Baseball is back! After a 4-month delay due to the COVID pandemic, the shortened 60-game season began Thursday evening. The game will look very different, with no human fans in the stands and a few rule changes. For me, the game has been different for a long time now.
I grew up a Phillies fan and watched every game I could from beginning to end, even when they were terrible. It actually became comforting after a while as they kept losing, year after year back in the ’90s (they did make it to the World Series in ’93, but lost on a walk-off homerun by Joe Carter).
With the Phillies relatively pathetic all throughout my childhood, I resorted to rooting for players on other teams as well. I wanted to see greatness. I had plenty of heroes to choose from: Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, Cal Ripken, Jr. I collected their baseball cards, and I flipped through the pages of Eastbay magazines looking at the sneakers they endorsed and the cleats they wore on the field.
For most of us, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Frank Thomas were the biggest stars back in the mid ’90s. As you can see from these pictures from Eastbays back in 1996, both Griffey and Thomas had their own sneakers. Griffey would go on to have a huge line with Nike, but Thomas didn’t enjoy the same success.
I’ll never forget either of those players and the way they played the game and hit the ball. Griffey had the sweetest, purest swing in baseball, and Frank Thomas could hit the ball a mile. I’ll never forget an at bat by The Big Hurt – his swing was so soft and light – when he made contact it looked like a regular pop-up that ended up flying all the way to the warning track. It seemed so easy for him.
These were my baseball idols growing up – they were larger than life and electric when you saw them on TV. The sneakers they endorsed were so cool. I’ve never owned any Griffey models or The Big Hurts, but it’s fun to look back and see how great the designs were and how influential their games were.
Buy the Air Griffey Max here.
Get the Big Hurt sneaker here.
Check out Ken Griffey Jr.’s jersey here.
Check out Frank Thomas’ jersey here.
Images via my Eastbay catalog collection 1996.
