In Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game, Marcelo Mayer impressed with a single, stolen base, and solid defense, but his footwear had people talking almost as much as his footwork.
Starting at shortstop in the annual showcase of the most promising stars of tomorrow, the Red Sox No. 1 prospect donned a pair of bespoke cleats, one painted with his native San Diego, the other bearing the future he’s working towards, Fenway Park. On the latter, the iconic Nike Swoosh was embellished with game-used dirt from the field of America’s oldest and most beloved ballpark.
The design, a collaboration between Mayer and Stadium Custom Kicks founder Alex Katz and brought to life by Lead Artist Andrew Urrutia, went viral when the company posted photos on social media.
Putting that unique detail together didn’t require a Drew Barrymore “Fever Pitch” moment or even a call to the team. Instead, Katz told the Herald that they found a bit of Fenway on eBay for six dollars and a penny.
Katz, a longtime minor league and indy ball pitcher who’s played for Team Israel in two World Baseball Classics and the 2021 Olympics, founded Stadium Custom Kicks from the ground up, literally.
“When I first got into customizing, the first pair was for myself for the (2017) World Baseball Classic,” the journeyman said. His cleats wound up on What Pros Wear, and fellow baseball players immediately took notice, including Rob Refsnyder.
A New York Yankee at the time, Refsnyder saw the design on the popular Instagram account, and direct-messaged Katz, asking about custom work.
“He said, ‘Hey, can my friend Aaron and I send in a bunch of cleats?” Katz recalled.
That’s how Refsnyder and a rookie named Aaron Judge became his first major league clients.
“Pretty cool, the power of social media,” Katz said. “No legitimate company established at that point, you know, he just saw the cleats and asked if he could have something similar done.”
SCK wasn’t officially born until August 2019, in part because of Major League Baseball’s hesitance to dispense with uniformity. As other leagues eased restrictions, MLB made inconsistent attempts at cracking down on non-uniformity. In May 2018, Chicago Cubs infielder Ben Zobrist received a letter from the league informing him that he’d violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement’s Footwear Supplier Regulations “51 percent rule,” which stipulated that players’ cleats mainly display their team’s primary color. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Zobrist explained that the cleats in question were inspired by some of the game’s greatest players, Ernie Banks and Stan Musial, and the footwear worn in their era. Furthermore, Zobrist wrote that he’d already worn the cleats during Wrigley Field day games for two years, and never heard anything from the league about his footwear before.
Finally following in the footsteps (pun intended) of the NFL which eased, but didn’t completely eliminate, footwear regulations in 2017, MLB and the players’ association first did away with the “51 percent rule” in November 2018.
It was the obvious, logical move, Katz explained.
“How are you going to calculate a percentage of a cleat,” the SCK founder said with a laugh. “You’re not going to rip it apart and do some kind of formula. It didn’t really make sense.”
As major leaguers explored their newfound freedom, SCK’s footprint grew. For the 2019 Players’ Weekend, over 100 players around the league wore the brand’s custom pieces.
Ahead of the 2020 season, which didn’t begin until the end of July due to the coronavirus pandemic, MLB announced that they’d relax all footwear restrictions, but only for the season. The only exceptions were corporate logos and any design that would violate the league’s Workplace Code of Conduct. The 2022-26 Collective Bargaining Agreement extended the newly relaxed rules.
During the 2020 World Series, known cat lover Tony Gonsolin, who didn’t own a cat at the time, took the mound in SCK cleats with a Maine Coon on the heel, and pitched the Los Angeles Dodgers to their first championship since 1988. “I got to wear these custom cleats in the biggest game I have ever pitched in,” the pitcher told the Los Angeles Times, “It was an awesome experience to spread my love for cats around.”
Gonsolin’s cat cleats were among the SCK designs auctioned off by 23 major leaguers that fall. Proceeds benefited various causes, including More Than Baseball, a nonprofit that supports minor leaguers.
There’s an interesting dichotomy between the concept of a team’s shared uniform, and the uniqueness players now get to display with their footwear. But in a world in which too many people forget that athletes are human beings, too, Katz agrees that the duality of uniformity and individuality is important.
“It’s super important for players to be able to show off their personalities,” the SCK founder said. “The Futures Game cleats, a lot of players really showed off who they are, what things are super special to them.
“Marcelo Mayer’s cleats, obviously, one of them was Fenway Park, which is his ultimate goal, to play in the big leagues, play at Fenway Park, win a World Series with the Red Sox. And the other cleat was San Diego, and remembering where he came from, and who made him who he is. It really shows off his personality, shows off who he is, and I think that’s the most important thing when it comes to being the possible version of yourself, being the best possible athlete, being true to yourself.”
Several current and former Red Sox major leaguers utilize SCK for their footwear. In 2019, Michael Chavis enlisted SCK’s services to make him a pair of cleats with his “Ice Horse” nickname in the style of “Game of Thrones.” Kyle Schwarber wore a Philadelphia-themed pair for last year’s Home Run Derby; at this week’s All-Star Game, 15 or 16 major leaguers will be in SCK designs.
Kiké Hernández is another customer, but Katz estimates that Jarren Duran is their biggest Red Sox client at the moment; the pairs of Jordan cleats he’s been wearing throughout his breakout season are SCK products.
Rafael Devers was one of 36 players wearing SCK designs in this year’s World Baseball Classic; Katz, playing for Team Israel, was another.
The Red Sox promoted Mayer to Double-A Portland at the end of May. Only one more level stands between him and Fenway Park.
When the time comes, maybe he’ll lace up the cleats again, and bring that Fenway dirt home. Perhaps he’ll have a different division for his debut shoes.
Either way, he has a bright future full of Fenway dirt ahead of him.