The NBA All-Star game has long been a showcase for signature sneakers that players only rock once a year (and probably just once in their lifetimes), and last night a number of baseball superstars followed the lead of their hardwood counterparts in the MLB All-Star Game. Usually baseball cleats are pretty plain, but over the last few years some spice has been added to baseball’s normally nondescript range of footwear, such as the inclusion of Shox and the altered version of Nike's Huarache 2K4 basketball sneakers. Some of the best pieces from last night’s cleat battle included:
Lance Berkman (Under Armour). The shoe itself doesn’t have a whole lot going on, but the colour makes it unique. The grey to match the away uniform gives the overall uniform a cleaner, more put-together look.
Chase Utley (adidas). Again, the grey colour is a welcome deviation from the black that seems so standard on baseball cleats. adidas though stepped their game up a notch above UA, with some red on the three stripes and the laces. A really good look to compliment the rest of Utley’s threads.
Alex Rodriguez (Nike). A-Rod’s been rocking the Shox for some time now, but the rarely does he break out the white joints. In fact, players on the Oakland A’s seem to be the only ones willing to wear white cleats on a regular basis. In any case, A-Rod’s white and grey Shox really stood out against his dark high socks, yet at the same time worked perfectly with white Yankee uniform.
Brian Wilson (Nike). The cleats that Wilson wore in his appearance out of the bullpen were hot fire. The orange and black combo alone is poppin’ with flavour, and when synced up with the Giants' colours it made Wilson look superfly. The contrasting white laces were a nice touch, but would have been even better had they been grey.
Ichiro Suzuki (ASICS). Shiny kicks are exactly what should be expected at an All-Star game or any game of great magnitude, and since Ichiro’s Mariners in all likelihood aren’t playoff-bound, he seized the opportunity last night to break out these silver beauties. By far Ichiro’s cleats were the best of the lot. Class, funk and function, all rolled into one. Hats off to ASICS for stealing the (sneaker) show from the other bigger names.