The wife of Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly wanted nothing more than a quick selfie with New York Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter. Ashley Kelly hoped to fulfill a “full-circle moment” with Jeter after her husband got a selfie with the former shortstop at his final game in 2014.
Late Wednesday night as the Dodgers celebrated their World Series at Yankee Stadium, that photo became reality — in the most embarrassing and awkward way for Ashley Kelly, who interrupted Jeter on the FOX post-game set.
She told the story to the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast:
“This is absolutely awful, so for sure, going viral. Maybe not in an hour. But, apparently, it‘s live television. … So I am walking behind where they are filming. and I‘m trying to make eye contact with Derek Jeter, and I‘m trying to do a whole full-circle moment. And so I‘m looking at him, because, I swear he‘s looking at me, too. And I’m like, ’Can I get a selfie with you?’ And then he is kind of going,” as Kelly nodded her head yes.
“I‘m like, perfect, you know? So then I walk this way. … So then I start walking over there, right behind, right? I come right up to him, not knowing they‘re live. … So then I pop in, ’Hey, can I get a selfie?’ Thinking that this is all. … No, clearly it was not. He was looking me like (with a glare). I threw in … I‘m Joe Kelly’s wife, and then I snap it, a photo, and then I get pulled off television. Oh, my God. And then I immediately just stand here and watching the rest. And I go, (expletive). And then they go, ’We were live. What are you doing?‘ And I was like, I was making a whole full-circle moment.”
Ashley Kelly‘s version of events was corroborated by a video taken by the wife of Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, Kellie, which was shown on their Instagram Stories. There, you could see Kelly creep behind the FOX post-game set and try to get the attention of Jeter, whom she went beside. Then, she snapped the photo before FOX personnel pulled her away.
Ashley Kelly did not mean to cause a stir, asking the staff if they remembered when Jeter and Joe Kelly took the selfie in Boston on Sept. 28, 2014, during the retirement ceremony. That day, she also went viral on social media for saying she wanted to marry Jeter when she was 12
“Instead, I married the guy that took a selfie with him,” Kelly said on the podcast. “And so they go, ‘Oh, my God, yes.”