It’s a girl!
Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt was seen wearing pink shoelaces on the mound during their 4-3 loss to the Phillies on Saturday.
Though it was a bold uniform choice for shoelaces, this was no ordinary game for the right-hander.
Pfaadt wore them to deliver a gender reveal for his brother’s unborn child back in Kentucky.
“You may note that Brandon is wearing pink laces on his cleats for this afternoon’s start,” Arizona television play-by-play man Steve Berthiaume said as Pfaadt took the mound. “These are not ordinary laces.
“This is a special note from Brandon and his younger brother Brett for Brett’s wife, Hannah, and their whole family: ‘We are pleased to announce that Brandon is wearing specially selected gender-reveal shoelaces. So congratulations Brett and Hannah. It’s a girl!’”
Following the game, Pfaadt said he was happy to help with the reveal, and it was “special” to be included.
“It’s special for him to ask me that, and for me to be able to do it,” Pfaadt told reporters, according to MLB.com. “I’m a proud older brother. It’s the first baby in the family, so it’s something to look forward to for the whole family. And we’re just happy for them.”
He added that although he loved the idea when his brother first asked him about it, they had to work out exactly how he would pull it off.
“Well, first he wanted me to use a pink glove,” Pfaadt said. “I said, ‘I can’t do that.’ Then, pink cleats. I was like, ‘How about we go shoelaces?’ And so we kind of met in the middle, and it worked out.”
Pfaadt’s wife found the shoelaces last week during the Diamondbacks’ series against the Mets.
The shoelaces did not help much with Pfaddt’s performance on the mound, however, as he picked up the loss for Saturday’s game after giving up three earned runs through six innings.