The story behind Kris Bryant’s color-changing All-Star cleats
SAN DIEGO — If you paid attention to Kris Bryant’s feet during Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star game, you may have noticed he made a colorful fashion choice. And he made it a few times.
Bryant wore three pairs of Adidas cleats in four innings, each a different color. Baseball doesn’t keep precise shoe records, but it’s believed that this was a first, because who can remember a player changing into different shoes three times in a game?
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The shoes are from Adidas’ upcoming “Dipped” collection, which was announced last month. Bryant’s feet proved to be a great introduction device for baseball fans, since the All-Star game is generally a time when players can be a little more liberal with their fashion.
“The All-Star game is cool because you can kinda express yourself more about who you are as a player,” Bryant told Yahoo Sports this week, revealing his plan to change shoes mid-game. “I don’t think you’ve ever seen colors like this in a baseball cleat.”
He’s right. Bryant started the game in an Ocean set of cleats that were among the brightest on the field. In the second inning, he switched to the Power Red. In the fourth inning, he changed into the fiery and bright Infared. They’re three of the 15 colorways that the 2017 Adizero Afterburner 3 comes in, a list that includes names like Solar Red, Shock Slime, Collegiate Orange and Semi Solar Green. They’re in stores Aug. 1.
The idea, Adidas says, was to create something that appealed to younger players like Bryant (he’s 24) with elements of sneaker culture (like the triple-color look, which means the outsole, midsole, upper are the same color).
The shoes seemed to agree with Bryant’s game too. He homered in the first inning, a first-pitch rocket into left field off AL starter Chris Sale.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
