Q&A with Lyle Overbay: On his '76 Chevy Citation and 'the Toaster'

theScore is releasing a three-part series with former and current Blue Jays about their first car, current cars, and dream car. The first installment comes with Lyle Overbay, who played for Toronto from 2006-2010 and retired from baseball in 2014 after 14 seasons.

Going back in time, do you remember what your first car was?

LO: It was a 1976 Chevy Citation. It was, by far, the ugliest car I've ever seen, and it still is. I loved that thing. It got me wherever I needed to go. I have three older sisters, and my oldest sister got it first and then passed it down. I was the last one to get it. I waxed that thing. I kept it clean. It was my baby. But you look back at a picture online, I mean, it's about the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

My mom kept buying it back. I think she bought it four different times. She ended up buying it for me before my 16th birthday, so it was sitting outside for probably six months before I got my license. It was cruel. It didn't last that long. When I got it, it had like 200,000 miles on it.

Can you take me through the cars you owned during your time in the minors?

LO: In the minor leagues, I had a Honda Prelude and that was an old one too where it had over 200,000 miles. I finally got something that I kept for a while and that was a Honda Accord. That thing had a few miles on it, but those cars (last forever). That was from my mom as a graduation-type present. I had that pretty much through the minors.

When you finally reached the majors, did you spend some of that money on a new vehicle?

LO: Once I got to the big leagues and we got married, we needed something to haul all of our stuff in, so we purchased a Toyota 4Runner. That was our first car purchase - a brand new car. That was a big deal cause we didn't have any money. You don't make any money in the minor leagues and I didn't get a lot of money on the bonus, so it was all the money that we had saved up.

We later ended up getting a Lincoln Navigator cause it was bigger. We were expecting our first child and we thought we needed a bunch of stuff.

After my first year in Toronto - my third year in the big leagues - we were mostly conservative with our money. I had to convince my wife that I needed it and I wanted it - a 2007 BMW 750LI. I ended up getting some stuff done to it - an aerodynamic kit, an exhaust, some new wheels, and made it unique. I still have that car. It's one of those I'll never be able to get rid of. You look (back) at that old Chevy, the roof inside was draped, and falling down, and always hitting you on the head. When you get into these brand-new cars, you feel pretty fortunate to afford something like that.

You played for six different teams, how did you get your cars across the country?

LO: I don't eat in my cars. I'm real particular on that and other little things. I mean, I wax my car each month. I built an extra addition - kind of an extra garage - and put drainage in so I could wash my cars inside. That's how obsessive I am. So (finding someone to ship cars) was kind of the issue. Trying to find someone that had that passion to take care of that. I found one company, I always wanted it enclosed so it wouldn't get dirty on the way. That's something I knew I would have to deal with. From Phoenix, we would drive home, but being in Toronto, Milwaukee, or the east coast, it just would have taken so long so we shipped the cars.

What was the best city to drive in?

LO: Toronto was one of my favorites just because of the fact that you can go really fast. They don't have the (heavy) police force there because they don't need it - it's a very safe place. We'd get off late at night after a game and we would get on the freeway and take off. There were a couple other guys that lived (in my area) and we would battle each other a little bit.

Are there any teammates who owned a car you envied?

LO: Miguel Montero ended up getting a Ferrari. It was pretty cool. It sounds like a race car. When he's coming down the road, you know who that is. I would get there early so I could hear it. Everybody had their one, kind of their baby. I know Robinson Cano had a couple different ones in his lot.

What are you driving now?

LO: We have six kids so we have what we call 'The Toaster.' It's a Nissan NV 3500 van. You look at it and it looks like a toaster. It seats 12 and it works great for us. That's the family car. I have a truck to haul stuff but my baby - besides the 2007 BMW 750LI - is a 2012 Alpina B7 BMW. It's 500 horsepower. It gets up and goes. If anyone needs to challenge me, I'll take one.

Do your oldest children have their eye on any of your cars?

LO: It's not my 14-year-old, it's my 13-year-old that is like, 'Hey am I going to get (your car)?' 'No, you're not going to get the Alpina. I know what I did at your age and I want to see you grow up.' We've got an old Ford F150 so I think he's probably going to get that, but we'll see. I tell him (showing him my old Chevy), 'This is what you're getting right here.'"

Is there a dream car that you have your eye on?

LO: I've always loved the Tesla. It's nothing special, but it's pretty cool inside. When you're out of baseball, you don't see what everyone else has. I know if I go up to a dealership it's going to be hard for me to walk away, so I don't go up there. Someday, more of a sports car type. It's hard to have that now with kids, but one day down the road when I have a mid-life crisis, I could see a Ferrari. As a kid growing up, I loved the Lamborghini and I still do.