“Made That Possible…”: Giants Legend Barry Bonds Once Revealed How One of His Idols Revolutionized Baseball Shoes Forever

Barry Bonds has always been famous for his controversial attitude. However, this baseball star is like an open book that often reveals secrets. The baseball world has only a few people that Bonds admires. Besides his godfather, Willie Mays, he once talked about another idol and a revolutionary change that person brought to the baseball world.

While Willie Mays used to be their family friend, his idol is not. Instead, he is a contemporary player from another team. However, while sharing some secrets about his own life, 7xMVP shared about an invention that changed the concept of shoes in baseball.

The Revolutionary invention changed the concept of Baseball shoes forever

Not only baseball but all sports require solid shoes that can protect the feet of the players. Now, players wear designer-branded shoes, but at the time of Barry Bonds, these were not even invented.  After retiring, this San Francisco Giants star has been interviewed multiple times, sharing surprising aspects of his life that sometimes shock fans. In 2021, he appeared in an interview with Ken Goldin, sharing his life secrets. At one point, the discussion came to baseball shoes, and the 14x All-Star revealed Tony Gwynn’s invention that changed the entire concept of cross-trainer shoes.

Initially, the Baseball shoes were made with basic materials that couldn’t protect players from burning heat. Bonds revealed Gwynn took the initiative to resolve this issue. He took a basketball cross-trainer shoe to a shoemaker for his experiment. Then he even explained the entire process, “So Tony Gwynn got with a shoemaker in San Diego. He took a regular cross-trainer basketball shoe, and he cut perfectly circles around the cleat of our regular shoe.He took out the hard plastic and just cut the plastic out, The front and the back, inserted into a cross-trainer shoe okay, just a regular old basketball cross-trainer shoe. And had a shoemaker mold that in there. So you had two pieces in the shoe. You had just the back of the rubber and then just the front. ‘Cause you didn’t really need much more cleat than that, right?”

This is how the baseball Cross-trainer shoe was invented. Later, when they got to know about this, all of them used to send their shoes to that shoemaker to get cross-trainer shoes. However, though “Tony Gwynn actually made that possible,” Bonds revealed, the big companies later took the credit and made business.

Barry Bonds even revealed one of his inventions in an interview

Besides good shoes, another most important thing in baseball is bats. Bats play a greater role, and Bonds revealed one of his inventions that has taken the MLB bat industry by storm. When initially the power hitter started baseball, he was not convinced of the bats. He was not comfortable with the swings he got. So, when Sam Holman approached him, they cooperated to make Maplewood bats.

Read More: How a 10-Year-Old Barry Bonds Played on the Yankees at the Same Time as His Father

Though the initial stage was tough. Sam didn’t have money to make them, and the MLB was unaware of the industry. However, this duo took the risk, and the controversial legend claimed, “I’m the one who I guess you can say who made Maplewood bats famous.” That was indeed true, as there were no applewood bats in the MLB before Bonds brought it to the game. Now, almost all the MLB players use Maplewood bats.

What did you think of these two revolutionary inventions in MLB? Share your thoughts with us.

WATCH THIS STORY | From Unforeseen Beginnings to Unstoppable Greatness: The Remarkable Journey of Giants Legend Barry Bonds