NEWSLETTER
Are you sitting down for this?
Four-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion Madison Bumgarner – who just signed a five-year, $85M contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this winter – is actually a Rodeo champion who operates under the alias Mason Saunders (a shortened version of his first name plus his wife’s maiden name), according to a report in The Athletic late last night.
Really.
Like, really really.
Posted by Rancho Rio on Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Posted by Rancho Rio on Wednesday, December 4, 2019
The Athletic was the first to break the story, which was later confirmed when they showed him what they found: “Oh boy,” Bumgarner said Sunday when shown the photo. “This is ruining my alias.”
Bumgarner used a fake name to limit the publicity at these events, where he’s a legitimate, serious contender, but apparently, plenty of people around baseball are already aware of Mason Saunders and what he does on his free time, adding that it’s also not really a secret in the roping world, either. But until now, according to Bumgarner, “The media didn’t know.”
… But maybe we should’ve guessed:
Madison Bumgarner Took His Horses to Spring Training, Because Why Not? https://t.co/osTn1bxd9K pic.twitter.com/H8RKkmkKGt
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) February 19, 2016
And don’t skate over what I said earlier – Bumgarner isn’t just a participant or someone who likes roping on the side.
According to Rancho Rio’s post, “Jaxson Tucker & Mason Saunders took home the biggest paycheck of the day topping the #12.5 Big Gamble. The duo roped four steers in 31.36 seconds to pocket $26,560 in CASH! Complete results are posted at nationalteamroping.com ….”
I mean … WHAT?!
This is truly one of the goofiest secret reveals in baseball history – right alongside Kyle Schwarber’s hotdog eating world championship. You can read much more about Mason Saunders, Madison Bumgarner and his other victories/roping history at The Athletic.
