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Bryson Stott and Cristopher Sanchez Had Some Cool Cleats Made for Players’ Weekend
By Matt Schultz
Published:
It’s Players’ Weekend in MLB, which the league describes as “a three-day celebration of what makes big leaguers unique. This is a time for them to express themselves through wearing custom gear on the field and telling personal stories off of it.” MLB first started doing a version of Players’ Weekend back in 2017, and after taking a few years off because of COVID-shortened seasons, they brought it back in 2024 with some format tweaks and rotating themes.
Here’s what’s in store this year:
The 2026 edition will feature a different theme each day, and those themes will be displayed in stadiums, on broadcasts and on social media. Here’s the thematic breakdown of each day’s theme:
Off-Field Interests: Showcasing players’ passions and interests beyond baseball.
Causes: Focusing on charitable and community efforts that are important to players.
Appreciation: Celebrating the people who helped them on their path to the Major Leagues.
With those guidelines in place, two Phillies have cooked up some pretty cool cleats. Cristopher Sanchez has a pair that features all of his teammates’ numbers:
That’s good stuff. That’s nice. Sanchez seems like a great teammate. He seems like a fun guy who likes to laugh and hang out and is always in high spirits. Admittedly, a lot of this read comes from him and Bryson Stott laughing about that headline from The Onion, but still. That combined with these cleats is plenty of evidence, I think. Just seems like a very good guy.
Also, the cleats themselves are sick. White with red pinstripes. Clean as hell.
Meanwhile, Stott had these Toy Story-themed cleats made for his daughter, Braxtyn:
These are awesome. There’s so much detail in there. Some great stuff that stands out:
-The Buzz Lightyear buttons. You don’t see a lot of buttons painted onto shoes. Looks cool.
-The Toy Story font of “Braxtyn’s Story.” That’s a great font. Looks just like the real font. That can’t be easy to do.
-The brown laces on the Woody cleat. Brown is not an obvious choice here. I probably would’ve just went with white laces. But the brown elevates the cleat to a whole other Woody level. Very good brown.
-If you zoom in, you can see that each cleat has very small details stitched on the heel area. The Buzz cleat has silhouettes of those those little alien guys he’s always hanging out with, and the Woody one has a cactus and some other open-plains imagery and his wife what’s-her-name:*
-The “Dada” in marker is very nice. Part of me wonders if it should’ve said “Braxtyn” though. That way, Stott would essentially be like the big toy who’s come to life, and Braxtyn would be the owner of the toy. Think that would be the cleanest way to do it.
Also, having “Dada” written on there would be like if Woody had “Woody” written on the bottom of his boot. Which he didn’t. That wouldn’t really make sense. His boot said “Andy” because Andy is the kid. The cleat should say “Braxtyn” because Braxtyn is the kid. Just an idea. Thinking out loud. But overall, very good stuff.
*Kinkead: it’s JESSIE. We won’t tolerate Jessie disrespect on this blog. Now, in honor of Players’ Weekend, here is the International Players Anthem:
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com