(Getty)
On Monday, San Francisco Giants starting pitcher and 2014 NLCS and World Series Most Valuable Player Madison Bumgarner won Sports Illustrated’s 2014 Sportsman of the Year award.
In an excerpt from the article, Sports Illustrated Managing Editor Chris Stone said:
“It’s easy to mythologize the small-town sports hero. Baseball, especially, is full of them. Madison Bumgarner isn’t the Sportsman of the Year because he’s from a tiny town, but that town goes a long way toward defining who he is and it gives his story a different texture from past Sportsmen. And while he’s been an outstanding pitcher for the last five years, his Sportsman candidacy was so sudden and seemingly out of nowhere that it makes him the most unique Sportsman in recent memory.”
“Mad Bum” was born in a small town — Hickory, North Carolina — where he helped South Caldwell High School in Hudson win a championship in 2007. Bumgarner is often praised for his low-key, humble personality, embodying where he came from.
With his performance this past October in the postseason, specifically in the World Series against the Kansas City Royals, he currently owns the lowest career World Series ERA in MLB history.
Comments
Madison Bumgarner Named SI Sportsman of the Year