“What’s the purpose of this, to embarrass me?”
Buck Showalter is sitting in the visiting manager’s office at Nationals Park, going through his locker and talking fashion. Yes, you heard that right. The no-nonsense Showalter is more into clothing than he’d like to admit. The fit, the feel, the look of what he wears in the dugout is as meticulously selected as everything else he does on the field.
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“You want to talk about jackets?” Showalter is rifling through several pieces of the outerwear that has become his staple in three decades as manager. “Anyone can wear this.”
Not exactly. As is almost always the case with the Mets manager — who turns 67 today — the details matter. The little things aren’t overlooked. Almost everything Showalter wears has been altered or customized to his liking.
“He is 100 percent into fashion, but he wants to be subtle with it. He cares about details and about being under the radar with it,” said Francisco Lindor, who spent a flight earlier this year talking about custom dress shirts with Showalter. “He’s very fashion-driven, but old-school fashion-driven.”
On Sunday, the Mets players wore black sweatsuits to travel in, which Showalter had made in three different colors (along with blue and orange). Reviews were mixed, sources say. After seeing Lindor’s “Coming to America” Mets-themed jacket (debuted in 2021), Showalter tried to get them custom-made for the rest of the team, too. There were some in-seam issues, however.
Good morning, my neighbors! #Coming2America @Lindor12BC pic.twitter.com/hUsL8GuDqE
— New York Mets (@Mets) February 25, 2021
The Athletic did an investigation into Showalter’s wardrobe, offering anonymity if needed given the sensitive nature of this topic.
“He’ll say it’s not important or he doesn’t care about it,” said reliever Tommy Hunter, who also was with Showalter in Baltimore. “That’s bulls–––. It’s like his uniform going into battle. That’s his trademark right? That (jacket), this (makes a serious face) and the front pocket. He’s got a look.”
The Jacket
Nothing is as synonymous with Showalter’s on-field look as his jacket.
When he was a rookie manager with the Yankees in the early 1990s, Showalter got all of his coaches custom-made Starter jackets. The company had a plant in his hometown in Florida and Showalter made friends with the family. He says he did it in his next stop, Arizona, too. That was before the league tightened up rules governing what could be worn on the field. Now, you have to wear MLB-issued stuff.
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Showalter does technically wear MLB-issued stuff, but none of it is new. He instead wears previously OK’ed items from years ago, a loophole he thinks drives the league nuts and one they’ll probably try to close when he’s done managing.
“I know the head clubbie KK (Kevin Kierst) would not go to yard sales but look at thrift shops for old Mets stuff and try to get a cool one-of-a-kind windbreaker for him,” said Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams, who was with the Mets last year. “He was looking at eBay and Craigslist for jackets.”
Shopping for Showalter is simple: find something unique and, if he likes it, buy a boatload so you don’t run out.
No one can quite figure out the pattern to the jackets. If the Mets are winning, you’d think Showalter would ride with the same one but he doesn’t. He’s not superstitious so much as he’s detail-oriented. On Fridays, he likes to wear black. But the rest of the rotation — there are usually two or three jackets in his locker — appears totally random. There are heavier and lighter jackets, the latter of which have the lining removed to keep them even cooler during the summer months. The elastic inside is also adjusted.
“It’s too long (otherwise),” Showalter said. “I’m 5-foot-10. Does that qualify as custom?”
What Showalter wears under the jacket is a source of great debate. The only photos of him in the team’s uniform top are from the Mets’ official photo day in spring training.
“And maybe a commercial?” Williams said.
“I’m not going to say he does or doesn’t wear (the uniform), for politically correct reasons,” Hunter said.
Showalter grins.
“You’re going to get me in trouble,” he said. “Let’s just say, when they do those (game-worn) giveaways during the season, whoever gets mine, it’s a really new jersey.”
The guys tried to rip off Buck's jacket 😂 pic.twitter.com/Kz4s7Xn2tq
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) June 25, 2022
Last year, the Mets tried to rip off Showalter’s jacket after a win. They were unsuccessful.
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“It’s the same style jacket since probably his Yankee days, just changing the logo,” said Lindor, who was one of the players trying to get the jacket off. “We were trying to get him out of that serious state he’s in. He’s not serious at all, but he acts like he’s serious.”
The Secret Pocket
“The pocket,” first base coach Wayne Kirby, who has been on Showalter’s big-league staff since 2011, laughs. “Everybody gives him a hard time about the pocket.”
Showalter’s pants have a special sewn-in pocket on the front called a stopwatch pocket. Decades ago, it was more commonplace and made for easy storage for players and managers to house their cigarettes. Showalter said former Yankees manager Billy Martin moved the pocket to the pants after they got in trouble with the league for the cigarette pocket inside the chest.
“That was the way they (the pants) were made for the Yankees then,” Showalter said. “I don’t ask for it (now), it’s just in there.”
(Showalter with the Yankees in 1994. Photo: Chuck Solomon/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images/Getty Images)But Showalter doesn’t smoke cigarettes and hasn’t been with the Yankees since 1995. Surely, he could — and would — get rid of it if he didn’t like the pocket. (Multiple sources say it is sewn specifically for him.)
“I put a few other things in there,” Showalter said, declining to say exactly what.
“Sparky Anderson had a great line once. I said, ‘Sparky, you ever get nervous anymore?’ He was really old at the time. He goes, ‘Young man, let me tell you a story. My clubhouse guy who has been with me forever gives me half a cup of coffee when I’m going out for the game and half a cup of coffee when the game ends. Ask me why they give me half a cup of coffee.’ And I said ‘why?’ and he goes, ‘Because I shake out the top half.’ I think Sparky was trying to make a young manager feel good, but maybe that was the case. Maybe that’s what pockets are for. My hands don’t shake. But they might one day.”
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The Accessories
This spring, Eduardo Escobar had custom belts made for Showalter and other members of the team’s coaching and training staff with each person’s name and number inscribed on the inside in blue. Escobar is a fan of custom belts and reaches into his locker to proudly show off one made with the colors of the Venezuelan flag, Escobar’s home country. He used the same company to make the Mets ones.
Showalter does proudly show off the belt hanging in his locker, a considerable upgrade from the plain black standard one. He also points out the special shoes he wears only when Kodai Senga starts.
“They are Japanese, but they hurt my feet like hell,” he said. “I took them off during the game the first time I wore them. I had to get inner soles.”
Hunter offers a different version of events.
“Every time now he wears Senga shoes,” Hunter said. “But (Senga) hadn’t been good (the first time), so (Showalter) threw that pair away. He’s so funny with his little things.”
Showalter remains baffled why anyone would want to read this story and why this reporter is sitting in his office asking him about clothing.
“All these guys do stuff,” he said. “One of the biggest days of the year is when the uniform guys come in the spring. Do you just buy stuff off a rack and wear it?”
“People that design this stuff for MLB, they aren’t designed for a 67-year-old man. They design them for the players,” he continued. “Once in a while l look at stuff and go, ‘I’m not wearing that. I’m not trying to look 25′ when I’m 60-plus.”
Two weeks into his tenure with the Orioles, the team wore all orange uniforms in St. Petersburg as part of the Rays’ throwback event. Showalter was part of the Orioles’ push to bring back the team’s “angry bird” logo. He also wanted the team to get hats that had “B” scripted on them. He was unsuccessful at that during his tenure there, though the Orioles’ recently revealed City Connect uniforms have exactly that.
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“He’s different,” Kirby said. “Who else do you see wearing (vintage) jackets like that? That’s him. That’s his style.”
Showalter demurs. “It’s a lot cooler and more comfortable than a jersey,” he said. “You know how many hours they spend making sure a football jersey or basketball is playable? With baseball …” he stops, interrupted by a front office person coming in with a sheet of statistics about players’ off days and that night’s game that Showalter requested.
A few minutes later, he’s back again, discussing the custom dress shirts his friend makes for him and how — after some cajoling — Showalter allowed him to put his initials on them. But only if he did it in the same color as the shirt.
“Lindor was saying it was under-the-radar class,” Showalter said. “I like that.”
And then, before he gets caught caring too much about what he wears, he leans back in his chair and shakes his head.
“Who is going to read this story?” Showalter said, again. “Must be a slow news day.”
(Top photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
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