CLEARWATER, Fla. — It took Donny Sands three weeks to convince his mother, Alma, to sell her car. The Phillies catching prospect had just bought her a brand new Mercedes Benz with his signing bonus. It was pristine, but that was the problem. She didn’t want to drive it anywhere. The roads by their home in Tucson, Ariz., were full of potholes and dust. That type of vehicle belonged on pavement.
So for three weeks, with a Mercedes sitting in her driveway, Alma drove a beat-up 2006 Toyota Camry. That was a car she didn’t mind getting dirty. It had seen the most harrowing parts of their journey — including four evictions — and served as a home for Donny for seven months when he was in high school.
Donny’s father, Roger, passed away in 2012 from a heart attack. Alma had trouble finding work, and moved back home to Mexico a year later, where she cleaned houses and worked out of her brother’s dental practice. Donny stayed in Tucson with the Toyota Camry. He’d go to school, go to baseball practice, and drive the car out to Santa Rita Park. He put towels on the windows and roll them up, so they stayed put. And then he would go to sleep in the backseat.
