in the dugout: dave roberts & aaron boone wear basn5

in the dugout: dave roberts & aaron boone wear basn5

A Major League baseball manager's workday isn't just nine innings of hard light during the game. It includes hours of practice and preparation before any fans enter the stadium. Afternoon sun reflecting and bouncing off stadium structures, uniforms, seats and LED video boards. Then comes the bright and sometimes shifting game conditions, such as the late afternoon shadow hours when half the field is in shadow and half isn't. It is, without exaggerating, one of the harder — and harsh — environments there is to play — and see clearly in.

Which is why we pay attention to what ends up on the field and in dugouts. This season the two marquee franchises in baseball — Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, the largest media markets, with rich franchise history, located on opposite coasts — the two biggest stages in the sport — and never out of each other's way come October — are run by two managers wearing the same sunglass brand. Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and Aaron Boone of the Yankees both wear basn5 featuring Tajima polarized lens technology.

East coast, west coast. Boone in the Bronx, Roberts at Dodger Stadium.

dave roberts — basn5 davenport

Roberts wears the davenport, most days. Specifically basn5 with Rx lenses. Like all basn5 sunglasses that exclusively feature Tajima Lens Technology, Doc requires prescription Tajima polarized progressive lenses, the same lenses every basn5 Rx pair receives — and he rotates lens colors gray 15, gray 15 blue mirror, and brown 15 gold mirror based on sun conditions and his disposition. When the mood calls for a different look, he wears the fort point in brown 15 black mirror prescription polarized progressive lenses. On June 30 he became the fastest manager in the history of the game to reach 1,000 wins. basn5 and Tajima lens technology were there for it.

Dave Roberts wearing basn5 davenport with brown 15 gold mirror Rx polarized lenses at Dodger Stadium.

Fine detailing and stacked hinge architecture of davenport, at Dodger Stadium.

aaron boone — highway 1 and fort point

Boone splits time between the rounded highway 1 and the aviator-inspired fort point, both non-prescription polarized Tajima lenses. Same basn5 frames we sell, featuring the same Tajima polarized lenses that come standard in every basn5 sunglass available to the public.

Boone wearing basn5 fort point featuring Brown 15 Gold Mirror Tajima polarized lenses, Spring Training 2026.

Boone wearing the basn5 highway 1 with Tajima polarized lenses.

why this matters to us

Dave Roberts is baseball's eyewear style icon — has been for years — with Boone showcasing his own personal style, and both of them chose basn5 frame designs first for how they look — and perform. That part we designed on purpose. But style was never the whole brief. basn5 is built from the best materials and advanced construction technologies we could source, develop, or invent: frames engineered in Germany, sturdy single-flex stacked hinges invented in Austria, and Tajima polarized lenses made in Japan from patented materials and deep know-how — every part modular and replaceable. Designed and engineered here in California to meet our specific demands and requirements. The whole point is the crossover — eyewear that reads as style and holds up as top shelf performance equipment. The luxury hi-performance SUV of premium eyewear.

A dugout is an honest test of exactly that: long days, hard light, television cameras, and no patience for gear that doesn't perform — in the moment. Two managers who could wear anything keep reaching for basn5. That's the kind of review we care about.

The deeper stories live on our lens maker's journal: what Dave Roberts wears, and what Aaron Boone wears.

the frames

Every basn5 pair comes standard with Tajima polarized lenses; every basn5 Rx pair, with the exact same Tajima polarized Rx lenses. highway 1 — round. davenport — squared. fort point — the classic aviator. Or customize and create your own basn5 style — select from two frame colors, fourteen lens options, all prescription capable.