It's 1994. Ken Griffey Jr., a rising star on the Seattle Mariners since '89, is breathing life into a team that seems to always come this close to winning a World Series title. But despite always falling short, the Mariners have the country's attention, even if it's more for the team's style than anything else, led by Griffey Jr. Back then, the magnetic All-Star grabbed hold of the spotlight and became the face of America's pastime, cementing the relationship between baseball and men's style.
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Following in the footsteps of his father, Griffey Jr. brought his own flavor to the game of baseball, and for some, that was disrespectful to the game's integrity. After negative comments from then Yankees manager Buck Showalter regarding Griffey Jr.'s habit of wearing his hat backwards before and after games, Griffey Jr. replied, "I don't like to be talked about, especially by somebody that doesn't know me."
We may consider backwards caps to be central to the style of baseball, but the move wasn't tolerated until the early '90s (and even now, clubs forbid the style while on field). But Griffey's contributions to men's style didn't stop at twisting his cap around. The charismatic star had his own shoe with Nike, the Air Griffey Max line. This feat is not one to be underestimated—it’s hard to make a baseball sneaker one of the most coveted shoes during an era when Michael Jordan was breaking down and rebuilding the sneaker game in his own image.
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Growing up the States, it's nearly impossible to not be exposed to baseball in one form or another, through rose-colored Hollywood films like Field of Dreams and The Natural, playing in little league, or just spending a summer afternoon watching a game on TV. As a sport so integral to not only our culture, but our history, its influence on men’s style is undeniable—especially in the last two to three decades.
Even if you don't like sports, there's no doubt that you've seen a movie about baseball, and near impossible that you didn’t watch The Sandlot. Aside from quotables like "You're killin’ me smalls!" the movie highlights what some would consider to be the best of the game: hanging out with your friends in the summer, getting into trouble, and having fun on the diamond. While the film is set in the '60s, the 1993 release proves that the nostalgia/affection/reach of baseball is decades long. A cursory look at how the kids in the film dressed shows style staples that hang in the closets of today’s youth: baseball jerseys, team caps, and canvas lace-ups like Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez's PF Flyers.
Of course, plenty of the caps today’s kids rock pledge allegiance to an entirely different type of squad. In mid to late-'80s, Stussy was doing roughly 20 percent of its business on branded baseball caps. As Eddie Cruz, owner of the Stussy Los Angeles chapter and founder of Undefeated noted, “It was the first brand to really make a baseball cap a real accessory. [Shawn Stussy] would put his beautiful linking S's up there or on a bucket hat, which The Beastie Boys and guys like that were rocking. Stussy was definitely one of the first, if not the first company to change that mentality.”
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Frank Sinatra Jr., co-founder of Stussy, claims that the brand not only took the cap beyond the realm of sports, but made it a streetwear staple. “At the time that Shawn started this, nobody was making these hats for the fashion world. You had baseball hats for players and fans, team hats—that was it.” Sinatra Jr. continues, “The first real home run was the ‘Big Ol' S.’ It was a 6-panel baseball hat with a snapback, all wool, with a big 'S' on the front. It didn't say 'Stussy,' just a big 'S,' but it had a Stussy script on the back.”
It was Stussy’s popularization, along with celebrity support from the likes of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Matt Damon that made the style popular and covetable. Since then, the ballcap has been reinterpreted numerous times by ‘90s streetwear brands, from Freshjive and X-LARGE to modern designers like Marc Jacobs (who made one of pony hair) and Rick Owens (whose bull leather rendition retails for over $500). But baseball’s effect on menswear didn’t stop with hats.
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Even if you’ve never seen the Spike Lee classic Do The Right Thing, you’ve likely seen Spike in a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform. Yes, the uniform was symbolic of both African-American culture and Brooklyn itself, paying homage to Jackie Robinson’s revolutionary career. After Do the Right Thing became an instant classic, it was also a symbol of breaking through the tensions in tumultuous and gentrifying cities. But at the end of the day, it just looked cool. What Mookie’s wardrobe represented isn’t necessarily the reason kids choose to wear baseball tees and jerseys today. Before Mars Blackmon made Jordans, Cazals, and bike caps iconic, Mookie made a case for oversized baseball jerseys, “Medicine Ball” Air Trainer IIIs, and Afrocentric pendants. As baseball's influence increased in men's style, the game's larger-than-life players began to make a stylish impact beyond the diamond, too.
The late ‘80s and early ‘90s set the stage for a new type of jock—the multi-sport athlete. Bo Jackson was part of the iconic late ‘80s Raiders squad, destroying the competition as a fullback and running back. His baseball career began with the Kansas City Royals and finished with the California Angels, spanning from 1986 to 1994; longer than his time in the NFL. Easily one of the most notable multi-sport athletes thanks in part to Nike’s “Bo Knows” campaign, his talent on two fields would ultimately spur the Nike Training line, and one of Nike’s greatest athlete sponsorships of all time.
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Not to be outdone, Deion “Primetime” Sanders—aside from being one of the greatest showmen in all of American sports—was also a double athlete, starting his baseball career with the New York Yankees and his football career with the Atlanta Falcons in 1989. Sanders also has the privilege of being the only athlete to compete in both a World Series and a Super Bowl, the first to hit a home run and score a touchdown in the same week, and the first to play two major league sports games in one day. Perhaps Nike was carving out a niche for themselves, as Sanders also had a sneaker deal with Nike, producing the Diamond Turf series. His showboating style brought flair not only to gridiron, but to the diamond as well.
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Last but not least, “His Airness” bridged one retirement from the NBA into a small minor league appearance for the Birmingham Barons in 1994. While Michael Jordan is forever known for his “bred” colorways due to his time with the Bulls, his appearances with the Barons has resulted in sneakers that are centered around his time in the Minors, including the “Baron” Air Jordan I and XIII. As with Jackson and Sanders before him, Jordan helped propel baseball into not only an American mainstay, but also a hyped, publicized sport, where the All-Stars played hard off-season.
Now, we take for granted the almost insane amount of authentic replica jerseys that populate shelves, but 15 to 20 years ago, getting your hands on one was a tough task, which only increased the dopeness of these rare pieces. According to Mitchell & Ness, the progenitors of the vintage jersey movement, it began working on recreated jerseys in 1983 after a fan requested the company repair an old on-field jersey. In 1988, the MLB created the Cooperstown Collection license, giving the exclusive rights to Mitchell & Ness to use player numbers and names. The jerseys blew up in pop culture, and especially in hip-hop, allowing the company to begin making other retro jerseys and gear. While the spread of retro and recreation jerseys seems almost commonplace now, it all started with baseball.
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Ebbets Field Flannels is synonymous with the best baseball jerseys since the invention of the game. Like Mookie’s Dodgers jersey, the company’s roots are in Brooklyn. When founder Jerry Cohen found himself struggling to find authentic jerseys, he stumbled across vintage baseball wool, and began to produce vintage jerseys with a focus on the minor leagues, setting themselves apart from modern renditions often made from polyester. In the ‘90s, its reputation for quality and authenticity caught the attention of Sports Illustrated, and then celebrities like David Letterman and Spike Lee, bringing baseball’s style loop full circle. Now Ebbets Field Flannels has multiple stockists and notable collaborators like J.Crew, and even made the uniforms for the Jackie Robinson biopic 42.
Jerseys and baseball caps are always going to be the sport’s most prominent home runs in the style world, but minute details from the game emerge in the men's style arena from time to time. At the beginning of the new millennium, batting gloves became a repeated sartorial move that was attempted by guys like Drake. With OGs like Rickey Henderson known for rocking a brightly colored Mizuno batting glove as part of his uniform, the piece was already one that had some public appreciation among fans.
It's always easy to look back and appreciate how dope the game's biggest stars looked 20, 10, or even 5 years ago. But baseball's influence continues to seep through men's style. Starting a few seasons ago and throughout this past summer, baseball shirts have spiked in popularity acrosst the board. While on-field jerseys have been a coveted item since the days of Mitchell & Ness, with the advent of leather designer goods and all-black sportswear, the baseball jersey is currently less of an on-field authentic, and more of a redesigned classic. Labels like Rascals, Alexander Wang, and even niche players like Clothsurgeon have all created a riff on the baseball jersey cut and construction. Whether branded, re-shaped, or created out of unconventional materials, shopping for a jersey isn't just a market that features field-ready flannels.
America’s century-long relationship with baseball is a rich history that has touched upon every aspect of our collective culture, style included. From nostalgia that informs the contemporary zeitgeist, to celebrated individuals who bring a swagger to the diamond, America's most cherished sport has an ongoing link to the way men dress off the field. Sundays may be devoted to the gridiron, and excitement is mounting for the beginning of the NBA season, but baseball's relevance will forever be carried with us in the way we express ourselves with constant sartorial nods to America's pastime.
