St. Louis Cardinals: Jack Flaherty honors Brock, Gibson with cleats

Jack Flaherty is the St. Louis Cardinals’ Opening Day starting pitcher, and he will be wearing cleats to honor multiple team legends. He revealed on Instagram that he will be sporting a pair of new cleats to honor Lou Brock and Bob Gibson, two Cardinals Hall of Famers who passed away in 2020.

The cleats, which come from Kickasso Kustoms, are one way that Flaherty plans to tribute both players this season. He had a relationship with Gibson and after pitching on the day Gibson passed on Oct. 2 in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, he was emotional discussing that friendship.

“All I can say is I’m incredibly thankful to have had a relationship with him and to have learned what I learned from him,” Flaherty said after pitching on the day of Gibson’s passing, via Zachary Silver of MLB.com “… He was a legend, first and foremost. Somebody who I was lucky enough to develop a relationship with, was lucky enough to learn from. And you don’t get that from people like that very often. You don’t get the opportunity to learn from somebody of that caliber and somebody who is that good very often.”

This season is Flaherty’s most important since coming to the majors, and he is hoping to bounce back from a down 2020 season in which he finished with a 4.91 ERA. Both the organization and Flaherty are optimistic that will happen, with Flaherty telling FanSided that he is hopeful revamping his diet will help him get through the 162-game season.

That process will begin for Flaherty in less than 24 hours. And if he is able to regain his pre-2020 form, where he established himself as one of the best young pitchers in baseball, the Cardinals rotation — and team as a whole — will be in much better position to compete with the likes of the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.