Nike Eyes

This strikes me as...well...illegal.

After grounding out in his first at-bat Saturday, Ken Griffey Jr. was seeing red the rest of the game.

The Reds center fielder slipped inside the team's clubhouse and re-emerged wearing a pair of orange-tinted contact lenses manufactured by Nike.

"I wore them off and on for two weeks," Griffey said. "I was debating on whether I should use them during a game.

"After that first at-bat I decided, 'All right. I'll try 'em now.' "

The vision-enhancing lenses, which are not yet available to the public, seemed to work. Griffey walked and doubled twice in his next three at-bats.

"I don't feel comfortable hitting in glasses," said Griffey, who has 20-20 vision. "Some people can. Some people can't. But with these, they're fine."

The purpose of the lenses is to clarify and highlight objects, such as the spinning seams on a pitched baseball.

Reds closer Danny Graves sported a similar pair of Nike lenses around the clubhouse during spring training but decided against wearing them during a game.

"Everything that is red is red," Griffey said.

"Everything else has like an orange tint. ... It's just different. You're not squinting. Your eyes are more relaxed."