It’s the day between Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals and in the hip Cleveland neighborhood of Ohio City, kids are lined up outside of Xhibition.
They’re waiting to get into the sneaker and clothing store to get their hands on more exclusive gear. But in the city crazed over the Cavs and their run to a third straight Finals, this drop has nothing to do with basketball.
On this late afternoon, the kids are dying to grab a pair of kicks that Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor collaborated with New Balance on, a pair of 574s to be precise, and one baseball’s best young players was on hand to greet guests and talk about how growing up in Puerto Rico he never imagined he’d have his own pair of shoes.
“I always wanted to play on TV so my family could see be back in Puerto Rico,” Lindor said. “The Lord has blessed me with a lot of things and I thank Pepsi, thank Rawlings, thank New Balance for letting me have input with everything.”
The soft-drink company and glove maker teamed up with New Balance to create a unique Lindor Gold Glove Kit that featured the limited-edition New Balances, a gold-accented Pepsi bottle, and a custom game model glove.
The Rawlings model is similar to the one Lindor uses during practice. At 11 inches, it’s tiny—his game glove is 11 ¾—but practicing with something so small is why he was the American League Gold Glove winner last year and why Rawlings highlighted the limited edition glove, appropriately, in gold.
“I don’t have one yet,” Lindor joked. “They’re slacking.”
Fresh from a five-game road trip, Lindor was happy to be back in Cleveland but regretted he couldn’t make it to Game 4. The Indians were playing the White Sox a few hours before Game 4 tipped, otherwise Lindor would be in Quicken Loans Arena supporting the Cavs the way LeBron and company supported the Indians at Progressive Field during the World Series last fall.
“It’s just fun to see how the city gets together,” Lindor said. “This is a winning city. I love Cleveland.”
