Baseball, College, and the Toad from Hell

It was supposed to be the best year of his life.

1989

A scholarship to play college baseball. Freedom from his parents. The open road stretching out before him in Southern Illinois.

There was just one problem: his father refused to let him take the family Bronco.

Instead, he got the Toad.

A 1979 Datsun 210 4-door hatchback. Lime green. With a 1.4-liter engine that produced approximately 110 frog power. Maximum speed: 50 mph going downhill with a tailwind and divine intervention. Special features: backfired like a drive-by shooting every time you shifted gears, leaked mysterious fluids on rival vehicles' tires, and may or may not have been possessed by multiple demonic personalities.

For one unforgettable year, this mechanical nightmare became the unlikely center of every adventure, disaster, and near-arrest in a young baseball player's life.

Through backfiring gears, oil-leak territorial marking, and what may have been actual conversations with a sentient vehicle, one thing became clear: the Toad wasn't just transportation. It was a character. A legend. And possibly a felony waiting to happen.

For fans of Patrick F. McManus, Dave Barry, and David Sedaris comes a hilarious memoir of small-town life, college chaos, and the worst car ever manufactured. It's a story about baseball, friendship, and learning that sometimes the things we hate most become the stories we tell forever-and the unexpected lessons that shape us when we least expect it.

Because sometimes life's greatest teachers have four wheels, a bad attitude, and a tendency to pee on other cars.