Like father like MVP? Text messages Bumgarner’s dad sent during Game 7

As Madison Bumgarner was busy willing the San Francisco Giants to a World Series victory, his father, Kevin, watching from his couch in North Carolina, picked up his phone and texted his son. “OMG. You’re so much more than awesome. To see you work on the mound reminds me of watching you in high school. You are willing yourself to perfection and dragging the team along with you. I couldn’t be more proud of your baseball accomplishments,” he wrote according to The New York Times. Never mind that it was the eighth inning and that Madison was still on the mound. Kevin Bumgarner wanted his son to know how proud he was, for Madison, pitching on just two days rest, was in the midst of helping the Giants win a third World Series in five years en route to earning MVP honors.

I didn’t know if he had enough left tonight. But I did know that boy would try to steal a steak off the devil’s plate.

Kevin Bumgarner, on his son Madison, via The New York Times

While the name Bumgarner might seem unusual to a national audience, not so back in Hickory, North Carolina, where so many Bumgarners have lived over the years the place has been nicknamed “Bumtown.” About 100 Bumgarners still live in the rural North Carolina town. In at least one cemetery, the name is inscribed on tombstone after tombstone.

There’s just a lot of Bumgarners there, for whatever reason. I don’t ever think I thought anything about it.

Madison Bumgarner

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