Detroit Tigers show off their shades in baseball sunglasses

The Detroit Tigers kicked off the 2024 season of spring training in Lakeland, Florida, on Valentine's Day, the first official day for the pitchers and catchers to report for practice.

It has been mostly sunny and warm ever since, with high temperatures in the 60s to mid-70s.

But the warm sun also gives a harsh light, prompting many players and coaches to wear baseball hats and sunglasses to shield their eyes from the dazzling sunlight.

According to the Baseball Hall of Fame’s website, the first professional baseball player to wear sunglasses can be traced to Paul Hines of the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the National League in 1888. An innovation came in 1912 when Fred Clarke of the Pittsburgh Pirates used nuts and bolts to create a device that allowed sunglasses to flip up under the brim of the baseball cap, solving the problem of regular glasses falling off.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said sunglasses are the norm on the field.

"I'm more surprised when I see a player play in the day without them than with them," Hinch said. "It's more unusual to see a player who doesn't wear them. A lot of that is the evolution of quality."

The Tigers’ new right-handed pitcher, Kenta Maeda, said he's wearing Oakley.

"It's one of the newer products. ... I've been wearing Oakley for some time, several years now," Maeda said. "The reason I chose that one is because of a gut feeling. It looks nice, looks cool."

Baseball sunglasses not only help players spot the ball in the sunlight and on the field, but they are also a fashion statement. Tigers shortstop Javier Báez said, "I've always used Oakley. It was kind of like a style before anything else. There are a lot of good glasses out there. But the ones that I used in the past when I was really young were Oakley, so I got to stick with it."

Since joining the Tigers three years ago, Báez’s sunglasses have made a signature look for him among the fans. Last season, the Tigers gave away Javy Baez sunglasses (probably not the actual Oakley ones) to 15,000 fans at Comerica Park on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

Free Press Tigers beat reporter Evan Petzold and columnist Jeff Seidel contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers show off their shades with baseball sunglasses