Bottoms Up for the Big Dumper

Consider the Big Dumper. Scruffy, ruddy, built like a truck. Large mitts for hands, and a legendary derrière—a seat that assists in hours of squatting, a professional occupation, and in hitting bodacious home runs. Rarely has a catcher garnered as much attention as Cal Raleigh, of the Seattle Mariners, and of the eponymous big butt, has; he deserves even more. Coming into the backside of the season, Raleigh is giving one of the most astounding all-around performances of all time, even if his production ends up slowing down, as it surely must. Before the All-Star break last week, Raleigh had thirty-eight home runs. He needed only eleven more to break the single-season record for a catcher, and seventeen more to break Mickey Mantle’s single-season record for a switch-hitter. He was on pace to break Ken Griffey, Jr.,’s single-season home-run record for a Mariner. He has already surpassed his own season high. He had more dingers than the great Aaron Judge.