‘It Keeps Me Humble’: New York Mets Outfielder Still Drives His 2010 Nissan Altima
Mets player Brandon Nimmo still drives his beat-up Altima despite having already made millions.
Athletes love to show off their rides. After all, what better way to measure one’s massive… talent than by showing off high-dollar toys? Showing up to practice in flashy exotics is almost a right of passage for most professional athletes, proving to themselves that they’ve made it. Not for New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo, though, because he's sticking with his 2010 Nissan Altima through thick and thin, according to MLB.com.
Nimmo rolls into the parking lot at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Florida—home of Mets Spring Training—in his gold Nissan that’s clearly seen better days. Manually adjustable cloth seats aren’t typically something you’d see in a stadium's parking lot, nor is a cracked dashboard, but Nimmo’s Altima has both.
“But it still does what I need it to do,” Nimmo told the league's website in a recent interview. “When I throw luggage in the back, do I want to be doing that on a $100,000 Mercedes?”
His teammates might disagree, as they use their Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and Porsches for the very same gear. However, Nimmo’s pragmatism is just a front for his sentimentality.
As the interview highlights, when Nimmo got his scholarship to the University of Arkansas, his parents decided to use some of the money they’d originally saved for his schooling to buy him a new, reliable car. Nimmo’s father found a Nissan dealership slashing prices on leftover 2010 Altimas and snagged a great deal on a gold one. Not only does the Altima ground him (after reportedly having already made more than $10 million in the MLB) but it’s a constant reminder of his beginnings.
“It keeps me humble,” he said. “It kind of reminds me of where I came from. When I have a bad game, I can hop in and be like, ‘I’m glad I didn’t buy that $100,000 Mercedes.’ I’ll probably run her till she’s ragged, and then we’ll see what happens.”
The Altima is also now part of his persona. His teammates rib him for it but even fans comment on it, telling him how much they love that he still drives it. There’s a real Man of the People quality behind the Altima that his fans appreciate, y'know?
Will Nimmo upgrade to something a bit nicer, something worth more than just a few thousand dollars? Maybe. He actually owns another vehicle, a 2011 GMC Sierra pickup truck that he reportedly keeps at his place in Wyoming while the Nissan remains on the East Coast. But even if or when he buys another ride, the Altima isn’t going anywhere. “She’s worth more to me than that," he said.
Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com
