Sports Illustrated - USA (2020 - Spring)

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SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

the NL East,” where he played for the

Braves, “some of the top starting pitch-

ing is over there. Facing those guys day

in and day out—it’s difficult.”

This qualif ies as humility from a guy

who, even as he struggled to stick in the

big leagues, would drive teammates wild

boasting about his future All-Star ap-

pearances. In 2012, coming up with the

A’s, he split Oakland’s clubhouse in two:

those (few) turned on by the talent he

occasionally f lashed, and those (more)

turned off by his mouth. Donaldson bat-

ted .094 that March and April, and still

he compared himself in the clubhouse

to José Bautista, the Blue Jays’ MVP

candidate. Even as the A’s sent him to

Triple A, he insisted to teammates, “It’s

coming! I’m gonna be one of the best

third basemen in the league!”

Jonny Gomes counts himself among

the few believers back then, but he knew

something had to change. When Oak-

land recalled Donaldson that May, the

veteran slugger, who was in his 10th

season in the bigs, pulled the 26-year-

old aside. “Here’s the deal,” Gomes said.

“You don’t speak until spoken to. And,

for a little bit, we’re gonna let your base-

ball do the talking; we’re gonna hit home

runs instead of talking about hitting

home runs. We’re not gonna talk about

your high school interception record or

how good a golfer you are.”

To Donaldson’s credit, Gomes says,

“He was like, ‘O.K.’ ”

Gomes laughs. “Guy’s holding the

MVP trophy two years later.”

THAT IS NOT QUITE

the story that Josh Donaldson tells.

He does not elide the worst parts. His

father, Levon, was an ironworker and

a cocaine dealer who would hit Josh’s

mother, Lisa French, while the boy

watched helplessly. When Josh was four

and living in Pensacola, Fla., his parents

divorced. A year later, Levon broke into

Lisa’s house at 3 a.m. and told her, “This

is your night to die.”

Levon held her prisoner for more

than 27 hours, hurting her “every

way you can imagine,” Lisa says, until

finally she convinced him they’d all run

TENSE GAME after

tense game, as the

Braves fought to hold

their division lead last

summer, manager

Brian Snitker looked

down the bench and

smiled: No matter

the circumstances,

there were 21-year-

fc[Z\ek\iÓ\c[\i

Ronald Acuña Jr.

and 22-year-old

second baseman

Ozzie Albies, cracking

one another up.

BECAUSE...

THE BRAVES’

YOUNG STARS ARE

HAVING THE TIME

OF THEIR LIVES

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