You may expect well-paid major league athletes to live their lives rather ostentatiously, flexing their public multi-million dollar contracts in the form of flashy and extravagant cars, but as it turns out that’s not necessarily the case of the New York Yankees Major League Baseball team. In a video posted on baseball_kam99’s Instagram on Sunday, several Yankees players were recorded leaving Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, and it turns out most of their rides aren’t anywhere near as flashy as you might have expected.
Cars are terrible investments. Almost every new car depreciates massively the instant it’s driven off the dealer lot, plus they require pricey maintenance and repairs, and it’s becoming more and more expensive to keep them fueled. Most states require that owners pay some sort of registration fees, as well as some form of car insurance which adds to the expenditure, and if you happen to get caught driving too fast then that adds a whole new layer of expenses to the list. Even folks with lots of money understand that most flashy or expensive cars are not smart investments, which may explain the players’ rather understated car choices.
Only one player drives a Lamborghini Urus
I’ll start by addressing the most expensive cars that this particular video captures: a Lamborghini Urus and a current-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The most expensive vehicle seen leaving Yankee Stadium in this Instagram video is 29-year-old center fielder Cody Bellinger’s matte black Lamborghini Urus SUV. The Urus has a base price of around $250,000 when new, and Bellinger’s likely has at least a few options on it. It takes the cake of the flashiest vehicle in this video, but even then it’s still the most practical Lamborghini ever made.
27-year-old second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is seen driving a black W223-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Few other details about the car are discernible in this video, so it’s unclear if it’s a six-cylinder S500 or the V8-powered S580, but it’s definitely not an S63 AMG E Performance. It has the stock S-Class wheels, but every piece of glass on the car including the windshield appears to be fully limo-tinted, which must come in handy for a famous athlete like Jazz.
Who needs luxury when you can have all-terrain abilities
Three players appear to be fans of off-roading, or at least looking like they’re fans of off-roading. The video shows 25-year-old catcher Austin Wells behind the wheel of a Ram 1500 TRX, Mark Leiter Jr. driving a GMC Sierra AT4, and Max Fried in a Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road. It must be incredibly stressful driving a Ram 1500 TRX through the notoriously congested streets of New York City, and it must cost an actual fortune to keep the TRX’s supercharged 6.2-liter V8 full of fuel. But it’s worth it to have a truck as capable as the TRX; I just hope he actually uses it for off-roading.
34-year-old pitcher Mark Leiter Jr.’s GMC Sierra AT4 doesn’t appear to have any modifications aside from the shell added to enclose the bed area, which is probably very handy to keep items secure in the city. What’s not likely to be particularly handy is the Sierra AT4’s fuel economy, though the TRX is still probably worse.
31-year-old pitcher Max Fried drives a white fifth-generation Toyota 4Runner in what appears to be TRD Off-Road trim. He has some pretty significant metal side steps installed, as well as a large roof rack and the prerequisite widdle wadder out back so he can climb up to that roof rack. This is merely an observation, but there looks to be some slight scrapeage on the left of the front bumper, too. Again, I hope these guys are using their off-roaders to take them away from the concrete jungle.
Now entering the truly norm-core cars
The car that’s the most surprising in this particular video is 29-year-old pitcher Ian Hamilton’s white third-generation Ford Escape. Since it’s a pre-facelift car, it must be a model year 2016 or older, so it’s almost certainly a 10-year-old car. This is not meant to be me judging these folks on their cars, in fact I actually admire that Hamilton drives such a sensible car, but it’s certainly not the car I’d expect to see a New York Yankees player driving.
26-year-old third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera is seen driving the next most surprising vehicle, a nicely equipped current-generation gray Subaru Legacy. Again, while a Legacy may not be a particularly exciting car to see a major league athlete driving, it is a very sensible and safe choice. I’d like to say, props to Cabrera for choosing a sedan instead of a crossover, I like your style.
The video shows 24-year-old third baseman Oswald Peraza leaving the stadium in another surprisingly mundane choice of transportation, a black Nissan Rogue. Honestly I’m more annoyed by his age than I am by his car choice, but good for him for earning such success at such an early age.
Of course the Yankees have some good ol’ American SUVs
I think 24-year-old short stop Anthony Volpe has my favorite car in the video, a lovely Lincoln Aviator. I appreciate that it’s not the seemingly standard issue Cadillac Escalade that usually plays the role of the obligatory American luxury SUV. Good stuff Volpe. Though again, I’m bitter that you’ve achieved such success at such a young age. I think I had just moved back home with my parents after graduating college by age 24.
The only repeats in the video are the two Chevrolet Suburbans, though only one player is actually driving his while the other is enjoying the lux life being chauffeured away in the ‘Burb. 35-year-old pitcher Fernando Cruz is seen driving his white Chevrolet Suburban away from Yankees Stadium, and 33-year-old right fielder Aaron Judge is shown letting someone else handle the chaos of New York traffic. Again, the thought of driving a Suburban through the Bronx sounds nightmarish, so I ain’t judging Judge for taking a back seat.
While it’s fun to admire the glamorous lives of famous public figures like Major League Baseball players, it’s quite refreshing to see that many of them drive quite mundane cars like you and me.
