Mid Base Shoes

[UMP45]

Anyone have any idea why mid base shoes have stopped being produced? The only ones I know of are the Mizuno but they are just too ugly.

[The Man in Blue]

Because they are

 

 

 

😁

[MadMax]

On 9/11/2025 at 3:33 PM, UMP45 said:

Anyone have any idea why mid base shoes have stopped being produced?

Because no one (of the “major” brand manufacturers) cares about us. 

To the point, you can thank Nike for causing this… or, even more to the point, UnderArmour for backing out of the deal that would have made them the overall MLB supplier. 
 If we really want to go down an off-field rabbit hole, we can get into Private Equity and corporate buyouts… but… that is way outside this forum. 
Anyway, with Nike replacing Majestic as overall supplier, that forced New Balance out as an officially -endorsed footwear supplier, a position they had occupied exclusively since ca. 2014 (2013?) when Reebok’s parent Adidas pulled Reebok out of baseball. New Balance dramatically reduced their model lineup and variety in relation to that, and it coincided with the Pandemic & precipitating supply-chain issues. 
At the same time, Nike identified that their Jordan subsidiary was “getting more play” and creating more SM recognition than any turf shoes they had. Sure, there were guys who wore (and favored) black turf shoes that were used for lacrosse, football, and some for baseball (Trout’s line of shoes), but the bolder the colors, the more fervor (ie. sales and SM bursts) they generated. Even if football officials – with more widespread use on turf – requested black, when’s the last time you saw a football official wearing mid-top shoes?? 
Pro baseball umpires were more “invested” in Jordans, so there was no pressing need of Nike to make any bonafide shoe designs – turf, grass or otherwise – in (conservative) black. 

Then, too, what to do regarding plate shoes?  
I’ve been privy to other enterprising guys reaching out to Nike with design proposals for plate shoes, and each one has been dismissed. Nike has no prerogative to produce – from scratch – a line of plate shoes. So, somehow, Mizuno USA was approached and a deal was brokered to allow Mizuno USA to be a “secondary supplier” for footwear for MLBUs. 

Within that, Mizuno USA is beholden to its parent Mizuno JP, and only has so many turf models it can work with, most often sharing with for-players models. And while Mizuno has solid presence in soccer, field hockey, baseball (and softball), these are all sports that have little need for a mid-top model offering.