Tag: Nelson Cruz

These Nelson Cruz Earth Day cleats are out of this world

The slugger knocked it out of the park with these

One of the best recent decisions baseball has made has been to allow players to express themselves with custom cleats.

While former New York Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier was lauded for putting spikes on rare Jordans and Nikes, players around the league haven’t been afraid to dive into the fray with their own signature looks.

We saw a ton of that on Jackie Robinson Day with stars like Pete Alonso, Akil Baddoo and Robinson Cano dropping custom kicks.  On this Friday’s Earth Day, Washington Nationals slugger Nelson Cruz will rock a pair featuring his home country of the Dominican Republic and, man, do they look stunning.

Making the Nike swoosh look like a sandbar in the water is an A+++ move.

Overall just stunning work here. Fans will have a chance to bid on these beauties after Friday’s game with proceeds benefiting Players For The Planet.

Don’t be surprised if Cruz hits another one of his towering home runs Friday while wearing them.

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Why Nelson Cruz’s blast off a Tropicana Field catwalk counted as a home run

Let’s go over The Trop ground rules.

If the Tampa Bay Rays make another postseason run — and given the 5-0 win on Thursday night in Game 1 of their ALDS series against the Boston Red Sox, it might happen! — a rule that was invoked might come up again.

Rays slugger Nelson Cruz hit a ball that was surely headed for a home run, but it doinked off a cat walk and fell into play. There was some confusion as Cruz headed around second … but then umpires declared it was a dinger.

So: Why?

Time to consult the Tropicana Field ground rules: “Batted ball that strikes either of the lower two catwalks (known as the ‘C-Ring’ and the ‘D-Ring’), including any lights or suspended objects attached to either of those catwalks as well as any angled support rods that connect the ‘C-Ring’ to the masts that support the ‘D-Ring’ in fair territory: Home Run.”

This one hit the “C-Ring.”

But if there’s a ball off the upper catwalks — you guessed it, they’re named “A-Ring” and “B-Ring” — they’re in play, so if someone catches the ball, it’s an out, or if they go foul, it’s a foul ball.

So now you know in case this comes up again.

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