Drew Brees honors baseball icons on cleats

It may have been Super Wild Card Weekend in the NFL, but it’s always a good time to talk baseball, regardless of the month or season. Saints quarterback Drew Brees brought the two sports together on Sunday -- with his cleats. The custom shoes he wore when New Orleans advanced past the Bears with a 21-9 victory featured some of his favorite baseball players, according to a tweet from the Saints.

The cleats had the Saints’ black and gold color scheme, with four baseball Hall of Famers’ images, names and numbers -- one on the inside and one on the outside of each shoe. They featured Ken Griffey Jr. in a Mariners uniform and Satchel Paige in his Monarchs’ No. 25. There was also Nolan Ryan with the Rangers, a fellow Texan like Brees.

The final player was Ted Williams, whose No. 9 is the reason that Brees dons that digit for the Saints.

When Brees played in the 2016 All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game, he said: “Ted Williams was always my guy. Purest hitter of all time, the Splendid Splinter.”