ESPN surprises player with awesome birthday gift

Baltimore Orioles star Gunnar Henderson was featured on Sunday Night Baseball with an in-game interview with the broadcast booth.

But before this , Henderson received a generous gift for his birthday from ESPN play-by-play voice Karl Ravech.

Ravech spoke with Henderson and Orioles star catcher Adley Rutschman ahead of the Orioles series finale against the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

During the pre-game interview, Henderson was gifted a pair of custom cleats by Ravech and the rest of the Sunday Night Baseball crew at ESPN, which features a Lego version of Henderson.

Henderson was thrilled with the gift, proclaiming he would wear the cleats in Sunday’s game.

“Those are sweet,” said Henderson. “It’s got my mustache on there. That’s me with a Lego head. These are awesome. They will definitely be worn tonight, so stay tuned. Thank you!”

The cleats were made by custom shoe designer Marcus Rivero, who goes by the alias “SolesBySir,” per a request from Sunday Night Baseball color analyst Eduardo Perez. In a message relayed by The Baltimore Banner, Henderson issued a public shoutout to Rivero for the gift he said he was “blown away by.”

“When I opened it up, I was blown away by them,” said Henderson. “They’re unreal. They’re pretty awesome. The Lego people on the shoestrings, I was told they will stay on. When we’re playing out there tonight, if something falls off, I may have to get it. But I was told they would stay on.”

Unfortunately, the cleats were perhaps more for show than for actual on-field performance. Henderson made a cleat change midway through the game after some of the Lego pieces on the shoestrings of the cleats fell off mid-game.

However, Henderson didn’t blame Rivero for this, joking that any pair of cleats wouldn’t have helped his performance on Sunday night.

“Even the cleats change didn’t help me tonight,” Henderson said.

[ ESPN PR on X , The Baltimore Banner ]

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