Daniel Norris, a Baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, lives out of a 1978 Volkswagen Westfalia van despite earning a $2 million signing bonus.
Indeed, he seems quite different from his partners as he chose another way of life. He couldn’t imagine himself living between four walls with all the modern comfort you can get nowadays. He’d rather exchange all those secondary things for this priceless freedom.
He grew up roaming the racks of tires and helmets at his father’s mountain bike shop in Tennessee, a local haven for outdoorsmen that had been in the family for two generations. On the weekends, his family used to ride bikes and go camping. He picked up rock climbing from his sister, practiced kayaking and backpacking as part of his daily grind. In short, he’s been inspired by his family roots and understood early what essentials things are.
Norris says life on the road keeps him humble and on a certain way close from his roots and his education.
“I knew after I signed with the Blue Jays that I was going to get a Volkswagen van, it was my dream car. His van named « Shaggy » wasn’t even for sale when he got it. By word of mouth, he was able to find this mustard-yellow 1978 Volkswagen Westfalia microbus and after a few visits, enable to own it. Norris outfitted the van with solar panels and a bed and hit the road to Dunedin, in Florida, for his team’s spring training.
Besides daily team practice and three-a-day workout sessions at the gym, his van lifestyle affords him so many opportunities to travel, like a recent surf trip in Nicaragua. He picked up surfing and tries to surf despite unfavorable waves off the coast of Florida. The Blue Jays organization may not quite understand his lifestyle, but his teammates have been supportive and part of some of his outdoor adventures.
Norris says a camp stove, solar panels, and a French coffee press are his only "luxuries".
Besides the obvious freedoms that come with living in a van, Norris says that his choice was part of a conscious decision not the let the fame or money of his professional baseball career change his values.
"I think the simplicity of it all was the most appealing", he explains. “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. I consider my life luxurious—I live on a beach with an ocean-front view, hearty meals and hot French-pressed coffee at my disposal. That’s fancy, right?”
Each his opinion but we agree 100% with him and invit you to discover more about his story by watching this video!