Hi Everyone —
I wish we lived in times when we could all just talk about Cal Raleigh around the clock. I mean a humble switch-hitting catcher nicknamed Big Dumper who hits home runs every day? What do you think Grantland Rice or Jim Murray would have done with this guy?
Oh, to live in a world where Cal Raleigh was the biggest news.
He homered again on Sunday — his fourth homer in the three-game series — and that’s 31 for the season, and the season is not halfway done yet. Raleigh has played in every Mariners game but one as either a catcher or designated hitter, and if he can keep up this zaniness, Fangraphs puts him on pace for 67 home runs and 142 RBI.
Fangraphs also has him on pace to steal 17 bases.
Big Dumper!
A few fun facts for you about Cal Raleigh:
He grew up in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is now thought the place is named Cullowhee because the Cherokee believed that a giant seven-foot warrior with 14 fingers named Judacullah (joolth-culla) had lived there. They called the area joolth-culla-whee, which became “Cullowhee,” which then raised a giant warrior named Cal Raleigh.
Using an online Cherokee dictionary that I’m sure is totally dependable because, you know, the internet is a bastion of trustworthiness, I think Raleigh’s Cherokee nickname would be Utana Digvalvnvhi (oo-TAH-nah dee-GAH-luh-nuh-hee). Even this dictionary doesn’t claim that it is a clean translation of “Big Dumper,” but it appears to be a reasonable adaptation of “Big Dumpling” — which might be even better.
On the Baseball-Reference page, the pronunciation guide says Raleigh: \rhymes with jolly\.
He grew up idolizing Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, and then in 2023 did something even Varitek had never done — he became the first catcher to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game at Fenway Park.
His father, Todd Raleigh, was the successful head coach at Western Carolina in Cullowhee for years and then was head coach at Tennessee for a while. When asked why Cal has been so incredible this year, he talks about a lot of batting practice, and knowing the pitchers better and staying healthy, but in the end he says, “I’m almost to the point where I’m wondering, ‘What’s going on here?’ and trying to enjoy it.”
His younger brother, Todd Jr., is a switch-hitting catcher himself and people are obviously calling him Little Dumper.
He is only the fourth catcher in MLB history to have four 30-plus homer seasons. Mike Piazza did it nine times. Johnny Bench and Roy Campanella each did it four times.
Jarred Kelenic gave him that nickname “Big Dumper” because of his ample backside. It’s kind of a bummer that this might be Kelenic’s lasting contribution to the game — Kelenic was once, perhaps, the best prospect in baseball — but it’s a very funny nickname. Even Raleigh’s mom, Stephanie, who obviously doesn’t exactly love that people keep pointing out her son’s ample backside, told a reporter: “I’ll roll with it.”
P.S. With the book nearly wrapped (maybe!), I’ll be back to posting a lot more Joe’s Notebook items — quick thoughts about baseball, sports, and whatever else throughout the week. We’ll still feature the best of them in the newsletter, but if you want to catch every one in real time, you can always pop over to the website or, if you don’t mind getting lots of emails, you can drop Kathleen a note, and she’ll make sure you get them delivered right into your inbox as they happen: [email protected]
Christian Yelich's Bizarro Game
We can’t just let it pass that Christian Yelich, on Friday night, had one of the wackiest baseball games in history. Truly. It’s pretty easy to miss the Brewers’ 17-6 victory over the Twins, a game that ended with BOTH TEAMS using a position player to pitch.
The Twins tossed infielder Jonah Bride into the game in the ninth, and predictably, he was smashed for five runs in an inning (though he did strike out Eric Haase, who I’m sure will never hear the end of it).
Then the Brewers sacrificed Jake Bauers, who predictably gave up four runs in an inning (though he did strike out Matt Wallner, who I’m sure will never hear the end of it).
But we’re getting away from the point, which is Christian Yalich’s bananas game.
Christian Yelich came up six times in the game.
1st inning — Man on first, grounded out weakly to second.
4th inning — Man on second, broken back nubber back to the pitcher. Not too exciting yet, is it?
6th inning — Man on third, ground ball through the drawn-in infield. Run scores.
7th inning — Bases loaded, chopped a ball down the third base line. Fair. Rolls to the wall. Three runs score.
8th inning — Bases loaded again, rips a blast to center, Twins center fielder Byron Buxton thinks it’s gone, ball bounces off the wall. Three more runs score.
9th inning — Facing infielder Jonah Bride, man on second, sharp single to right. Run scores.
That’s eight RBI in a game for Yelich. The good but not unheard of — he became the fifth player to drive in eight RBI in a game this year, joining Aaron Judge, Rafael Devers, Brandon Nimmo, and Wilmer Flores.
But, unlike those guys, Christian Yelich did it without hitting a home run.
Huh, you will say. Interesting. No. It’s more than interesting. Do you know who the last guy to drive in eight RBI without hitting a home run? You do not, unless you already saw this somewhere else: It was Gavy Cravath* back in 1915.
Still, even THAT is not the unheard-of part.
No, the unheard of part is that Christian Yelich drove in eight RBI WITHOUT SCORING A SINGLE RUN.
That has never happened, ever, not even by Gavy Cravath.
*Editor’s Note: For a fascinating exploration of the Gavy/Gavvy nickname lore, check out the comments from our Brilliant Readers or this article from SABR.
Denzel Clarke is a Joy
The Sacramento Athletics are not much to look at. They’re a rough watch — they might actually challenge the White Sox for worst team in the league. They’ve got the worst owner in the world. They abandoned Oakland to play in a minor league park on the still shaky pipe dream of playing in Las Vegas someday.
But. Wow. Denzel Clarke.
I was thinking about this: Who was the last player you went to the ballpark just to watch play defense? I used to do that for Ozzie Smith, obviously. Heck, you would want to go to the game early just to see the Wizard take infield practice. This will sound weird to some of you, but I used to love, love, love watching Rey Sánchez play shortstop for the Royals. He never won a Gold Glove*, but my gosh, that guy was a master.
I’d go to Mariners games in the hopes that Ichiro would have to make a throw.
And so on.
But that Ichiro line sort of gets at the problem: No matter how good a defensive player someone might be, greatness only comes with opportunity. If there wasn’t a challenging ball hit around shortstop, you wouldn’t get to see the Wizard’s magic. If the opportunity never came up, you wouldn’t get to see Ichiro throw. That’s what makes going to the ballpark just to see someone play defense somewhat risky.
But Denzel Clarke is taking away that risk. He does stuff like this every day, it seems.
*This is not today’s point, but I will die on this hill: From 1999 to 2001, Omar Vizquel won the American League Gold Glove each year. He didn’t deserve any of them. I am telling you, having watched both of them very closely, it’s no contest: Rey Sánchez was twice the shortstop Vizquel was. I’m not exaggerating. Twice as good. Vizquel had a below-average range factor in each of those years. Sánchez, meanwhile, LED THE LEAGUE in range factor. Vizquel was showy, and Sánchez very much wasn’t; he never throw the ball harder than he needed to get the out, never dived for a ball he couldn’t reach. But he was so smooth. He was shortstop perfection.
And I can show my work: Here’s how many defensive runs above replacement they each were according to Fangraphs:
— Vizquel (1999-01): +26.1
— Sánchez (1999-01): +90.5
Annd here’s their defensive WAR according to Baseball Reference:
— Vizquel (1999-01): 3.1 dWAR
— Sánchez (1999-01): 9.0 dWAR
Rey Sánchez might have MORE than twice as good. Again, I will die on this hill: He’s the best defensive player of the last 50 years to not get a Gold Glove.
Kathleen’s Korner
Two non-baseball Big Dumper highlights:
Cal Raleigh debuts Big Dumper Trucking.
The Big Dumper dumps people for you!
And two bat dog stories!
We have our first dalmation, who is naturally working with the Firefighters.
Omaha the Batdog didn’t exactly understand the assignment for the OC Riptide, but he’s still a good boy.
The New Yorker had another great baseball cartoon.
The Oklahoma City Thunder won their first NBA Championship since moving across the country. The Pacers lost Tyrese Haliburton to an Achilles injury (which was awful — avoid replays of that one and his reaction), but it was a fun series.
