Baker's Top Ten Shoes of All Time - # 3 - Air Penny 1

Oh what could have been had Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway not blown out his knee. Becuase of his injury, we will probably never now how good he really was - was it all Shaq? What we do know is that his signature Penny series will go down as one of the briefest, yet successful lines ever. Every shoe in the series was solid, but this was the Mothership. Launched in the same year as the Jordan patent leather 11s most would think this shoe wouldn't stand a chance. It did though and sold like hotcakes. The balance of black and white and the suede upper were fantastic and the blue accents made it a match for many high school and college uniforms. The white colorway was sick too. Perhaps the best part was the Penny logo and the Lil' Penny add campaign that accompanied the shoe. The ads were pretty funny and definetly provided a nice contrast to the uber-serious MJ campaigns. Years after it's release, the shoe was done in Knicks and Heat colorways, both teams tha Penny joined on his second tour of the NBA. These were cool, but didn't quite have the Magic of the original (zing!). It takes a lot for a shoe that I never owned to make the list, but my money was being spent on another shoe that you just might see soon........I always wished I had copped the Penny 1s though, and hope to someday. R.I.P. Lil' Penny.