Before he had long hair or rock star aspirations, Bronson Arroyo was wearing the Nike Air Zoom 3.5, a 1999 Nike release that he’s worn ever since his days with Pittsburgh and Boston.  It was never all that popular in the majors, but much like Mariano Rivera with his early 90’s Air Clippers and Randy Johnson with his old Air Shows, Bronson has stuck with them throughout his career.  Until recently, they looked like this:

(AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

As you can see, they’re one of Nike’s more subtle designs — the swoosh is only about two inches long.  However, this is what they look like now:

(AP Photo/Al Behrman)

It’s the same exact shoe, just with a larger swoosh sewn on.  Unless Bronson personally requested a bigger swoosh (which is doubtful), I’m guessing that Nike did this so fans could spot their logo on TV or from the stands.  This story pales in comparison to Todd Helton’s Mizuno-ized Nike Clippers and other footwear rebrandings, but it’s always interesting when a shoe gets customized solely for increased logo visibility.

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