How Michael Lorenzen pitched a no-hitter in skateboard sneakers

The Phillies starter made history while wearing a pair of regular Vans with cleats custom-built into the bottom.

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen wore custom-made Vans during his no-hitter against the Nationals.Read moreMatt Slocum / AP

Published Aug. 11, 2023, 12:07 p.m. ET

Michael Lorenzen no longer liked the way his baseball cleats felt, believing the usual companies that outfit major leaguers had lost a step. He grew up riding skateboards in Southern California and shares his hometown with the original Vans skate shop. Maybe, Lorenzen thought, he could just pitch in the major leagues wearing the skateboard sneakers he wore away from the field.

And that’s why a pair of white Vans — sneakers intended more for landing ollies than firing fastballs — is headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Lorenzen threw the 14th no-hitter in Phillies history on Wednesday and it’s safe to say he’s the first to do it in a pair of skateboard sneakers.

Lorenzen sends his Vans to Custom Cleats, a company owned by former big-league pitcher Jeremy Guthrie that makes the sneakers suitable for digging into a mound by attaching cleats to the outsole. Guthrie pitched 13 years in the majors, won a World Series in 2015 with Kansas City, and was known around baseball for his sneaker collection and the cleats he wore.

“In Philly, you know P.J. Tucker as a sneakerhead,” said Bryan Smith, who owns the company with Guthrie. “Jeremy is kind of the P.J. Tucker of the baseball world. If you look at basketball, kids can wear a Kobe Bryant, a Paul George, a LeBron James. They can wear whatever they want and express themselves. In baseball, it’s never been like that. Very few players have signature cleats these days and if you go to sporting goods stores there’s not a lot of options, so for us it’s a way to allow people to express themselves.”

The company is based in Long Island and was launched in 2005 by Anthony Ambrosini, who spent four seasons in the Expos’ farm system. Ambrosini’s brother Dominick was dealing with a stress fracture in his foot, so Ambrosini turned basketball sneakers into cleats as a way to ease his discomfort.

Ambrosini sold the company to Guthrie — who pitched in cleats made by Ambrosini — and Smith, but he is still the one who transforms the sneakers at a shop in New York. A customer can send any pair of shoes to Ambrosini and he’ll turn them into cleats.

The company makes cleats for big leaguers, little leaguers, and beer leaguers. They transform cleats for golfers and lacrosse players, and even some NFL quarterbacks order from them. Usually they’re transforming basketball shoes like Air Jordans and not skateboard shoes.

“For him to have the confidence to go out there in Vans and perform at that level, that’s pretty unique,” Smith said. “Usually, they’re athletic-basketball type shoes and the players prefer the comfort and the feel and the performance. For Michael, it’s more about the Vans and where he’s from and who he is.”

Lorenzen has pitched in Vans — the first skate shoe Tony Hawk purchased — since 2020. He first wore high-tops with the Reds before shifting mainly to low-top UltraRange, which were the Vans he wore for the no-hitter against Washington. He pitched in a pair of orange-and-blue Vans earlier this season with Detroit and the sneaker company designed a custom pair for him last month to match his All-Star Game uniform in Seattle.

“It was so last-minute that Vans shipped us the pairs directly for us to convert them,” Smith said. “We then hand-delivered them to him in Seattle.”

Lorenzen wore plain white Vans for his first two starts with the Phillies since being acquired before the trade deadline. But now those shoes are headed to Cooperstown, N.Y. — “I keep telling my wife like it’s Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and then the custom Vans,” Smith said — so the pitcher will need a new pair. Lorenzen’s next start is Aug. 18. He knows where to call.

“My brother said the good thing about this is that he’s going to need another pair,” Smith said.