Professional baseball player lives in a van

[5to9]

Thought C40 might like this one:

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_ ... s-own-code

[theanimal]

I haven't read the article. But love the picture of him shaving with an ax.

[jennypenny]

I like this bit ...

The truth is even stranger: The Van Man 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 here, in the back of a 1978 Westfalia camper he purchased for $10,000. The van is his escape from the pressures of the major leagues, his way of dropping off the grid before a season in which his every movement will be measured, catalogued and analyzed.

If a baseball life requires notoriety, the van offers seclusion.

If pitching demands repetition and exactitude, the van promises freedom.

"It's like a yin-and-yang thing for me," he says. "I'm not going to change who I am just because people think it's weird. The only way I'm going to have a great season is by starting out happy and balanced and continuing to be me. It might be unconventional, but to feel good about life I need to have some adventure."

[fips]

A (non-ERE) friend (but surfer type friend) just recommended this article to me. I really liked it as well.

These quotes from the article might be added to jennypennys:

His advisers deposit $800 a month into his checking account -- or about half as much as he would earn working full time for minimum wage. It's enough to live in a van, but just barely. "I'm actually more comfortable being kind of poor," he says, because not having money maintains his lifestyle and limits the temptation to conform. He never fills Shaggy beyond a quarter tank. He fixes the van's engine with duct tape rather than taking it to a mechanic. Instead of eating out with teammates, he writes each night in a "thought journal" that rests on the dashboard.

"What I'll do, if baseball goes well, is I'll become even more of an ambassador for the things I really care about," he says. "I'll make sure Shaggy's still running. I'll pioneer change in how sports thinks about the environment." He wants to make fans more aware of the earth and make stadiums less wasteful.

[almostthere]

Nice to see young people still read Kerouac.

[C40]

Maybe he'd want to come to the next Toronto ERE meetup