR. Ashley Kelly was a UCR soccer player.

The university saluted the couple with a brief first-half presentation and free Joe Kelly/UCR shirts for the first 300 fans. The game also featured a contest for signed Joe Kelly memorabilia.

Kelly, who has lived in the Inland Empire, has made local public appearances during his stints with the Dodgers such appearing at his alma mater Corona High School last January and later taking orders at an Ontario Jack in the Box.

Ashley Kelly was the subject of a viral video last winter when new Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani sent her a new Porsche after she posted videos to recruit him to L.A. The gift was to thank her and her husband for No. 17 — the Japanese two-way star’s uniform number of choice. Kelly switched to No. 99.

Though he wasn’t on the playoff roster, last year’s Dodgers’ title was Kelly’s third, after the team’s 2020 championship and one in 2018, when he played for the Boston Red Sox.

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