MLB will not tolerate Brian Wilson's brightly-colored shoes

Now that the drug problem in MLB is completely solved (laugh track), we can move on to the game’s other notorious cheaters. Specifically, Giants closer Brian Wilson and his amazing technicolor shoes. Wilson broke out the orange cleats for the All-Star Game, and wore them again on Tuesday during the Giants’ 6-4 win over Florida. Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez, a well-known fashion fussbudget, immediately took action, complaining to the umpires that Wilson’s shoes were “too flashy.” He then ranted about the cleats in a post-game interview, sounding like a blood sugar-imbalanced Coco Channel.
Which led to the commissioner’s office today actually fining Wilson $1,000 for a uniform violation. (Bud Selig: “I declare him OUTLAW!” …).

From the Palm Beach Post:

“A little bit too bright, too flashy,” said Rodriguez, who complained to umpires at the start of the ninth inning.

“We asked if there was any rule about that. He said the rule is more intended for the sleeves and there’s no real for the shoes.”

“I think there should be a rule. They should be consistent. There’s a rule for the uniform and there should be a rule for the shoes.”

Apparently there is. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Wilson said he was told his shoes were nonconforming and needed to be at least 50 percent black, the standard Giants shoe color. So instead of enjoying his customary dominoes game before batting practice, he sat by his locker coloring all but the tops of the shoes black.

“Too flashy? I didn’t know that’s in the rulebook. Oh, it’s not,” Wilson said. “The fact that [Rodriguez] thinks these shoes throw 97 to 100 (mph) with cut might be a little far-fetched. I guess we should have these checked as performance-enhancing shoes.”

The horror of orange shoes … yeah, baseball will never recover from that.


To sum up, many Giants fans remember when Barry Bonds was fined by MLB for wearing improper wrist bands in 2006. While at the same time, by many accounts, his body was coursing with all manner of illegal performance enhancing drugs … which MLB cared nothing about.
***
Dan Uggla homers twice, but Josh Johnson’s streak ends in Florida Marlins’ 6-4 loss [Palm Beach Post]
Wilson’s orange shoes prove expensive [San Francisco Chronicle]