It hopefully won’t come as too much of a dig, nor a stretch, to say that baseball is not particularly known for being fashion-forward. Especially compared to basketball or football, it’s known for being one of the least swaggy sports we’ve got. But a baseball style moment has been a long time coming—just ask Mookie Betts. And compared to their NBA and NFL brethren, Major League Baseball players have a leg up in that they’re allowed to wear jewelry during the game. That's mostly meant that icy statement necklaces have found their place on the field. But Atlanta Braves outfielder Joc Pederson, who’s taken to wearing a string of pearls to the plate, is upping the ante.
The impish, well-liked Pederson insists there’s no big story here, no deeper meaning behind the accessory. (And even in the realm of sports and fashion, the choice reads less “nuanced gender critique" and a little more “white boy swag.”) But baseball being baseball, he’s still fielding plenty of questions about it. “It’s a mystery for everyone,” Pederson said after a recent game, a cigar in his hand like a goofy villain (or just a guy celebrating a division title). “They’ll never know.” A few days later, he told reporters that he wears the necklace simply because he is “a bad bitch.” It’s all joie de vivre, baby.
If Pinterest quote graphics are to be believed, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis once said, “Pearls are always appropriate”—an adage that has only become more true over the course of the men’s jewelry renaissance. At first, pearls may seem like the mere WASPy ancestor to the kooky beaded necklace, as seen on the necks of Jaden Smith and Pete Davidson, though it really all depends on how you wear it. Either way, the well-styled likes of A$AP Rocky, Justin Bieber, and Harry Styles have helped champion a delicate strand as one of the must-have accessories of the year. But that isn’t exactly what Pederson is opting for here. In a sort of delightful way, Pederson pairing some cartoonishly big pearls (less Jackie O, more Mardi Gras) with his sweaty baseball jersey gives off a different vibe entirely, more akin to a fratty offshoot of the dirtbag prep era. Two trends for the price of one.
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At least one of the Atlanta Braves players wearing pearls catches the attention of just about everyone and it’s certainly an odd fashion choice for baseball.
MLB players wearing jewelry is nothing new. We see chains, bracelets and many other things throughout a baseball game. But the Atlanta Braves, at least one of them, has gone to the next level.
Joc Pederson has been wearing pearls as of late as he takes the diamond. And it’s a choice that has many people quite curious as to what’s happening.
Truth be told, there isn’t a real reason why Joc Pederson is wearing pearls, at least not one the outfielder is willing to share.
He’s given reasons like that he’s a “bad b—-“ and that it’s also a “mystery” to him as well. So we may never know, but he’s certainly catching eyes for doing it.
Pederson, of course, joined the Atlanta Braves at the MLB Trade Deadline after he was left in the wilderness by the Dodgers in free agency and signed with the Cubs, who then had a fire sale at the deadline. Since then, he’s been a huge power boost for the Braves, especially in the playoffs as he’s unleashed a couple of big homers.
Perhaps it’s the power of wearing the pearls that’s fueling him.
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A pearl necklace can be an ideal accessory for many formal occasions. A fancy night out. A wedding. A baseball game?
For Braves outfielder Joc Pederson, he'll take the latter. Pederson has been spotted wearing a pearl necklace during games this postseason, and he's been having success while wearing it. On Monday, he collected his third hit in as many pinch-hit at-bats this postseason and his second home run.
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"It's a mystery for everyone, they'll never know," Pederson said, with a cigar in hand, after his team clinched the NL East Division on Sept. 30.
Why does Joc Pederson wear a pearl necklace?
Pederson has occasionally gone further than leaving it as a mystery, but his explanations aren't as deep as one might want.
At one point, he told The Athletic's David O'Brien that it's because he's "a bad b—."
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According to MLB.com's Mark Bowman, Pederson explained that there's "not much behind" his decision to wear it.
"I like it. It looks good," Pederson said.
The first time he was seen wearing it came on Sept. 30 when his team clinched the division. Since then, he's hit three home runs, with one coming in the final game of the regular season in the team's penultimate game of the regular season and two in the first three games of the postseason.
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As long as he keeps on hitting dingers, there will certainly be no one complaining about his choice of accessory.
ATLANTA — Here in Atlanta, they've now become the kind of fan-kitsch staple accessory that, say, panda hats once were in San Francisco, or rally monkeys were in Anaheim - pearl necklaces. Outfielder Joc Pederson is the reason after he began wearing pearls during games toward the end of the season.
Pederson has generally been nonplussed about all the media attention that followed his pearls, but it's only about to ramp up now that the Braves are in the World Series.
So what's the deal? Is there any definitive reason why he wears them?
The short answer is not really. He just likes them.
He was coy about it at first, insisting their origin story would be a "mystery for everyone, they'll never know," during a game broadcast at the end of September. A few days later though he gave away the "secret," telling Major League Baseball's Mark Bowman for the league's official website that there really wasn't much, well, secret to it.:
“I like it. It looks good... It wasn’t something that was supposed to get this much media attention,” he told Bowman. “It’s just something that I like. It’s getting blown way out of proportion.”
Sports Illustrated spoke to Pederson's jeweler, Gabe Arik, who gave a few more details into how the pearls came to be.
He said Pederson - who also uses Drake's "Way 2 Sexy" as his walk-up music - told him he wanted to "do something really different" that would "make a nice fashion statement."
Mission accomplished. The jeweler was perhaps as nonplussed as Pederson, telling SI that he'd probably value them at around $4,000 - comparing that to the much more extravagant pieces of jewelry he's supplied Pederson with that could run 10 times that in value.
It's not just a media thing anymore, though: Fans all over Truist Park at Game 6 on Saturday night were donning pearls. It's a social media thing, too:
"I don't know," the jeweler told SI. "Everybody's talking about it, everybody's wearing it.”
If Joc and his jeweler think the attention is weird now, just wait 'til he steps up to the plate during the World Series.
Look good, play good.
That seems to be the mantra for Joc Pederson this postseason.
The Atlanta Braves outfielder debuted a pearl necklace in late September and has been wearing it throughout the team’s run to its first World Series appearance since 1999. While chains and other jewelry commonly shine on the diamond, what led Pederson to rock pearls?
The 29-year-old didn’t offer much of an explanation after the Braves clinched their NL East title on Sept. 30:
Pederson homered during his final regular season appearance, a 6-5 win over the New York Mets. Following the game, he dove a smidge deeper into his “mystery.”
“There’s not much behind [the pearl necklace],” Pederson said (H/T MLB.com’s Mark Bowman). “I like it. It looks good.
“It wasn’t something that was supposed to get this much media attention. It’s just something that I like. It’s getting blown way out of proportion.”
On one other occasion, Pederson responded to a question about the pearls by saying he’s a “bad b****.”
On top of being a “bad b****,” he’s been a bad man at the plate when given the opportunity in the playoffs. He got a hit in his first three postseason plate appearances, all as a pinch-hitter, and ripped two home runs. The second long ball was a three-run shot that made up all the offense in a 3-0 Game 3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. That victory gave the Braves a 2-1 lead in the NLDS and they knocked out the Brewers the next evening.
Pederson kept his hot streak going in Game 2 of the NLCS against the team he played for from 2015 to 2020, the Los Angeles Dodgers. He took Max Scherzer deep with a game-tying, two-run homer in the fourth inning of a contest the Braves wound up walking off.
The pearls trend has spread throughout the Braves franchise. The team began selling replica pearls around Truist Park and Braves legend Dale Murphy pulled a set out of his pocket before throwing the ceremonial first pitch before the Game 2 win.
The Braves eliminated the Dodgers in six games to earn their trip to the Fall Classic, where they are now matched up against the Houston Astros. Pederson has faced the Astros in this stage before, losing to Houston in seven games with the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series. His power was on display in that series, too, as he crushed three home runs.
Beginning with Game 1 on Tuesday, Pederson has a chance to earn his second straight championship and get another World Series ring to match his pearls.