The best part of MLB Players Weekend might be the cleats
Nicknames are one thing, but the real winners are those with stylish cleats.
Nicknames are fun, and the fact that MLB is letting people put whatever they want (within limits) on their jerseys is a great idea that hopefully will turn into a yearly tradition. Even if some people don’t want to participate in said fun.
But with Players Weekend finally kicking off, the best and most creative changes for the players might actually be the cleats.
The jerseys, besides the name changes, are still dictated style-wise by the teams. But not the cleats. With the cleats, players are really bringing their A-game.
Carl Edwards Jr., the only player allowed to go with a branded option for his jersey, backed up the “Carl’s Jr.” nickname decision with equally branded cleats, and they’re awesome.
Braves rookie pitcher Sean Newcomb chose to honor Braves legends from years past on his cleats, and surprisingly the paint job doesn’t make each of the faces look like disturbing caricatures of themselves.
The lineup includes Hank Aaron, Phil Niekro, Dale Murphy, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Bobby Cox.
Not to be outdone, multiple Yankees went with cool cleats as well. Including an adorable rendering of scenes from The Lion King on Clint Frazier’s shoes (which have South Park players on the other sides).
For Matt Garza, he opted for a pair inspired by Count von Count’s style on Sesame Street.
Didi Gregorius drew the Bugs Bunny cartoon on his cleats himself.
The Brewers’ Zach Davies went with a lot of color to go with his Bat Boy jersey.
Yoenis Cespedes opted for extra-bright kicks with “Yo!” on them, which is fitting.
Eric Sogard’s 3-year old Saydee and 1-year old Knix looked like they had a great time painting dad’s cleats themselves.
Emilio Pagan didn’t go for flashy cleats, but he did pull out all the stops with his socks.
With the league encouraging fun and creativity this weekend, and the hopes that it will happen every year moving forward, this is a good sign that the players are truly buying into it and will get even more out there and creative in the future.
