words_Nick Engvall

Looking at the Eastbay Baseball catalog of 1994, it is clear that Bo Jackson’s return to the diamond, artificial hip and all, was one of the biggest stories in sports at the time. As one of the only two-sport athletes to reach all-star levels in each sport, Jackson’s abilities were not only unbelievable on the field, but also immortalized in video games of the day. Jackson returned to baseball, in a way that only he could, playing for the Chicago White Sox and winning the 1993 American League Comeback Player of the Year.

Bo Jackson may have made his return in the incredibly high-cut Nike Air Show cleats, but another two-sport star stole the show with his flashy footwear in 1994. Deion Sanders performed his double duties in the shoe now known as the Air Diamond Turf, but when it came to baseball cleats, his Air 24 Diamond from 1994 is one of the most overlooked and underrated designs of all time.

Another notable from the Nike baseball cleats of 1994 is the Air Clipper XTR Hi. The XTR Hi used a sockliner that was also seen on the Nike Air Carnivore back then. Even with the extra support and extra height of the neoprene bootie, the Air Clipper XTR Hi still fell short of the ankle heights of shoes like the Nike Air Show Hi and Nike Field General Hi. Times have definitely changed, and it’s a safe bet that we won’t be seeing anything in our MLB Watch that towers like the ankle heights did in 1994.

Check out the latest Eastbay Memory Lane visit below.