There's no doubt on which side of the cats vs. dogs debate Tony Gonsolin falls.
The Dodgers right-hander has taken his love of feline friends to a whole new level. During his relief outing Saturday against the Braves in Game 1 of the NLCS, Gonsolin was spotted wearing cat-themed cleats.
The cleats featured pictures of cats and furry laces.
Tony Gonsolin's cleats are purrrrfect 🐱 pic.twitter.com/f13sdyDpLH
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 17, 2021
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Why does Tony Gonsolin wear cat cleats?
This is certainly not a recent thing for Gonsolin.
Back in 2019, Gonsolin began to wear cat shirts in spring training every Saturday, according to Oklahoma City Dodgers beat writer Brian Brown. Saturday, for Gonsolin, has become known as "Caturday."
"Every single Saturday is just a day to bring appreciation to cats," Gonsolin said, according to Brown. "It's very easy to rhyme 'cat' with 'sat,' so Caturday just flows easily. It's just a day to wear a shirt that has a cat on it."
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So of course, with the Dodgers starting the NLCS on a "Caturday," he had to bust out the cleats.
And this is not the first time he has worn these cleats. He wore them against the Padres on Sept. 30, a Thursday.
Tony Gonsolin's cleats are next-gen. pic.twitter.com/EHLHJzEOL9
— Chance Glasco (@ChanceGlasco) October 1, 2021
Last year, he donned different cat-themed cleats. Those just had pictures of a cat near the heel, which prompted the Fox Sports broadcast to call Gonsolin "half-man, half-cat" and play "Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent heading into a commercial break during the game.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Gonsolin autographed the cleats and had them auctioned off to benefit minor leaguers.
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"I'm definitely doing it just for the cause," Gonsolin said. "That's more important to me than having the actual cleats in my possession."
Brown reports, however, that this doesn't mean Gonsolin dislikes dogs. He just prefers cats.
"I've always had cats, always had dogs, so I'm pretty even with both of them," Gonsolin told Brown. "I can't really say I side with either one, but I'd say I lean a little bit more towards cats."
