According to ESPN by the time Josh Donaldson
finished elementary school every adult male on his dad's side of the family was either
dead or in jail… Including his father who Josh witnessed commit
a string of violent crimes so intense it ended with him being sentenced to over a decade
in prison… Josh Donaldson was just 5 years old…. And his dark bringing may be the reason why
he became one of the angriest most intense players in baseball... He also became one of the best players in
baseball, revolutionized the sport through hitting mechanics, and in 4 years went from
seriously considering quitting baseball to winning the AL MVP award. Unfortunately for Josh this intensity does
not come without critics that have caused altercations that stem all the way back to
little league when an entire group of parents on the opposing team demanded he be taken
off th emound, in High School an entire basketball team tried to jump him after a game… and
since getting to the big leagues he’s had numerous altercations with opposing teams,
opposing teams coaches, his own coaches, Billy Bean yes billy beane the guy from moneyball
and his general manager… which according to some may have resulted in Donaldson being
traded, and especially umpires including one incident which may go down as the best ejection
of all time… and the history between this umpire and the incidents that led up to this
ejection may surprise you Josh Donaldson overcame a extremely grim childhood
to become a professional baseball player where at one point he was seen as a underperforming
life long minor leaguer only to become one of the best players in baseball and he did
it in the angierest way possible According to an article in ESPN Before every game josh
donaldson sits alone, closes his eyes and performs the same meditative practice, he
controls his breathing and visualizes the opposing pitcher… No matter who the pitcher is Donaldson comes
up with reasons hehates him…. He decides he doesn’t like the way he walks,
convinces himself the pitcher thinks he’s better than him, and thinks about how the
pitcher is trying to take food from his kids mouths Donaldson does this until he is overwhelmed
in anger and energy Then he gets up, finds teammates who seem
unfocused, punches them in their stomach, pulls on their jersey, and even yells in their
faces… This type of intensity has helped josh donaldson
become one of the best players in baseball but This intensity has also resulted in angry
parents, angry opponents, and angry teammates that have led to verbal and even violent altercations
that date all the way back to little league Josh Donaldson was born in pensacola Florida
and not in the best environment… His mother worked at a grocery store making
less than 7 dollars an hour and his father was an ironworker with a dark past. He sold drugs on the side, was apparently
covered in tattoos and went by the nickname Bones…. The two eventually split and a restraining
order was issued… but a year later Josh’s dad broke that restraining order assaulted
his mother and was sentenced to 2 years of probation Shortly after, another incident happened when
Donaldson;s dad broke into the family home… More violence occurred and left Donaldson’s
mother with a broken jaw after being driven to his fathers home an hour away, Josh and
his mother were forced to escape flagging a motorist in order to get to safety… Donaldson’s father soon after was sentenced
to 12 and a half years of prison for these crimes. Donaldson was just 5 years old when he witnessed
these incidents and may have contributed to the confrontations and intensity he is known
for today… Donaldson was left to be raised solely by
his mother but did have an uncle who treated him like one of his sons. He was the first one to notice Josh’s baseball
talent after watching him smoke ball after ball in the backyard one day he immediately
told Josh’s mom to put him into baseball… His uncle was also known for his harsh disciplinary
tactics… Everytime he acted up would put Josh in a
10 foot deep 35 foot wide ditch that was in his backyard and watched Josh try to run his
way out of the ditch this could go on for up to thirty minutes... Sadly Josh's uncle would pass away at age
36. And by the time he finished elementary school
every male on his fathers side of the family was either dead or in jail which statistically
made Doandlson very likely to go down the same path… But Doanldson did not he was able to channel
this anger into sports but did come with its fair share of controversy even as a youth,.... And his mother defended her son every step
of the way In a little league Josh was on the mound and unintentionally hit 3 batters
in a row… Josh was obviously rattled and was probably
throwing harder than any 10 year old should…. So the opposing team's parents literally started
booing and calling for Josh to be taken out of the game. His mother witnessed this and started yelling
to Josh from the stands “you are not coming out of this game, stand up there and finish
it” so the coach left him in… He then hit the next two batters and then
was taken out” One time at a game Josh’s mother overheard
a parent say that she couldn't stand Josh Donaldson because he was too much of a showboat… Donaldson's mom got out of her seat, cursed
her out and said to never speak about her son again. A parent in high school once came up to Donaldson's
mother and told her to her face that Josh would never be able to play division one baseball
and that his career was going to be over soon. Even his own teammates had issues with his
antics…. One game Josh's mother was behind home plate
watching the game, and overheard his teammates bad-mounting him in the dugout she marched
in front of the dugout and started lecturing them. It is obvious that Josh and his mother had
been through a lot and have a strong connection because of it and this was put on in full
display in 2019 when Dopnaldson bought his mom a brand new maserati as a reward for quitting
smoking Which was well deserved because according
to josh he went from being the big man on campus in middle school to being vilified
by his classmates in high school… which resulted in the incidents that I just mentioned
and these incidents were so upsetting to Josh;s mother she decided to enroll him in Faith
Academy in Mobile Alabama, a school very well known for its sports programs… Before moving to Alabama Josh would wake up
at 5 AM and drive an hour and a half Just to get to school But some of the trouble and altercations Josh
was trying to avoid seemed to follow him to his new school. On one occasion after a basketball game against
his school's rivals Josh found himself surrounded by 10 of the opposing teams players… He was ready to fight them all at once until
his baseball coach Lloyd Skoda came to break it up… skoda and became very close during
his time at faith academy...skoda later described Josh as “ a great guy,who doesn’t want
anyone to know. becauseIt’ll ruin his image.” Josh at the time did try to tone down his
antics on the field but noticed that when he did his play suffered and discovered that
the intensity that he played with that upset so many others actually helped him succeed
and ended up earning him a full scholarship to play baseball at the university of Auburn
where in 2007 as a junior he became a preseason all american and batted .349… After his junior year he was drafted 48th
overall by the chicago cubs as a catcher but after just two minor league seasons the
cubs seemingly gave up hope that donaldson would ever being able to make an impact at
the major league level and traded him to the Oakland Athletics and to be honest nobody
really thought much of it at the time Although he never finished a full minor league
season with an OPS above 800 in 2010 he was called up to the major leagues as a catcher…where
he ended up striking out 35 percent of the time In 2012 Donaldson he spent most of his time
in the minors splitting time playing between positions which usually isn't a great sign
that the organization values you as a future everyday player… Donaldson was 26 and THOUGHT HIS CAREER was
probably over he even told his mother he considered quitting But she told him “I did not raise
a quitter. Do you want to be pumping gas? That’s what you’ll be doing if you give
up now.” so with very little options or backup plan
Donaldson continued the minor league grind… But knew if he wanted to succeed he’d have
to start hitting… Donaldson began making swing adjustments that
literally may have changed the entire game of baseball forever…. he began researching
exit velocity launches analyzing launch angle And threw any conventional hitting wisdom
out the window Donaldson's swing went from looking like this
to looking like this. His only goal became hitting a ball as hard
as he could and as far as he could and created one of the most violent swings in baseball. And if you're a person that hates the new
hitting philosophy in MLB that creates more homeruns less ground balls and more strikeouts
you can basically blame Josh Donaldson for that By the end of 2012 Doanldson had gone up and
down from the majors to the minors 5 times… On one occasion after struggling in the majors
for most of the 2012 season he was sent down once again…. As he was leaving the ballpark he turned on
a local radio station and heard them trashing him on his poor and disappointing performance…. Donaldson got upset and immediately called
into the station saying he would figure it out and guaranteed them that next time they
saw him in the big leagues he would prove them all wrong That was the last Josh Donaldson got demoted… He was called up again in august to replace
an injured Brnadon inge… He hit .290 with a slugging percentage of
.489 helping the Athletics win the division… The next year at spring training he was promoted
to every third base and to everyone's surprise came out of absolutely nowhere and finished
4th in MVP voting he became one of the best players in the league and even though he was
new to the big leagues he was not afraid to get into altercations with opposing players
and eventually even one with his own general manager the famous billy beane in his second full major league season he
made his first all star team at 28 years old… and even won a fielding bible award Josh Donaldson
had more defensive runs saved than any other 3rd baseman in baseball despite playing catcher
for pretty much his entire career During these two seasons in Oakland Donaldson
showed that he was an everyday major league player who had the potential to be one of
the best players in the league…. He also showed he wasn't going to take anybody's In a game against the twins in 2014 in extra
innings Donaldson hit a foul ball about 700 ft…. Glen Perkins may have not liked the way Donaldson
admired this foul ball so when he struck him out a pitch later he let Josh know about it…. Donaldson usually doesn't like when people
do that so a skirmish went down Later in the year against the Orioles Donaldson
tagged Manny Machado… Machado thought Donaldson tagged him a little
too hard apparently and got in Donaldsons face…. Donaldson seemed more confused than anything
but also wasn't going to back down to somebody trying to intimidate him…. Machado would retaliate by literally throwing
his bat at the third baseman on purpose …. But confusingly Doanldson wasn't even playing
third that day… And perhaps Donaldson’s best yet underappreciated
quote on quote beef happened between him and his general manager billy beane… Who you may know from the movie moneyball.. Billy bean is known for being one of the smartest
GM’s in baseball history who changed the game forever he is also known for being extremely
cheap… Which was not ideal for Donaldson who after
two breakout seasons wanted to get PAID… And apparently wasn't shy in letting his general
manager know that he deserved more money…. In a tweet sent out while he was still signed
to the Athletics Donaldson disproved the notion that the organization did have enough to pay
big name players by saying “they have plenty of money just just tell everyone they don't” In one incident Donaldson reportedly asked
the manager for a day off to rest… Billy Beane didn’t want his third baseman
to take a day off so he told the A’s manager to put him back in the lineup…. What followed was an altercation between Donaldson
and Billy Beane which ended in Donaldson repeatedly referring to his general manager as Billy
Boy… And at the end of the season despite being
the team's best player and being under contract for another 4 seasons… Billy Beane traded Donaldson to Toronto This deal was surprising to many people including
the Blue Jays who said that when they pursued Donaldson they assumed he’d be off limits
for a trade. But The source that broke the billy boy story
went on to say that the two were “at war” by the end of Donaldsons time in oakland…
and was not surprised when billy beane traded Donaldson because nobody talks to billy that
way. And although it is true that Billy Beane probably
did not like how Donaldson was so open about criticizing the teams lack of spending and
wasn't used to his players calling him something as belittling as Billy boy…. This move is pretty much on par with the Athletics
organization who is known for trading their best players after a few great seasons before
having to sign them to big contracts … And Donaldson himself doesn't seem to actually
have an real personals issues with billy beane and has even publicly said he will be indebted
to him for life for giving him the opportunity at the big league level However Billy boy would later regret this
trade… because when Donaldson got to toronto he became one of the best players in baseball In 2015 Donaldson did not only improve from
his two breakout seasonHe led the league in hits rbi’s total bases’ had an ops of
.939 won the silver slugger and the AL MVP…. He also led the Toronto Blue Jays to their
first playoff appearance in over 20 years. Josh Donaldson was perfect for the blue jays. This team was known for their on field altercations
and brawls and Donaldson was usually in the middle of… And in Toronto a fanbase that was probably
more used to watching more hockey than baseball they saw Donaldson’s rough bruiser like
attitude and adopted him as their hero Doanldson put his intensity on full display
within 2 months of being in Toronto when Angels coach Mike Butcher said something to Josh
he didn't like and he responded by telling him to do this… Butcher later said "It was a classless gesture. Guess that's part of who he is." Doanldson said he just got caught up in the
moment And this is not the only time Donaldson has
had an altercation with a coach…. In 2016 after striking out he threw his bat
in the dugout his manager told him not to do that donaldson got upset and the two had
to be separated….According to Donaldson this is what really happened in the game… IN august 2015 Donaldson got hit by the first
pitch he saw…. As he walked to first base him and Edinson
Volquez exchanged words so the umpired warned both benches…. In Donaldsons next AB a pitch was thrown near
his head… more words were exchanged… later in the game Troy tulowiski was hit by a pitch… Donaldson and John Gibbons were upset because
despite a warning being issued and two batters hit no one was ejected… Then Donaldson came up to the plate and another
ball came within inches of his head… now Josh was extremely upset The next inning Aaron Sanchex hit a bater
, got ejected and EVERYBODY was upset .. In the 2015 ALDS BEFORE THE BAT FLIP THAT
STARTED A RIOT… Donaldson was facing Keone Kela in the bottom
of the 13th inning and was upset after Kela tried to quick pitch him… he hit the ball
7000 ft foul and told him….. The benches cleared and everyone was pretty
mad During his three full seasons in Toronto Donaldson
won an mvp made 2 all star teams two silvers slugs got MVP votes all 3 years never finished
a season with an OPS below 900… he was the best player on the franchises best team in
decades and earned himself a 2 year 28 million dollar contract But in 2018 the blue jays saw their window
of opportunity closing and traded donaldson to the indians… Donaldson arrived in Cleveland on the diabled
list where he spent most of the season…. and although when he did play he produced
at the plate he wasn't able to do much in the playoffs and entered the offseason as
a free agent Although he proved he could be one of the
most dangerous hitters in baseball he was 33 years old and coming off an injury so He
settled for a 1 year contract in atlanta and many people believed the Braves had still
overpaid But when Donaldson got to Atlanta the full
powers of the bringer of rain were released a nickname donaldson gave himself after watching
Sharticus a show on STARZ about a gladiator that brought rain to rome after cutting off
the head of one of his rivals… in atlanta he had an ops of 900 hit 37 home runs and
finished 11th in MVP voting… he proved a lot of neigh sayers wrong… he also proved
that he would continue to play with an intensity that caused confrontations with umpires, opponents
and even opposing fans In a game against pittsburgh Joe musgrove
hit him with a fastball… Donaldson felt musgrove staring him down…
he looked towards first base, looked back at musgrove who was still staring at him and
asked what are you looking at he shoved the catcher and the benches cleared…. not much happened after that Later in the year in Washington a fan got
a little carried away. and started screaming at Donaldson as loud
as he could throughout his AB…. Most players would probably ignore this heckler
but not the bringer of rain he hit a bomb rounded the bases found the fan in the stands
as he was coming into home plate and told him to In New York a girl sitting behind the on deck
circle was probably talking a little trash to Donaldson. He went up to her and asked her to touch his
bat for good luck did touch the bat but said it was for back luck, a big mistake… Donaldson took this personally, hit a BOMB
got fired up and asked for a high five… but she was too embarrassed to accept… however
Donaldson did get a bat signed and gifted it to her later on in the game In 2019 Donaldson resurrected his career again… HE earned him the comeback player of the year
award and a 4 year 92 million dollar contract with the minnesota twins… and for a 34 year
old third basemen with a history injury this is an extremely lucrative contract Despite not being able to play much for the
twins due to a shortened season in 2020 and a calf injury… donaldson has been productive
when he has played and his pertile rankings in 2021 so far show that he will probably
have another extremely effective year But in his short time with the twins he’s already
been able to produce one of the greatest ejections in MLB history… and what most people don't
realize is that this ejection was a result of a string of incidents with this umpire
that date back well before this ejection happened And this should not come as a surprise because
history shows donaldson does not exactly get along with umpires while with the blue jays
donaldson checked swung at a pitch umpire said he went Donalds was pretty mad he didn't
at least ask the first base umpire for an appeal and a few pitches later the umpire
made another question call and he completely lost it Against the red sox in the 18th inning donaldson
had a few words with an umpire because of this call he threw him out halfway through
an at bat…. Then donaldson had a lot more words to say
to this umpire In one game against the twins donaldson grounded
out to shortstop and didn't really hustle the twins bench starting chirping him and
as you can probably guess donaldson started chirping back… however the umpire thought
he was chirping at him and threw him out of the game…. And donaldson wasn't even complaining And then we have Donaldsons most notorious
ejection earlier in the at bat donaldson check swung at a pitch the umpire called it a strike
then Donaldson either asked the umpire if it was a strike because he swung or if was
a called strike and if it was a called strike where was it in the zone… and according
to donaldson he refused to give him an answer… So a few pitches later after he hit a homerun
donaldson rounded the bases and when he got home disrespected the umpire anyway he could Donaldson did get sme backpack for doing this
by some who felt he went way too far but this is how he felt about the situation… He later said that he a bigger problem with
the umpire due to a past incident but wouldn't say what until he knew what his punishment
from the MLB would be… This postseason while on a livestream with
the starting 9 podcast.. Donaldson said the ejection had very little
to do with balls and strikes and more to do with the fact that the umpire had said disrespectful
things about people on his team and even players on the other team… so when he saw him standing
close to the plate when rounding the bases he did this We’ll never know exactly what the umpire
said to set Donaldson off but this ejection will go down in history and will be talked
about for years so there is a good chance Donaldson will let the cat out of the bag
eventually. Josh Donaldson has put his intensity and confrontational
attitude on display ever since he was a child where he experienced some things that nobody,
especially kids at his age should… he’s been overlooked as a high school player, a
minor league player and even a major league… This has given Donaldson a massive chip on
his shoulder which has made him the angriest player in baseball…. And thanks to this anger and intensity he’s
also become one of the best players in baseball
