When you’re a 21-year-old making his major-league pitching debut, do you want to be just ordinary, fitting in with the rest of your teammates and shutting one’s mouth until a veteran player deems it appropriate for you to speak? Or do you want to be an awesome comic book hero?
Houston Astros right-hander Lance McCullers went the latter route, and while making his first big-league start on Monday, he wore these cleats on his feet.
Got this picture from my brother at the game. Check out McCullers' cleats 👌🏽 pic.twitter.com/5cmMyhkAaw
— CyberNinjaX (@CyberNinjaX777) May 19, 2015
Here’s an even better look.
Closeup shot of the awesome Batman cleats @LMcCullers_41 is wearing for his MLB debut. #Represent #Whiff pic.twitter.com/xm41v2crp3
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 19, 2015
Yep, those are Batman’s cleats—almost as good as Batman’s tux—and he used them to great authority, allowing just one run on three hits and three walks while striking out five in 4 2/3 innings. He also, according to the Houston Chronicle, was throwing about 95 miles per hour—which would even impress the real Batman.
In actuality, McCullers wore black Under Armour cleats with the Batman logo affixed to his heels, and apparently, he’s been wearing them all year in Class AA Corpus Christi.
“I was talking to [Astros outfielder George] Springer, and I said something about the cleats, and he said, ‘Wear them, man. Go out there and do what you’ve been doing,’” McCullers said, via the newspaper. “I love Batman. I have the trilogy and I have some other stuff. I think I saw some people getting on me (online), but it’s alright.”
Unfortunately for McCullers (and for Bruce Wayne’s PR team), we likely won’t be seeing those cleats again. You see, those logo-donning shoes were a violation of Major League Baseball’s uniform regulations, and on Tuesday, the league sent McCullers a warning letter.
Which might actually be better for McCullers, because by the end of Monday’s game, it was clear the Batman cleats weren’t as big a help as we might have supposed. Even with the Batman signal metaphorically lighting up the night sky (well, lighting up Twitter, at least) the Astros still lost the game.
Photo via Houston Astros/Twitter