David Price has a basketball-esque idea for attracting younger fans
Much has been made about the state of baseball recently. Even prior to Bryce Harper calling it a "tired sport," fans were aware of the dwindling popularity. Harper's swagger and Jose Bautista's bat flip in the playoffs last year have tried to make the sport more exciting, though it hasn't come without criticism.
Goose Gossage, for one, ripped Bautista on Thursday, calling him a "disgrace" to baseball. And at the time of the flip, baseball purists did the same.
Despite all of the heat players like Harper and Bautista hate, they're right about baseball needing a change. And David Price of the Red Sox feels the same way. Only, instead of pimping home runs and showboating, Price wants more freedom to dress the way he wants on the field.
"Let us express ourselves with our shoes," Price said. "They say the shoes make the man. We need to be able to express ourselves. If we can't express ourselves guys want to, or we can't express ourselves to the media like guys really want to, we're puppets. We don't need all the control, but we want to be able to control ourselves, and not be a puppet with a puppet-master hanging over us with the strings."
Price, who's one of a few players to wear Air Jordan cleats, has tried to spruce up his shoes before. During his time in Detroit, Price actually received a warning notice from the league regarding his cleats. Apparently, they were too close to the 51-percent black threshold.
"I got a warning that said my cleats weren't 51 percent black," Price said. "I sent something back saying, 'Yes they are, you're just assuming they're not because you can't see the back half of them.' I sent them a picture of my cleats and they were like, 'OK.'"
Shoes aren't the end-all fix for bringing younger fans to baseball. The games are too long, they're slow, and many people don't have the attention span to make it through a 162-game season, following every matchup on a near-daily basis.
However, there's a reason why millions buy NBA players' branded shoes. LeBron James has been in the business for years now, with players like Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant also among them.
Obviously no one's going to wear Mike Trout cleats to the grocery store as they would wear a pair of Kobe 11s. But what kid wouldn't love to see his or her favorite player wearing bright-colored spikes? That's the point Price is trying to make.
"They'll say, 'those are sick shoes. Those are awesome batting gloves,'" Price said. "That's what they see. That's what they look at. ... We need to be able to express ourselves, whether it's with our cleats or whatever it is. If somebody has one neon green cleats, so what?"
