Toronto Blue Jays superstar Josh Donaldson was born in Pensacola, Florida, but Alabama helped make him a man and provided him with a baseball foundation that would enable his emergence into Major League Baseball’s most heralded third baseman.

The 2015 AL Most Valuable Player collected the most All-Star votes of any player in the history of baseball’s fan balloting with 14,090,188. Donaldson’s 2015 total broke the All-Star Game record of 11,073,744 established by Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton in 2012.

Last week, Donaldson made his third All-Star game appearance in his first five years, working out two walks and contributing to the American League’s 4-2 win over the National League at San Diego’s Petco Park.

Proving that last year’s explosion was no fluke, Donaldson is on his way to another monster season of 40 or more homers and 120-plus RBI. With 23 homers and 80 runs scored before the All-Star break, Donaldson, one of the greatest baseball players in Auburn University history, is on his way to having the best season of any player in Blue Jays history.

Josh Donaldson is having a big year with the Toronto Blue Jays. (Toronto Blue Jays)

His rare combination of 20 homers and 80 runs before the All-Star break had only been done by Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Reggie Jackson, Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez – all baseball immortals.

When Donaldson’s family relocated from Pace, Florida, to Alabama after his freshman year in high school, his mom transferred him to local Faith Academy in Mobile and thus began the legend of JD. As a shortstop and pitcher, Donaldson was the Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior and he also excelled in basketball and football.

It was at Auburn, however, where Donaldson officially became an “Alabama product.” In college, he played catcher and third base for the Tigers.

The Chicago Cubs drafted Donaldson as a catcher in the first round (48th overall) of the 2007 MLB Draft, but he found true baseball glory patrolling the hot corner. In 2008, he was traded from the Cubs minor league system to Oakland and was called up to the Show in 2010.

Donaldson’s game began to blossom in 2013 when he played 158 games, hit 24 dingers with 93 RBI and a .301 batting average to place fourth in the AL MVP voting.

That year, he gave everyone a taste of what was coming. In November 2014, the penny-pinching A’s traded the hot-hitting, slick fielding Donaldson to Toronto for basically nothing. Then came 2015, when his talent hit an apex and he snatched his first AL MVP Award.

In February 2016, Donaldson signed a two-year, $28.65 million two-year extension that only inspired him to an even better season so far this year.

At just 30 years of age, the kid whose baseball mojo exploded when he moved to Alabama, is becoming one of the best players in history at his position.

J.R. Gamble is a senior writer and editor for The Shadow League. He’s been covering pro sports as a radio host and journalist since 1996 and has written for The Raleigh News & Observer, Newsday and SLAM Magazine.