Baseball players tend to wear their socks in different styles. Unlike other professional and amateur leagues, baseball players may wear their socks however they’d like. It’s all personal preference and comfort of how the baseball player would like to wear them.
Baseball players will wear their socks in three different forms: high, low, and stirrups. The player or team themselves typically decides on the socks to create a uniform look.
This article will examine how baseball players wear their socks when taking the diamond and the different styles worn.
Types Of Baseball Socks
High Socks
Players may have their pants pulled all the way up to their calf, exposing their long socks. This is the high sock look that we rarely see in today’s game.
Baseball players will pull their pants over their calves to fully expose the high socks. This look was made famous during the ’80s and ’90s by players who were prolific base stealers.
Ricky Henderson, arguably the greatest base-stealer of all time, could always be seen wearing high socks.
High socks are great for a few reasons.
- More comfortable on a hot day due to the ventilation through the socks
- Many players feel as if the long pants look give resistance to players running at maximum speed. This helps the pants feel more natural.
Wearing high socks in baseball requires the player to simply pull up the baseball pants over the calf muscle, which will stay up when running.
The baseball pants must have some sort of elastic at the bottom of the pants. That way, it will hug the top of the calf. If the pants are open-bottomed, it will be tough to pull the pants up over the calf, as they will continue to slip down.
Low Socks
Low socks are the most common way baseball players wear their pants. It’s the cleanest look and has been adopted by pretty much every MLB player.
Baseball players are known for having a clean uniform, with a flat-brimmed hat, sunglasses on top, and pants that go all way down to the ankle.
For example, one of the best baseball players in the world, Mike Trout, can be seen rocking this look. For players used to the feel of the pants being all the way down, we recommend the low socks look, as it’s the cleanest.
The player should still have some sort of high or mid-calf sock to wear the low socks look. This will help the back of the calf when sliding into a base. Simply let the pants down to the shoe. Make sure the pants fit you properly and aren’t dragging on the ground. The pants should sit on top of the cleat and a few inches off the ground in the back.
This is the clean and proper look for a new-aged baseball player, and infielders and outfielders can often be seen with the low sock look.
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Stirrups
The stirrup look has long been retired. It can often be seen when MLB players sport a vintage look for the team’s throwback uniforms. The stirrups are a thin piece of cloth that actually goes under the foot’s heel and connects to the calf.
Stirrups are rarely seen in today’s game and, quite honestly, are a pain to wear. If a player slides into second or third base, the stirrup usually falls off the heel. This requires a player to take off their shoe, fix it, and then retie the shoe.
If you’re going for a vintage look, stirrups are recommended. However, we would use this sock option as the 3rd and final option before exercising the first two options.
Stirrups should be worn with a high sock. The stirrup goes on over the heel and rests on the top of the calf. The stirrup gives a stripe sock look, which will look clean from afar.
This look has died down as teams will simply go to a striped sock or simply eliminate the sock in general and strictly for the low sock look.
Players don’t typically wear stirrups in baseball anymore, as it’s an outdated look.
Conclusion
Baseball players will often wear three types of socks: high socks, low socks, and stirrups.
Baseball programs and coaches can recommend what each player needs to look like. However, it’s typically up to the baseball player what style of sock will be shown.
High socks are typically worn for players who steal bases and don’t want to feel restricted when running. Low socks are a much cleaner look for the player when playing both in the field and outfield. Stirrups are treated as a high sock look. However, they have an extra piece of cloth that can be felt under the heel.
What is your favorite sock look? Let us know in the comment section below what you sport during game day!