Madison Bumgarner Has Bizarrely Been Competing in Rodeos Using a Fake Name
By Karl Rasmussen
Loads of athletes use burner accounts on social media in order to voice opinions without being lambasted by the public. Madison Bumgarner, however, has been taking things to a whole new level, and for some time.
The three-time World Series champ has reportedly been using a false identity to participate in rodeos, entering in the events under the name Mason Saunders, per The Athletic.
Mason Saunders competed in at least two rodeo events last year, winning $26,000 at one in December. "Mason Saunders" is also actually Madison Bumgarner.
— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) February 24, 2020
From me and @extrabaggs: https://t.co/o37yx9D9V7
According to Zach Buchanon, Bumgarner has been moonlighting as Saunders for quite a while, possibly even years, and apparently pocketed a cool $26,000 in winnings at a competition last December. He teamed up with roping partner Jaxson Tucker, who, as far as we know, is not using a fake name.
Now with the Arizona Diamondbacks on a fresh five-year, $85 million deal, MadBum's extra curricular activities have been exposed, along with his fake name, which he claims stems from a shortened version of 'Madison,' paired with his wife's maiden name of Saunders.
Madison Bumgarner has secretly been competing in rodeos for years under an alias, @extrabaggs and @ZHBuchanan report. It's an open secret in baseball, and he ropes right-handed. https://t.co/6QrefhUO6G
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) February 24, 2020
The left-hander devised the moniker in order to keep his name out of headlines when competing. It looks like the cat's out of the bag now, however.
Bumgarner even took part in a competition last March, a few days before featuring in a Cactus League game for the Giants. In order to quell any concern, MadBum clarified that he uses his right hand to rope, though we can't imagine the Diamondbacks are too thrilled about this revelation, had they not known of his extreme hobby previously.