First-Half Recap: Boston Red Sox
Up until this point, these recaps have been dominated by Nike… I’m happy to bring some attention to the other brands, and the Sox are one of the most diverse teams in the league in terms of footwear branding. The cleats below are the models that have been worn by Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek, Julio Lugo, Dustin Pedroia, and Jonathan Papelbon:
As always, larger versions of the above renderings can be seen in the PE Gallery… more info on all of these models (and a couple others) after the jump.
First-Half Recap: Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles have always been one of my favorite baseball teams (in terms of footwear, not talent). They are one of two teams in the league (the other being the A’s) that has traditionally worn a team accent color in their cleats, which not only makes them really look like a team, but it makes it seem like everyone is wearing a PE.
Of course, most of the models you see them wearing aren’t player exclusives… Ramon Hernandez and Nick Markakis have both worn the black / orange Under Armour Raptor, Kevin Millar and Melvin Mora have both worn what will likely be a GR black / orange colorway of the upcoming Under Armour Ignite, and a bunch of guys have worn GR 2K4’s, 2K5’s, Clippers, Reebok Wheels, adidas Diamond Kings, and so on. Even this early Adam Jones model is an MCS version of Nike’s standard black / orange 5-Tool (it isn’t offered at retail, but here’s the catalog pic). So, to the best of my knowledge, here are the only 2008 Baltimore Orioles PE’s:
All of these renderings can also be seen in the PE Gallery. The bottom two Fuse models are Adam Jones’ home and away pairs… since you can make those on NikeID, I won’t waste any time writing about them. However, the other six pairs are definitely worth talking about, and they all belong to Brian Roberts. That’s right… six.
CC Sabathia in AJF 5 Fusion PE Cleats
It’s too early to say if CC has joined Team Jordan or not, but he broke out a pair of AJF 5 Fusion cleats yesterday…
(AP Photo/John Amis)
It isn’t really obvious in the above photo, but if you compare these with the AJF 5 Fusion cleats that Andruw Jones has been wearing this year, you can tell that these are indeed Jordans. However, one interesting thing about these PE’s is that they have red outsole accents (thanks to NT’s air in822 for pointing this out), meaning they were likely produced for him while he was still with Cleveland. It will be interesting to see if he keeps wearing these, goes back to his 5-Tools, or breaks out a Brewers colorway… stay tuned.
First-Half Recap: Atlanta Braves
Some technical issues on the site pushed my player exclusive recap schedule back a day, but here are the PE cleats worn by the Atlanta Braves (all of which are can be seen in the PE Gallery):
Unless I missed any (and please let me know if I did), it seems that the only PE’s being worn this year in Atlanta are Nike models. With a couple prominent Mizuno players (Chipper Jones, Brian McCann) and a few Under Armour guys (Jeff Francoeur, Tim Hudson, Rafael Soriano) on the roster, it’s surprising that the other brands aren’t hooking their guys up. The PE renderings above are the models worn by Mark Teixeira (now in Anaheim but still included), Yunel Escobar, Mark Kotsay, and Casey Kotchman.
Ramirez Makes Dodger Debut in Martin’s Cleats
One can only assume that Manny Ramirez has the same shoe size as new teammate Russell Martin. He played his first game in white and blue last night, and this is what he had on…
(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
That’s the same player exclusive 5-Tool model that Martin has been wearing all season long. It’ll be interesting to see how long it will be before he gets his own blue PE’s (and how long it takes for the dreadlocks to go).
Elsewhere in the league, Ken Griffey Jr. rocked his grey Swingman Remix PE’s and Jason Bay stuck with his black/grey Easton Mojo cleats in Boston.
First-Half Recap: Arizona Diamondbacks
For the next thirty days, I’ll be doing first-half recaps of the PE cleats (and some footwear oddities) worn by all thirty Major League teams. These recaps will go in alphabetical order by team, so the Arizona Diamondbacks are the team of the day…
The renderings above are the models that have been worn by Orlando Hudson (Nike 5-Tools), Mark Reynolds (Nike Fuse), Justin Upton (adidas Diamond King), and Brandon Webb (Reebok Vero FL II). Larger views can be seen in the brand new Player Exclusive Gallery… I’ll be adding cleats from the other 29 teams throughout the month (and basketball and football galleries will follow). More info on these Diamondbacks models after the jump…
MLB Trade Deadline: PE Aftermath
The MLB trade deadline is always a great time for baseball… teams gear up to make playoff runs, superstars swap uniforms, and new cleats are customized with new colors. Here’s the breakdown of how this year’s deadline affects the a handful of MLB cleats…
(PlayerExclusive.com Photo Illustration; Original Photos by Jim Rogash/Getty Images and Al Behrman/AP Photo)
Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers: This was the most shocking trade of the bunch, and I’m really looking forward to what Nike customizes for Manny. My Photoshopped image above shows him in a Dodger-ized PE of the Fuse cleats he’s recently been wearing in Boston, and while it’d be great to see something like that in LA, here’s my guess about what will happen: he’ll start off by wearing a blue GR of the 5-Tool or Fuse, and he’ll break out a new Fuse PE or maybe even a Max MVP PE in a couple of weeks. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he just went with the white / blue Max MVP… Russell Martin has already worn these for a couple of games this month, so the Dodgers are apparently one of the few teams getting these.
Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox: This one is confusing for the White Sox, great for Griffey, and awful for footwear. With white, black, red, and grey, Griffey was able to lace up a ton of different colorways of his Swingman Remix signature cleat in Cincinnati. Now that he’s with the Sox, we’ll probably only be seeing black / black, black / white, and black / grey… hopefully Nike will mix it up and start doing new colorblocking on the different upper elements.
Kobe, LeBron Break Out New PE’s at Macau Exhibition
Unfortunately, the LeBron VI’s were not involved in this, but both Bryant and James wore new player exclusives during their exhibition against the Turkey National Team in Macau, China…
Kobe Bryant wore his “Black Mamba” PE of the Nike Hyperdunk… these have been talked about since early July (see more about these here), but this is the first time he wore them in competition. Additional game photos here and here.
(Photo by MN Chan/Getty Images)
New Lowell PE; Upcoming MLB Team Recaps and Gallery
Mike Lowell appears to be the first player with an Air Zoom Coop V PE…
A lot of new models like this one are starting to hit the field, so in order to get the site caught up on the ‘08 MLB season, I’ll be doing team-by-team recaps of the best PE’s from the first half starting on August 1st.
Zoom Lebron VI Close-Up Pics
LeBron James’ debut of the Zoom LeBron VI at Monday’s practice generated a lot of hype on sneaker blogs and forums around the web, and fortunately for us, that typically results in some close-up shots. Pics below via hk-kicks.com:
As you can see from tongue embroidery on the second pic, it’s now official that these are the VI. The other notable features are the navy patent, clear soles, and reflective lasering of the “United We Rise” pattern. PE features aside, most people have either absolutely loved these or been disappointed by the simplicity of the upper (and the largest swoosh on a LeBron sig to date). My initial reaction is that these are a HUGE improvement over the ZL V, and while I like the return of a more old-school upper on a LeBron sig, I’m not quite sold on whether this has the potential to become an iconic shoe or not.
What do you guys think?
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