Latest news with #BigDumper
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Yankees Broadcasters Explain Player's 'Big Dumper' Nickname Live on Air
They say "keep your eye on the ball," but all eyes were on Cal Raleigh when the Mariner's faced off against the Yankees on Tuesday evening. The Yankees won the game 10-3, but Mariner's catcher Raleigh had an all-star moment of his own on live TV. Things briefly went pear-shaped for fans watching the regional sports channel YES Network on July 8 when broadcasters — and cameramen — focused in on Raleigh's butt. "They gave him the nickname 'Big Dumper' because he has a pretty large posterior," said longtime Yankees announcer Michael Kay. With a laugh, Kay goes further to explain the lore behind Raleigh's behind. "His former teammate Jarred Kelenic said he hated it," Kay says of the cheeky nickname, "then they're making t-shirts about it and then he did come around." By this time in the broadcast, the cameramen working the game managed to capture an extreme closeup of Raleigh's rear end. "I don't know if we need that, guys," Kay says to them before following up with an awe-struck, "goodness." While Raleigh may not have liked his nickname at first, he has since grown fond of the affectionate alias. "It gets the fans involved and they have fun with it," the Mariner's star told The Athletic in 2023, "and that's what it's all about." Raleigh's fans were happy to get behind the trend, making merchandise of their own to support the caked-up catcher. "In Seattle they sell number 29 jerseys with the name 'Big Dumper' on the back," said Kay in Tuesday's broadcast. Apparently those jerseys are quite popular in the rainy city. "You see more 'Big Dumper' jerseys than you do Raleigh jerseys," Raleigh told GQ Sports in June, "so they just sell them on the rack now." Yankees Broadcasters Explain Player's 'Big Dumper' Nickname Live on Air first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 9, 2025
Washington Post
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
An MLB player became known for his big butt. Turns out he can play, too.
ATLANTA — Cal Raleigh endured the busiest all-star 'break' in the history of the term this week at Truist Park. The 28-year-old won the Home Run Derby, answered literally hundreds of questions about his buttocks-inspired nickname, executed the first successful automated balls and strikes challenge in MLB All-Star Game history, did a dozen or so on-camera interviews, caught five innings, singled and even hustled from first to third. By the time it was over, it was clear Raleigh's busy week, plus a historically prolific first half of the season, had launched him into a new stratosphere of stardom. Because Wednesday morning, corporate America took notice of Raleigh's escapades by announcing a partnership unthinkable even for the likes of Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. 'Honey Bucket, a leader in portable sanitation services, is proud to announce a new partnership with Seattle's powerhouse catcher and fan favorite, all-star Cal Raleigh — affectionately known as Big Dumper,' a Pacific Northwest company tweeted, complete with a picture of Raleigh stepping out of one of its portable bathrooms giving a thumbs up. In other words, when the unofficial second half of the season begins Friday, Raleigh will have officially arrived. 'Obviously all this is great, and it's what you want as a player and it's good attention,' Raleigh said, though at the time he was not yet a sanitation spokesman. 'But at the same time, you've got to put it in perspective and [make] sure you're putting your priorities in the right order.' Raleigh says his priority is leading his Seattle Mariners to the playoffs, of course. In the spring, when he signed an extension that will pay him $105 million to stay in Seattle for six more seasons, he did so to cement his status as the anchor of an annually solid roster hoping to win its first postseason game since 2022. But he has other targets to juggle. The switch-hitting catcher erupted this season with 38 home runs before the all-star break, one shy of the major league record set by Barry Bonds, who hit 39 before the break in 2001, when he finished with 73. No catcher has ever hit more than 48 homers in a season. No switch hitter has ever slugged more than 54. 'This is kind of insane,' said right-hander Bryan Woo, Raleigh's Mariners teammate and fellow all-star. 'At first I was like, 'He's off to a good start.' Then I was like, 'Okay, he's having a good month, staying hot.' Then it started feeling like he was hitting a homer every day, and everybody starts looking at each other like, 'What's going on?'' What's going on is one of the best all-around seasons in recent baseball history, if not ever. Because in addition to being the most prolific power hitter in the sport this year, Raleigh is also playing the most physically and logistically demanding position. Only two catchers have hit 40 homers in a season since 2000. Only six have ever done it. 'It's just about compartmentalizing, setting good routines for yourself, obviously taking care of yourself physically and mentally,' Raleigh said. 'Obviously, the catching comes first, hitting comes next. You learn as a catcher you've got a lot going on all the time, so you learn to compartmentalize really well.' But Raleigh is not merely catching. He is doing so with positive defensive impact. He is an above-average pitch framer, according to Baseball Savant. He is above average at controlling the running game, according to Savant's caught stealing metric. And he is a trusted ally for his own pitching staff, known for diligent studying, reliable instincts and dependable game-calling. 'I've asked him before, and he says he calls games like he wouldn't want to be pitched to. So I don't know if that's just Cal-specific and because he's such a good hitter that if it's something he can't hit, then it just works out,' Woo said. 'But he calls games much more — I think while some guys call games on sequencing, so throw one pitch to set up another and set up another — he's more just like: 'If you're not hitting it, you're not hitting it. I'm just going to keep throwing it until you hit it.'' As Woo suggested, Raleigh has proved himself a strong hitter from both sides of the plate. But he was never quite this good before 2025: He never finished a season with an OPS above .774. As the second half opens, his OPS is 1.011, aided by a massive power surge he said is the result of conviction in his approach more than some small-but-visible tweaks to his setup and leg kick. 'To me, it was just about being more consistent with it and committing to it and trusting the plan rather than changing and changing again and constantly looking for something new,' Raleigh said. 'It's more about how consistent can I be rather than 'What can I change?'' In keeping with the Gumpian nature of his all-star break and season, Raleigh did make one other major change this year: He was one of the first prominent players to embrace the torpedo bat. 'Just one of those things where I picked it up, started using it, and it worked,' Raleigh said. 'Baseball players are like that sometimes.' Baseball players also tend to benefit from strength in their lower half, but for some reason, it is Raleigh's backside that has jutted into national prominence as his star has risen. When Raleigh was first called up to the majors in 2021, his former Mariners teammate Jarred Kelenic tweeted 'Big Dumper to the Show,' publicizing Raleigh's clubhouse nickname to the baseball world. Any player with 38 homers at the all-star break would see his national profile explode. But a nickname such as 'Big Dumper' adds undeniable potency. 'It's pretty iconic,' Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood said, nodding with appreciation. 'I've always had a big butt,' said Raleigh, who has 10 weeks to cement his season as the best by a catcher in baseball history.
USA Today
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Mariners turned the viral Coldplay concert into a Big Dumper meme
As an infamous tweet once said, "Each day on Twitter there is one main character. The goal is to never be it". Unfortunately for a man and a woman at a recent Coldplay concert, their accidental candid moment has now become the latest viral talking point. So much so that even the Seattle Mariners have jumped into the fray. In case you missed all the hubbub, on Thursday a video began circulating on social media showing a man and a woman at a Coldplay concert in Foxborough. The pair were seen embracing and looking happy, but when they realized they were on the Jumbotron screen, they jumped away and ducked out of frame. Internet sleuths quickly seemed to deduce the identities of the pair — CEO Andy Byron of a company called Astronomer and Kristin Cabot, the company's Chief People Officer. While there's a lot of speculation out there, Byron is reportedly married ... but not to Cabot. As expected given the candid nature of the entire incident, the internet had quite the field day with the video. Social media was abuzz with jokes and memes, but the Mariners perhaps made the best one of them all featuring newly crowned MLB Home Run Derby champion Cal Raleigh aka ... the Big Dumper. There definitely feels like there's going to be some dumping somewhere after this event, that's for sure. Maybe some of the parties involved could get the Mariners and Big Dumper on the line to help out.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
On the Sidelines S1E21: Big Dumper wins the Home Run Derby, trade deadline options and needs
Luke Arkins, author of the Mariners Consigliere Newsletter, joins Ethan and D-Jack to recap the first half of the Mariners season and look ahead to the rest of 2025. The guys react to Cal Raleigh's historic Home Run Derby title and discuss their expectations for the Big Dumper heading into the second half. D-Jack and Luke give out midseason awards for MVP of the offense and pitching staff and biggest surprise of the first half while also breaking down the biggest disappointment at this point in the season. The guys also dive into the upcoming trade deadline and bring up potential targets that the Mariners could acquire before the end of the month.
Hamilton Spectator
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
Cal Raleigh's Home Run Derby win boosts ESPN ratings by 5%
ATLANTA (AP) — Big Dumper helped drive a big boost to ratings for Monday night's Home Run Derby. ESPN said Tuesday that viewership for Cal Raleigh's Home Run Derby victory was up 5% from 2024, according to Nielsen ratings. Raleigh's win over fellow finalist Junior Caminero of Tampa Bay drew an average audience of 5,729,000 viewers, up from 5,451,000 viewers in 2024 when Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Teoscar Hernández topped Bobby Witt Jr. in the finals. ESPN says the combined audience on ESPN and ESPN2 peaked with 6,307,000 viewers at 9:30 p.m. ET. That made the Home Run Derby one of the most-watched programs of the day, including all broadcast and cable choices. Raleigh's father, Todd was his personal pitcher for the event. The Seattle catcher's 15-year-old brother, Todd Jr., was his catcher. The elder Raleigh is a former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina. Raleigh, 28, leads the majors with 38 homers and 82 RBIs and is the American League's starting catcher in Tuesday night's All-Star Game. Raleigh became the second Mariners player to take the title, following three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr., who was on the field, snapping photos. ___ AP MLB:
