Danny Mitchell: From Abandonment to Empowerment Through Music

Sometimes the most powerful stories begin with a child playing basketball in a driveway, unaware that everything he believes about his family is a lie.

I’ve heard thousands of stories on this podcast, but Danny Collins hit me different. Here’s a guy who went from signing with his childhood dream team—the Atlanta Braves—to homeless, to a high-speed chase that nearly killed him, to seven years in federal prison. But that’s just the surface of Danny’s story.

From Driveway Revelation to Baseball Dreams

Danny grew up believing his stepmother was his biological mom until that moment every kid dreads—when your world gets flipped upside down. He was just five or six years old, playing basketball in his driveway, when two girls rode by on bikes. One of them pointed and said, “Daniel, that’s your sister Rebecca.”

“I just had to process that. I was young. I didn’t really think a whole lot of it but I ran inside,” Danny told me. But the damage was done. In a house where emotions weren’t discussed and “I love you” was never said, Danny had no tools to handle this bombshell.

The truth fully hit when he was nine, taking his birth certificate to Little League registration. The name on that document wasn’t the woman he called Mom. Instead of talking to his parents about it, Danny started acting out. He told his Little League coach something that breaks my heart: “One day I’m gonna grow up and play professional baseball for the Braves specifically, so maybe my mom would want me.”

The Atlanta Braves Dream Becomes Reality—Then Nightmare

Fast forward to college. Danny’s having the worst season of his life when his friend calls: “Hey, congratulations man. You just got drafted by the Braves.” Danny hung up on him, thinking it was a joke.

It wasn’t. The Atlanta Braves—his childhood dream team—had selected him in the 45th round. After an incredible sophomore season that included throwing the only no-hitter in school history, Danny signed his contract.

“I wish I was really aware of how big this was. I minimized everything. I just kind of went with the flow—this is gonna happen, it’s gonna last forever, I’m gonna be a millionaire and play professional baseball,” Danny reflected.

But that unprocessed childhood trauma was a ticking time bomb. With money in his pocket and no emotional tools to handle success, Danny spiraled into drugs and partying. He was driving two hours from spring training to buy cocaine, then driving back to be at the field by 7 AM. One day, he passed out on the field—malnourished, weighing 155 pounds at six-foot-three.

The Canal That Should Have Been His Grave

After the Braves released him, Danny’s life became a blur of homelessness, drug dealing, and escalating arrests. Then came the night that changed everything—a burglary that led to the most insane high-speed chase I’ve ever heard.

Racing down back roads with his headlights off, pulling fuses while cops chased him, Danny hit a dead end and made a split-second decision that nearly killed him. He gunned it straight toward a canal, his truck becoming airborne before crashing into the water.

“I hit the water. My head hits the windshield. I started panicking. There’s water coming in the truck, I’m freaking out… I can’t get the doors open. I can’t get the windows open. The truck starts sinking,” Danny told me.

Somehow, he escaped through a hatch as the truck went under. When he woke up the next day on the canal bank, covered in blood and missing his clothes, Danny thought the cops had pulled him out and left him to die. They hadn’t. To this day, he doesn’t know how he survived.

That crash earned him 52.6 months in federal prison.

Finding Redemption in Shipping Containers

Danny’s first prison stint was manageable, but his second trip—seven years for burglarizing his parents’ house while they tried to get him help—nearly destroyed him completely. He joined a white supremacist gang, got covered in tattoos, and became everything he never thought he’d be.

But sometimes rock bottom becomes the foundation you build on. When Danny got out, his wife spent $23,000 on a lawyer who got him into mental health court. That program—with its team of therapists, psychiatrists, and case managers—literally saved his life.

“Finally, I had access to rehabilitation. I started to get better, like miraculously. I had access to treatment. I started to treat the trauma I had from childhood that I never had processed,” Danny explained.

Today, Danny is the Director of Sales for Containing Luxury, a company that converts shipping containers into affordable homes. They’re not just building houses—they’re building solutions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and others who need second chances. It’s perfect work for someone who knows what it’s like to have nowhere to go.

Danny’s also built a massive following on TikTok (over 142,000 followers) where he shares his story with raw vulnerability. No sugar-coating, no victim mentality—just honest truth about addiction, incarceration, and finding your way back.

“I think people that are able to open up, make themselves vulnerable, and talk about their emotions and feelings and just be real—it’s healthy,” Danny told me. “It makes a difference.”

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