Sneakers and sac flies: Shoes are a way of life for Express manager Mickey Storey

Photo Credit: Zach Smith

Originally published on Aug. 17, 2019, in the Hill Country News.

Express manager Mickey Storey has an obsession that has nothing to do with baseball. 

It started off with his parents getting him one pair of shoes for the school year. He started getting more shoes as he got into high school and the collection continued to grow when he started making money playing baseball and meeting people from different companies. 

Next thing he knew, he had more than 400 pairs.

“I don’t view it as an obsession, but others would view it as one,” Storey said. “I can name Jordans off the top of my head and take you through all kinds of colorways. I’ve been to conventions and every time we go to a city with little boutiques, I’ll go through and check it out.”

His closet at his house is filled to the ceiling with boxes that spill out into his office, where he’s even built racks that hold certain pairs. Even in his office at Dell Diamond, the entire floor is covered with sneakers of all kinds. 

“It’s just not talked about as much (in baseball) because cleats are cleats,” Storey said. “You’ve seen some crossover lately being able to take some tennis shoes and throw cleats on the bottom.”

Almost bragging, Storey said he’s gotten one person into shoes every year he’s been in baseball. During his time with the Toronto Blue Jays, he and Ricky Romero got Marcus Stroman really into it. 

The list of sneakerheads in the big leads is long and includes Jeremy Guthrie and Pedro Alvarez. 

“I heard rumors about Storey,” Express infielder Nick Tanielu said. “I remembered thinking there was no way his collection is better than mine. He’s got a new pair every day. I was intrigued and I started buying some. Storey is the main reason I have so many shoes and why I’m spending too much money.”

Now that’s he’s a coach, he’s able to show them off on the diamond a little more often. Storey got a pair of James Harden Adidas shoes because they had pinstripes and he wanted to match the Express’ uniform with pinstripes. 

Alternate jerseys give him even more freedom to show off his collection. He has shoes with lime green piping for when the Express turn into the Chupacabras and also has multiple Astros-themed pairs for the throwback days. 

Some shoes see the field, others get special treatment. 

Storey was in San Antonio when a pair of exclusive Nike Off-Whites was shipped to Dell Diamond. He was really excited to get them, to say the least. 

“I wasn’t going to tell (the clubhouse manager) to bring them, but he was coming anyway,” Storey said. “I couldn’t wait to see that shoe so he brought them down for me and it was worth the wait just because I know how hard it was to get.”

Storey said he’s not into the reselling market. If he gets a few pairs of a certain kind, he’ll offload them to other sneakerhead friends with little to no uncharge. And he wears every shoe he buys. 

“If I really like it, I don’t care if the shoe costs $10,000, I’ll wear it every day,” Storey said. “I do have shoes I’ve never worn, but not by choice. It’s just because overstock or I haven’t got around to it.”

Storey grew up in an era that featured the talent and personalities like Michael Jordan, Dion Sanders and Ken Griffey, Jr. Storey views it as the all-time best era for sneakers and sneakerheads. 

“To have a pair of Jordans back then was a big deal,” he said. 

He was a huge fan of Jordan growing up and even had to meet the man and was starstruck when it happened. At a rehearsal dinner at Lynora's in West Palm Beach, he was told the MJ was coming in that night. 

“He’s sitting down below and I’m up top and I’m literally not eating,” Storey said. “I can’t get it out of my head that I’m finally getting to see Jordan. My wife was giving me a hard time to go say something to him.”

Jordan was watching the Charlotte Bobcats the entire time on his phone, but Storey used his kid as an excuse to talk to him and they talked about baseball for a good five minutes. 

Storey says the shoe buying has calmed down a little bit, but he still regularly texts with Round Rock players about the newest shoe to drop and it isn’t uncommon for them to be searching shoe websites on a Saturday morning. 

It’s an obsession that runs in the family - or one they support at the very least. 

When he met his wife in college, he already had a good-sized collection, with four or five boxes wide all the way up to the roof. By the time they moved into an apartment, the stacks had turned into a room full of boxes. 

“I would camp out on Saturdays for shoes and if I had a game or something, she would camp out,” Storey said. “She’s met up with people in parking lots on shoe deals I’ve set up when I wasn’t in town. People ask her all the time if she’s ok with it and she always says that there could be worse things.”

That doesn’t stop her from going a friendly suggestion every once in a while to cut back from four to two new pairs in a month. The younger members of the Storey family can even be caught in the dugout sporting Jordans. 

“I don’t have a whole lot of hobbies,” Storey said. “People ask me what I do outside of baseball. Yeah, I like playing golf, but other than that, I buy shoes.”