100-Year-Old Nagasaki Survivor Meets Her Baseball Heroes

When Shohei Ohtani heard about the woman in the wheelchair behind him, he walked over without hesitation, knelt down, and took her hand. The Dodgers superstar was meeting someone who'd lived through history and emerged with a love of baseball that never dimmed.

Momoyo Nakamoto Kelley is 100 years old. She survived the atomic bomb blast in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, when she was just 19, describing the explosion as "like the sky was on fire."

After emigrating to the United States in the early 1950s, Kelley built a new life in Salt Lake City. But she never stopped loving baseball, watching games from Joe DiMaggio's final years all the way to today's Japanese stars lighting up Major League stadiums.

Her grandson Patrick Faust knew exactly what would make her smile. While visiting family in Colorado, he arranged for Kelley to visit Coors Field before a Dodgers-Rockies game. She didn't just get a stadium tour—she met her heroes on the field.

Ohtani signed a baseball and posed for photos. She met pitcher Roki Sasaki and manager Dave Roberts, who was also born in Japan. Then came the moment that made her year: meeting Tomoyuki Sugano, whose career she'd followed since his days with Japan's Yomiuri Giants.

"I like so many of the players," Kelley said, naming Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Sasaki, and Sugano. For someone who's watched baseball evolve across eight decades, seeing Japanese players thrive in the majors has made the game even sweeter.

Sunny's Take

The people who met Kelley were just as moved as she was. Dodgers broadcaster Stephen Nelson, who arranged the introduction with Ohtani, couldn't hold back tears as he described the encounter.

"She experienced what she went through and endured that, and came here to make a better life for herself and future generations," Nelson said, pausing to compose himself. "We can't even fathom that."

Manager Dave Roberts called meeting her "a piece of history." Sugano said through his interpreter that opportunities like this don't come often, and he felt honored to meet someone who'd followed his career so passionately.

For Patrick, getting his grandmother onto that field wasn't just about baseball. It was about honoring someone who survived unimaginable tragedy and built a life filled with joy, family, and a simple love of the game.

At 100 years old, Kelley called the experience "a dream come true." The players, coaches, and everyone who met her that day would probably say the same thing.