‘Wardrobe malfunction’ prompted R.A. Dickey to opt for his baseball look

By Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – For Josh Donaldson, the choice to go to white hi-top shoes and knee socks was clearly planned. But for Blue Jays teammate R.A. Dickey, wearing his uniform socks knee-high on the diamond happened years ago by accident.

Donaldson, the reigning American League MVP, turned heads Friday night when he took the field against the New York Yankees combining the old and new — knee-high blue socks and gleaming white shoes that were straight off the hardwood. The third baseman looked like he was wearing searchlights on his feet.

Dickey, who wears more conventional baseball footwear, found his fashion statement by chance when he made his high school varsity baseball team in eighth grade.

“In high school you don’t really get to chose your uniform, right. So the uniform I was given the pants were way too short for me, because I got to choose last because I was the youngest,” the 41-year-old knuckleballer recalled Saturday. “And so ever since then I wore them (the socks) high. And then as I got older and learned more about baseball, I really appreciated kind of the old-school way of doing things and so it just kind of fit in.

“But the genesis of that was nothing more than a wardrobe malfunction.”

Outfielders Kevin Pillar and Melvin Upton Jr. and pitcher Marco Estrada also go old-school with their uniform socks, but Dickey says the 30-year-old Donaldson, who wore the same outfit Saturday, took it to a whole new level.

“Here’s what it was — it was Josh Donaldson,” Dickey said with a smile. “That’s what it was.

“It was hi-top moon white shoes and high socks that exposed a gigantic calf. That’s the Josh Donaldson. Only he can pull that off. Like the hi-tops and high socks, that’s a terrible look normally. But he pulled it off somehow.”

And he took the Jays locker-room by surprise in the process.

“I think people were in shock,” said Dickey. “They weren’t sure what they were looking at. Nobody really has the cojones to wear that outfit usually. But that’s not something you have to worry about with him.”

Through a team spokesman, Donaldson declined an interview request about his shiny new kicks.

But the change seemed to work. Donaldson hit his 36th home run of the season in Friday’s 9-0 win over the Yankees. It was just his second homer of the month. And on Saturday he started the eighth-inning rally that led to the Jays’ 3-0 win over New York.

Asked about Donaldson’s unique look, manager John Gibbons said: “You mean Johnny High School?”

“It looked a little odd, the short pants,” he added. “When he turned that double play with Eddie (first baseman Edwin Encarnacion) in the seventh )inning Friday), it was kind of blinding when he was coming across the bag. But hey, whatever works.”

The not-for-everyone look drew mixed social media reviews.

“I hope Josh Donaldson has his best game ever today mostly because I don’t want him to ever stop wearing those shoes,” said one tweet.

“If Donaldson doesn’t get fined for those shoes MLB (Major League Baseball) has lost all sense of professionalism,” was another Twitter verdict.

Donaldson wears Nike shoes and the manufacturer rewarded him for his 2015 MVP season with a customized shoe, featuring his statistics engraved on the side above a gold base.

His new hi-tops also come with a dash of gold, via the Nike swoosh.

The shoes, a cleated version of the Nike LeBron Soldier 10, drew a response from Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James via Instagram.

“Major S/O Josh Donaldson on rocking the LeBron Soldier 10 cleats and being a monster on that diamond at the same time!!” James said via Instagram.

Donaldson is no stranger to changing things up. He has sported a variety of hairstyles that have ranged from a pirate to punk rock look.

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

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