How Fast & Furious inspired former Athletics home run champ to become an auto mechanic

As mentioned before, Davis was an ultimate powerhouse for the Athletics as in his first three seasons with the ball club, he hit at least 40 home runs and 100 runs batted in, all while having a .247 batting average. In the last of the three years which was in 2018, he had 48 home runs which led all the majors.

After that impeccable season, Davis’ production dipped drastically with Oakland as in 2019, he had 28 home runs and his average went down over 20 points. He told Nightengale bluntly that with baseball, “there was no more opportunity” and that he was looking for what else to do with his life which ended up being an auto mechanic which “was a challenge” for the former player.

“There was no more opportunity for me in baseball,” Davis said. “So it took a lot of searching of who I was outside baseball. I’m still young. I didn’t want to just sit at home.”

“It was a challenge because I didn’t even know how to change a tire before going to school,” Davis continued. “I loved cars, but didn’t know what to expect, I knew I was going to be behind, I just dedicated myself to it…So now I’m changing my own oil, tinkering with my ’61 Impala, everything,” Davis says. “That’s my little project right now. But I just like hanging out in my garage, really.”

Davis talks future plans as an auto mechanic after success with Athletics

Davis went through the tasks he is going to do where he mentioned that in terms of an official position, it will be “an entry-level tech doing tires, oils and lubes, everything.” He mentioned that will not be the end all be all for him in that field as he talked about wanting “to do tune-ups on street racing cars” which could once again bring up the fascination he has with the aforementioned “Fast & Furious” franchise which currently has 12 films.

“I’m going to get a job after the summer and family vacations are over,” Davis said. “I’ll be an entry-level tech doing tires, oils and lubes, everything. I’d love one day to do tune-ups on street racing cars, customization, restoration, just to be part of a club and go to car shows and just enjoy that scene.”

Davis doesn’t rule out a return to baseball

Despite finding his next chapter, he did not completely rule out a return in baseball while it won’t be playing obviously, since he’s 36-years old, it would be in a coaching role, possibly with the Athletics. There was interest expressed as Nightengale wrote that since he logged “8 years, 39 days of major-league service,” he can “get on their pension program, and accrue the remaining one year, 133 days of service time to be a fully-vested 10-year player.”

“Ideally, that would be a nice way to close out the chapter,”’ Davis says. “It would meet my goal of playing in the big leagues for 10 years. It just feels incomplete because I didn’t reach my goal, it would be cool to finish out like that.”

Davis would do a self-reflection saying that he wanted to know what life had in store for him past baseball and now that he has, the former player is wondering about the others in the league that are going through the same thing.

“I wanted to find myself outside baseball,” Davis said via USA Today. “And now I have. I wonder about guys that have less time than me, and are going through this. I never really talked to anybody about it. It’s tough when you’re done playing, but I can’t wait to get started.”

As Davis paves his own pathway to being an auto mechanic, he did have a memorable career though it didn’t end the way he wanted. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers besides the Athletics, had success through the previously mentioned three-year strecth, and earned $67.5 million.