Kris Bryant won the World Series, then wore black Yeezy 750s with a suit

The Cubs won Game 7 of the 2016 World Series 8-7 at Progressive Field in Cleveland on 2 Nov. Five days later their third baseman, Kris Bryant, was photographed in Los Angeles walking through a stage door in a black suit, a white shirt and a skinny black tie. Under the suit trousers were all-black Yeezy 750 Boosts, strap and all, and they’re hard to miss once you’ve seen them.

Sole Collector’s Brandon Richard ran the photo under #SoleWatch, with Bryant’s Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance. He’d been making the media rounds after the first title of his career, Richard wrote, and the 750s “actually look pretty good with formal wear.”

adidas’s man since 2014

He’d earned the shoe. Bryant had joined adidas in March 2014, Sole Collector noted, and had just fronted the brand’s “#$@& Curses” campaign for the MLB playoffs. The curse was the Cubs’. By November it was broken, and adidas’s baseball face took Ye’s shoe on the victory lap.

The black 750 hadn’t been out a year. It went on sale on 19 Dec 2015, Sole Collector and Sneaker News reported. A fortnight later Nick Young had worn a pair for a half of NBA basketball at Staples Center, until he swapped them out at the break.

Kimmel’s fake Yeezy

The show Bryant was visiting had its own Yeezy history. In August 2016 Kimmel’s show gave some fans a “preview” of the Yeezy 1150. Sole Collector’s Zac Dubasik called it “a sneaker so exclusive that it doesn’t even exist”: it was an eBay pair in an adidas box, and the fans had no idea.

Three months later a World Series champion walked in wearing the real thing, and nobody had to pretend.