Pro Baseball Player Who Earns 5.5 Million Dollars Chooses To Live Out Of A Van
Daniel Norris’ was selected to play for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014 and signed a contract for 5.5 million dollars.
So what does any young athlete go and do right after signing up for the career of a lifetime? Many might think they would go out and buy a house or car of their dreams, or take a exotic vacation, but the Blue Jay’s pitcher has a totally different idea of how he wants to live his life.
The 21-year-old isn’t cruising around town in a luxury car as you might expect. Norris, the ultimate outdoorsman, has a very unconventional living situation as he lives out of his 1978 VW van he purchased in 2011.
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While to the untrained eye he might look like a lost soul, a wanderer, or worse he is in fact quite remarkable. He has a consistent 92-mile-an-hour fastball, a $2 million signing bonus, a deal with Nike and a growing fan club, yet he has decided the best way to prepare for the grind of a 162-game season is to live in his van, behind Wal-mart.
He has been there for so long that some store employees have given him a nickname “Van Man” and begun to question where he’s from and what he might be doing. A few have felt so badly for him that they’ve approached the van with prayers and crumpled bills, assuming he must be homeless.
He bought the van a few weeks after signing his first contract with the Blue Jays. The VW has been his best friend and his spiritual center ever since. He named it Shaggy after a character in “Scooby Doo.” He takes it for hiking expeditions in the mountains of Tennessee and surfing trips along the Carolina coast.
He is a non-conformist by nature. Always living by his own code. He was a three-sport star athlete in high school who spent weekends camping alone. He is a hippie who has never tried drugs and 21 but never tasted alcohol. His first corporate relationship after becoming a Major League pitcher was with an environmental organization called 1% for the Planet. He has had only one serious relationship in high school. He was baptized in his baseball uniform. His newest surfboard is made from recycled foam and his van is equipped with a solar panel.
The van-life also doesn’t appear to take away from focusing on baseball. Sports teams seem to value those who shed individuality for the good of the team. That’s good for the Blue Jay’s as Daniel Norris is anything but conventional.
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