AL MVP Josh Donaldson emerges as face of baseball and a nation

When Josh Donaldson was traded from Oakland to Toronto in November 2014 he knew there was the potential for him and the Blue Jays to achieve greatness.

With quality bats like Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Russell Martin already in Toronto’s lineup, qualifying for the postseason was a realistic goal. Donaldson also felt that playing home games at the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre instead of at the cavernous O.co Coliseum in Oakland would put him in a better position to contend for the MVP award. He even had the foresight to recognize that the possibility existed to capture the hearts of a nation.

“Talking to some former players like Joe Carter and Vida Blue, they were talking about that if you win in Toronto, that they were craving a winner and that they’re going to come and support you. In Toronto and in Canada we have an entire country that’s really following us,” said Donaldson. “Not only did they support us as a team, but they supported us individually, whether it was the All-Star game votes or some of the endorsements I had. I ended up being the leading vote-getter for the All-Star and that was a credit to our fans.”

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Getting Donaldson into the All-Star game with over 14 million votes, setting a major-league record, was just one way a fan base that fell head-over-heels in love expressed their appreciation for their new star. Donaldson mania extended well beyond the baseball field. As Donaldson racked up big hits and home runs and made a number of stellar defensive plays, fans of all ages began to model their own look after the Blue Jays’ third baseman.

“When I was in Oakland I did a few things [with my hair] too, but it didn’t catch on as well as in Toronto,” said Donaldson. “It’s crazy to see on Twitter, parents showing pictures of their kids and they’re trying to mimic your hairstyle. That’s really something I never saw myself being, but it’s been cool.”

Unlike his on-field transformation, which took years of meticulous work to take him from a prospect struggling to adapt to the major leagues to being the American League MVP this season, becoming a fashion icon was more of a happy accident. By the time the Blue Jays arrived in the playoffs Donaldson was rocking a “part mohawk, part samurai tail” hairstyle and a beard that conjured images of Wolverine.

“It was just something I went with. I started it at the beginning of the season trying to do – I really enjoy the movie Fury that Brad Pitt was in – so I started kind of going his haircut a little bit,” said Donaldson. “Then it started getting too long so then I was like I’m just going to have to tie this thing back. And then I wanted to get the mohawk-thing going in the back a little so I started doing both. It’s different.”

But even a symbol of style needs some help to get it right. That led Donaldson to partner with Philips Norelco and now fans that followed his trends this summer have an opportunity to win the same Philips Norelco 9000 shaver Donaldson uses by tweeting @PhilipsNorelco the raindrops emoji and the hashtag #BringerOfShaves to enter. Donaldson also starred in this cheeky commercial for the campaign.

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“This is the first commercial gig that I’ve done,” said Donaldson. “The experience was pretty cool and being able to reach out to my fans and be out more on a public scene, it’s cool.”

There aren’t many players that can claim to be the MVP and a mode maven all in a day’s work. Donaldson embraces his place as one of the faces of baseball, and he clearly takes that designation quite literally. The future of the league sure looks good.

“It’s humbling. Each and every day I go out and try to respect the game. I enjoy the game. I take a lot of pride in the direction that Major League Baseball is going in,” said Donaldson. “For me to kind of be one of those guys who people see as one of the leaders of the major leagues, it’s gratifying.”

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr