While Major League Baseball has guidelines that don’t allow the wearing of equipment that varies too drastically from a team’s colors, there are instances where players are permitted to deviate from the norm.
Typically that’s done on specially designated games, but there are instances when a player will push the envelope with what’s within the rules. Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig didn’t spark any controversy with his footwear on Sunday but his cleats were noticeably different than his typical choice.
Puig’s cleats were within the Dodgers’ uniform colors, though his left foot had Vin Scully’s image superimposed, and his right had “#ITFD,” short for Scully’s famed, “It’s time for Dodger baseball.”
According to Bill Plunkett of the OC Register, Puig said he’s using a different pair of custom-designed cleats each game and didn’t have previous knowledge of Sunday’s selection:
“I’m using a different pair of shoes every day and the guy who designs them surprises me with something different every day,” Puig said through an interpreter. “Today, he surprised me with these. I think it’s good that we should try to ‘Win for Vin’ during his last year.”
Like countless others, Puig admires the manner with which Scully calls games:
“I play baseball and I like the way he narrates,” Puig said. “And 67 years of work, he deserves his respect. If it’s not ‘Win for Vin,’ it’s win for the city of Los Angeles and for ourselves.”
Scully is in his 67th and final season in the broadcast booth. He’s been bestowed with multiple honors this season, including the renaming of Elysian Park Avenue. Although the Dodgers lost Sunday’s game and the series to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Puig’s cleats were nonetheless a nice sign of respect to one of baseball’s storied voices.
