Drip you can drop: The surprisingly affordable accessory sweeping baseball

Wander Franco is 22 years old, the star shortstop for the best team in baseball this year and the owner of a contract that could be worth more than $200 million, which he inked before he’d been in the bigs for a year. Even his braces are color-coordinated, and his routine plays are full of flair. Naturally, he pairs his MVP-caliber play with a diamond-encrusted “5” the size of a baby’s fist.

And lately, he has been pairing that bold display of disposable income with a strand of chunky, bright pink or yellow baubles.

“When I saw that, I was like, ‘What the hell?!’ This guy is wearing my necklace that’s 100 bucks with, like, an $80,000 — or more — necklace!” said Milton Ramos, the minor-leaguer-turned-entrepreneur who designs the bright, beaded necklaces being worn by a growing cadre of young players.

“That necklace that Franco is wearing, everybody thinks it’s real [diamonds] because it’s Franco,” Ramos told Yahoo Sports on a recent phone call. “That necklace is, like, a million dollars if you were to make it real!”

Ramos was drafted by the New York Mets in the third round of the 2014 MLB Draft. In the minors, he accessorized with multicolored rosaries and the classic, diamond-encrusted chain sported by athletes — that is, until he slid into second, and it broke.

“I was like, ‘Screw that, I'm not gonna do this anymore’ because I signed in the third round for a million dollars out of high school,” Ramos said.

Even for big leaguers who are better able to afford a replacement — Yoenis Cespedes and Javier Báez, for example — losing jewelry with commas in the purchase price to the regular rigors of baseball can’t feel good.

Still, it took a little while for that epiphany to lead to gaudy-yet-affordable bling unofficially marketed to baseball players. After Ramos retired from playing, he started making a line of rubber batting grips to protect players’ hands, but he was looking to expand into fashion. Nick Gordon, the Minnesota Twins infielder, noticed some beaded bracelets Ramos had made for himself and suggested necklaces.

Gordon was the first to start wearing what Ramos calls Pollyanna necklaces last season. From there, they spread to Leobaldo Cabrera, who was in the Twins’ system at the time. Leobaldo’s brother, Oswaldo Cabrera, saw his brother’s new swag and asked Ramos to make him a necklace as well.

“And I just love it from the first moment,” Cabrera said.

In the minors, Cabrera’s teammates were skeptical of his new style. But pretty quickly, that didn’t matter. The week after he started wearing the necklace, Cabrera got called up to the New York Yankees. He didn’t ask if he could bring the beads with him to the Bronx — “I think that was my bad,” he said, considering the team’s commitment to the, well, uniformity of uniforms. He just had them on for his major-league debut and has worn them for every game since.

“Now it’s, like, part of myself,” Cabrera said. “I respect everybody who has the diamonds. I love it. I love the diamonds and all that stuff. But this is a cheap way to look good.”

Ramos has since sent Cabrera more than a dozen strands for accessorizing away from the field and during batting practice. But in games, Cabrera is consistent. This year, that means sporting a strand of fake pearls interspersed with tiny aliens — yes, aliens — framing a single clear, plastic astronaut.

“I love everything from space,” Cabrera said.

“Oswaldo and I kinda started it,” Jose Siri, the Rays center fielder who wears a gold chain, dangling earrings and at least one Polly necklace for every game, said through interpreter Elvis Martinez. “If you notice, he never takes his off. I never take mine off.”

As the Rays have surged this season, Siri’s gold beads were joined by a pink necklace around Mother’s Day, then one featuring a cloud pendant with an eye and a lightning bolt and, most recently, one with a dangling mini camera that has begun to factor into dugout celebrations. A few weeks ago, Siri ordered a bunch of necklaces for the Rays’ bullpen, who figured that anything good enough for the young stars in the lineup was worth exploring. Relievers aren’t permitted to pitch in anything so distracting, but they’ve been wearing matching gold beads before games.

Now, Polly necklaces are popping up on young players around baseball: Cincinnati Reds former Rookie of the Year Jonathan India wears one. So do Esteury Ruiz of the Oakland A’s, Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Ji-wan Bae and Kansas City Royals right fielder MJ Melendez. Cleveland Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie can’t wear his on the mound but has made multiple necklaces a key part of his street clothes aesthetic. Masyn Winn, the St. Louis Cardinals’ top prospect still in the minors, wears at least two. Ronald Acuña Jr.’s brother, Luisangel, plays in the Texas Rangers system and recently ordered five of the top-of-the-line $200 necklaces.

Even some more established big-leaguers have started to join the fun. Recently, 37-year-old Johnny Cueto, who is currently rehabbing to get back with the Miami Marlins, mentioned on Instagram Live that he likes the necklaces he has been noticing. Ramos commented that he’s the creator, got added to the Live, made Cueto — with career earnings north of $170 million — a necklace on the spot and hand-delivered it to his apartment.

“He was so thankful. It was crazy,” Ramos said. “Gave me champagne! It was insane. It felt not real because, like, who doesn't know Johnny Cueto, you know?”

Or, for that matter, Boston Red Sox super-utility player Kiké Hernández, who found the necklaces through Puerto Rico teammate Melendez’s Instagram. Hernández asked Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran if he were interested and ordered some for both of them.

“I wore them in Cleveland for the game the other day, trying to change the mojo, and we won,” Hernández said. “So I had to rock them the next day. And we lost, so I figured it wasn’t the necklaces. So now I stick to BP.”

Despite his highlighter cleats, bleached-blonde hair and generally attention-grabbing vibe, Hernández admitted that he’s a little shy about wearing his Polly necklace — a mix of lavender and a soft teal color to match his glove — during games. Already an aesthetically loud player, he’s trying to embody the Coco Chanel advice about paring down your accessories.

But he might want to embrace the kitsch, because as Hernández himself said: “You gotta stay in touch with culture and what the kids are doing these days.”