GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Miguel Rojas was one of many kids growing up in the 1990s who wanted to be like Mike.
Rojas drew attention on Tuesday -- which also happened to be his 37th birthday -- for wearing a pair of Air Jordans that resembled cleats that Michael Jordan himself wore in his short-lived professional baseball career.
But His Airness was not actually the main source of inspiration behind the black-and-white throwbacks. Rojas was instead paying tribute to some of the great baseball players he grew up watching in the '90s: Ken Griffey Jr., Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar, to name a few.
"I grew up watching those players, and I grew up wanting those shoes," Rojas said. "It's really hard to get them because they're not making them anymore."
Big leaguers were restricted in the shoe colors they could wear until 2019, when the "51 percent rule" was lifted. Nowadays, players can freely express themselves down to their cleats.
Rojas is known for his large sneaker collection, which heavily features Air Jordans. In his final season before retirement, the veteran infielder wanted to kick it old school and mix in some cleats that hail back to the era of baseball from when he first started watching.
Since he was looking for a style that isn't commonly sold anymore, Rojas had to go the custom route. He partnered with Born to Create, a company that works with athletes and celebrities to make shoes and apparel, to bring his vision to life. The creative process ended up being a little old school as well: Rojas searched online for shoe catalogues from the '90s to find some styles he liked, then sent the reference images to Born to Create.
The shoes Rojas wore on Tuesday -- along with the others in his collection -- are Jordan 1s, designed in the style of the '90s, with nods to both basketball and baseball. The effect is such that Rojas said people have come up to him asking where he got the shoes, and he's had to explain that they're not vintage, but a new, custom creation.
"I think it's pretty cool, something different," Rojas said. "The people who know about that time of the game, they'll know the pattern."
Rojas has carved out some baseball history for himself in a dozen big league seasons. He played the unlikely hero in last year's World Series, making some key defensive plays and hitting a game-tying home run in Game 7 before the Dodgers came all the way back to defend their title.
That night, his Dodgers teammates said it was great to see the game honor him after a long, but understated, career in baseball. And this year, Rojas is honoring the game right back, down to his shoe choice.
"I'm just trying to pay a little tribute," he said, "to the people who played the game before me."