Baseball players aren’t typically the flashiest bunch. Everyone wears the same uniforms, uses similar equipment and most guys express themselves through their play on the field.
But one weekend a year, big leaguers across the sport get a chance to cut loose.
This weekend marks MLB Players’ Weekend, an annual celebration where players get an opportunity to wear custom gear during games that showcases what makes them unique. Players typically use special cleats, gloves and bats to highlight their families, meaningful causes, their favorite movies and TV shows and everything in between.
The Red Sox have taken full advantage.
Wilyer Abreu and Andruw Monasterio are both among the club’s sizable contingent of Venezuelan stars, so it’s no surprise both had gear made representing their home country. But Abreu had a second pair of cleats commissioned as well, one featuring a Na’vi, the blue-skinned humanoid protagonists from the movie “Avatar.”
“It means a lot to me. I’m kind of the same as Sully, the main character, because he cares a lot about his family, and I care a lot about my family, so I felt like he represents me in that aspect,” Abreu said. “I wanted to wear something about him because he inspired me a little bit with my family and the way he protected (his).”
Among other things, Monasterio got himself three special bats. One featured himself and the Venezuelan flag, another the nickname “Mona” in a graffiti-style font, and a third inspired by the Nickelodeon cartoon “The Fairly Oddparents.”
“That was my favorite cartoon when I was a kid,” Monasterio said.
Anthony Seigler, whose locker is right next to Monasterio’s in the Red Sox clubhouse, also had two special bats made. One depicts Seigler as his “Tony Seagulls” alter ego, which has become a ubiquitous presence on T-shirts among his teammates over the past few weeks, and along with one designed to look like “SpongeBob Squarepants,” another iconic Nickelodeon character.
“It’s something I was watching as a kid, I think everyone watched that as a kid,” Seigler said. “In my mind, at the end of the day baseball is a kid’s game, you know? We’re lucky enough to do it as a job but at the end of the day it’s still a kid’s game and I wanted to relay that through Players’ Weekend and a bat.”
Jahmai Jones also had a custom bat made, although his was far more significant than an early 2000s children cartoon. His bat featured the South Korean flag and numerous other Korean elements, which he had made as a tribute to his mom and his family’s heritage.
“My mom was born in South Korea and my family and I, we take some pretty big pride in being who we are and being Korean,” said Jones, who represented Team South Korea in this past spring’s World Baseball Classic. “My Mom is a rock for our family so any chance I get to honor her and honor my heritage, I definitely love and chomp at the bit to do so.”
While expressing one’s self is all well and good, Players’ Weekend has a more significant component, as much of the gear worn over the next couple of days will be auctioned off to benefit a charity of the player’s choice.