Gunnar Henderson is having a month to remember.
In addition to terrorizing opposing pitching and turning 23 years old, the Orioles’ shortstop capped off June on Sunday by taking center stage in ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast. Ahead of their nationally televised game against the Texas Rangers, Henderson received a pair of custom LEGO-themed cleats from Karl Ravech and the broadcast crew.
Before #SundayNightBaseball, @karlravechespn surprised @Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson with customized cleats — created by @SolesBySir
Gunnar will be mic'd up in the 3rd inning for a live, in-game conversation with the booth pic.twitter.com/aDpwkUJG1f
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) June 30, 2024
Henderson wore the cleats on the field and, while mic’d up in the third inning, announced he would be participating in this year’s Home Run Derby as part of the All-Star Game festivities in July. He also advanced this week to the second phase of All-Star voting, joining five other Orioles as finalists for starting spots on the American League squad.
The cleats, which were designed by Marcus “Soles By Sir” Rivero, include a LEGO depiction of Henderson, the “Sunday Night Baseball” logo, the Oriole bird and a LEGO figure on the tongue of each shoe. Henderson, like several of his teammates, is an avid LEGO builder and collector. After starting the game 0-for-3 at the plate, Henderson changed back into his regular orange cleats in the seventh inning. He still finished 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, ending a 36-game on-base streak.
“I figured it would seem like that but actually on the dive that on the ball that [Wyatt] Langford hit, one of the pieces came off and actually the next inning I went back out on the field and some of the pieces were in the grass,” Henderson said. “It actually hung on surprisingly, but it was sitting there flapping and so I just felt like it was time to change it. So, yeah, even the cleat change didn’t seem to work tonight.”
Henderson has put all the pieces together over the first half of 2024, emerging as a legitimate AL Most Valuable Player candidate after winning the Rookie of the Year Award last season. As the leading star of an Orioles franchise that burst onto the scene by winning the AL East in 2023, there will likely be many more months like this to come.
