Shohei Ohtani.Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani shared a heartfelt moment with a very special baseball fan before the game against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday, April 18, at Coors Field. Ohtani met Momoyo Nakamoto Kelley, a 100-year-old survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945.Through the help of her grandson Patrick Faust, Kelley had the chance to meet the Japanese baseball superstar down on the field. After finishing his warmups, Ohtani knelt before her, and the two shook hands.
Ohtani also signed a baseball for her.“I’m so lucky,” she told MLB.com. “I [went] home and called my brother in Japan…it’s a dream come true. I watch every game they play.”Shohei Ohtani meets with a 100-year-old Japanese woman who survived the atomic bomb in Nagasaki.
Amazing moment at Coors Field. pic.twitter.com/IACJ6XGDoy— Manny Randhawa (@MannyOnMLB) April 18, 2026Kelley shares her survival storyShe was 19 when the bombing occurred, according to Yahoo Sports. Kelley told MLB.com about the day the bomb hit, describing it as “like the sky was on fire.”Kelley’s son-in-law added that she survived the bombing because she had been “upwind” from the explosion. After surviving, Kelley and her husband, whom she met on an Air Force base in Japan, emigrated to the United States in the early 1950s.Ever since she moved to the U.S., she’s been a baseball fan, explaining that her earliest baseball memories are from the ’50s watching Joe DiMaggio.
She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was visiting family in Denver, Colorado, when the meeting came together.View this post on Instagram“Just the idea that 100 is such a big number,” Faust told MLB.com. “I don’t think there are many people [still alive from] when the atom bomb was dropped. She’s had a terrible experience, a big one.
So we wanted to [do something] special. She watches all the Dodgers games and all the Rockies games.”And she has a soft spot for her fellow Japanese players.“Within the past few years, especially, with all the Japanese players in the game, she’s been really into it,” Faust added.Kelley also got to meet Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was born in Okinawa, Japan. She also met Tomoyuki Sugano, a Japanese player for the Rockies.Kelley garners emotional responses The meetings garnered emotional responses from those who met Kelley.Sugano told MLB.com through his interpreter Yuto Sakurai, “Honestly, you don’t get these kinds of opportunities often.
So I’m really happy I got to meet her and was given this type of opportunity. She said she’s really passionate and really likes watching baseball and is a fan of my former team [the Yomiuri Giants].”Broadcaster Stephen Nelson also met Kelley and was moved to tears.“I think…” Nelson started telling MLB.com before he became overwhelmed with emotion, a tear falling from his eye. “Forgive me.
It’s humbling.”“Just being ‘Yonsei’ [a great-grandchild of a Japanese immigrant], you’re standing on a lot of shoulders,” Nelson added. “For her to experience what she went through and endure that, and come here to make a better life for herself and future generations … we can’t even fathom that, right?”He finished by adding, “And that’s why I think it’s important to hear their stories and to pass their stories along to future generations, so people don’t forget. It’s important for us to document them and honor them. I wish I had better words [to convey it].”