A chunk of Daniel Norris’ $2 million signing bonus went to his house and car. Only, it was a single payment.
The Blue Jays pitching prospect is not homeless, per se, as he assuredly has a home. It’s a mustard, 1978 Westfalia van, and for the 21-year-old, it affords all the adventure an offseason can offer.
Norris chronicles much of his travels on Twitter, where followers are given equal doses of his passion for baseball and wanderlust. On the field, Norris, who debuted in the big leagues in September, is competing to crack Toronto’s starting five. But off of it, he’s that high schooler who reads Kerouac and decides to uproot his life — but actually goes through with it.
“I think the simplicity of it all was the most appealing,” Norris told GrindTV. “I grew up with a simple lifestyle, and I knew going into professional baseball that would be tested. In my mind there’s no need for luxury, or at least society’s sense of the word.”
The luxuries that the van — nicknamed Shaggy — confer are nontraditional. But for someone who’s toiled in the minors since 2012, the spartan lifestyle seems to match the job description. Minor leaguers constantly shuffle from system to system. Each represents less of a home than a base — no locale is permanent. So why not mobilize your permanent one?
“The craziest part was never really getting settled in anywhere,” Norris told Baseball America, referring to his nomadic 2014 season, which included pit stops in Class A, Double-A and Triple-A before his arrival in Toronto. “You get there and you’re happy to be there and then you kind of feel a sense of urgency to continue moving. Then sure enough, you get that opportunity and you almost pack your bags as you unpack them.
“When I got called up from Double-A to Triple-A, we were on the road. I had two sets of clothes so I had to pretty much use those for the rest of the year. Then I had a bag sent to me when I got to the big leagues. I mean I don’t have much, I really don’t have a lot of stuff, but you really had to get your use out of it. It was really funny. But it was crazy—they were like, ‘You’re leaving, take what you’ve got.’ ”
Yet again, Norris is packing up for baseball’s sake. As his teammates will soon fly to Dunedin, Fla., for spring training, the southpaw ambles on Shaggy from his hometown of Johnson City, Tenn., to the Blue Jays’ training center. As he’s traveled this offseason, he has picked up surfing and a beard, which more easily identifies him as the nomad trapped in a Blue Jays uniform.
The thoughtful, introspective Norris had five appearances last season, pitching 6 2/3 innings of four-run ball. It’s a good bit of serendipity that the sport most travel-weary gets a man so adventurous.