MLB PREVIEW 202031with a baseball card, and Donaldson
observes, “You were here yesterday,”
as he scrawls out his name. It’s a nice
moment in Minnesota, the nicest of
states, the All-Star third baseman rec-
ognizing a relative nobody.
Or maybe it’s something else. One
has to keep an eye out, Donaldson
explains as the autograph-seeker ambles
away. Some people are out to make a
quick buck. They come back again and
again, he says, and then stuff appears on
eBay. “How much money are you going
to make off me? Am I supposed to put
your kids through college?”
It can be hard for Donaldson to feel
relaxed. A volatile childhood followed
by a potholed road to the majors has
left him guarded. And this persistent
discomfort is one of the many challenges
he faces as he, for a third straight year,
takes on this role: the final piece on a
club with championship aspirations.
The first two times—with the Indians
and the Braves—he came up short. In
January he inked a four-year, $92 million
deal with the Twins, a team that had
succeeded without him, and with which
he now must lead a group of strangers.EVERYONE AT Tw i n s Fe s t k no w s
Josh Donaldson. Gone is the rattail he
sported in Oakland, and the mullet he
wore in Atlanta, replaced by a sort of
blond pompadour. Still, he attracts at-
tention: the teammates giddily intro-
ducing themselves; the security guards
asking how his house hunt is going;
the fans yelling “War Eagle” at him,
referencing his alma mater, Auburn. He
absorbs this all with a distracted grin.
He’s still trying to figure out how to
join his new team’s group text, what his
jersey number will be, where to catch
an Uber at Target Field.
Near the end of an hour-long auto-
graph session on Day 2 of the fan con-
vention, though, he hits pause on the
chaos. A middle-aged man approachesJEF
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MINNY SERIES
After a few short stints
elsewhere, Donaldson is
taking his attitude to the
Twins, who think he can help
them level up in October.