We've had a few days to absorb Madison Bumgarner's secret life as a steer roper, and if there is a takeaway (other than, say, his thumb in an industrial grade accident), it is that the Giants blew a serious marketing opportunity at a time when they could use all the non-playing attention they can get.
I mean, the Arizona Diamondbacks have had him in camp for barely a week and already he is the first baseball thing to divert people's attention from the Houston Astros. Andrew Baggarly and Zach Buchanan of The Athletic, who broke this story and will soon be moved over to the site's Livestock Sports desk, got a tip from someone who saw Bumgarner doing Bumgarner-y things that would surely have given Giants baseball supremo Farhan Zaidi the kind of agita that doesn't fit in the overhead bin had he known a year ago, and Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen can't feel all that much better except for knowing that he doesn't have to worry about it again until next offseason.
Bumgarner chose not to address the hilarity of this story after his first workout Thursday after pretty much copping to it all for Baggarly and Buchanan, which means he might actually have become dismayed by the secret being out. The guess here is that the Snakies won't get to have a Lariat Night, or Hit Sign, Win Steer promotion, or even a Saunders Steerburger at the hoity-toity concession stands because Bumgarner isn't all that keen on being the daily butt of someone else's joke.
But the Giants, who would have no such compunctions about rodeo humor when the Diamondbacks come to San Francisco April 6, probably won't bother. One, it's Opening Day with all its own mawkish ceremonial hoop-de-blah, and two, irking Bumgarner needlessly could result in a Giant or two getting their rib cages Astro'd, and who needs to use the home opener as a tool for the injured list?
In short, Bumgarner's nom and employment de plume days may actually be over, and nobody will get to capitalize on his success as a roper… except, of course, him and his partner, Jaxson Tucker. And maybe that's the real joy here. Bumgarner did this without contributions from the Giants or 'Backs, so logically they shouldn't be able to cash in on it (although it would be disappointing to learn that nobody in Phoenix would spend money to make a jersey with SAUNDERS 40 on the back). The rodeo thing is his deal, so it should stay his deal.
Plus, making marketing people sad over missed opportunities is often its own reward.
That said, the Giants must be kicking themselves. Having done pandas and giraffes and other sundry commemorations of players-as-menageries, not to corner the steer plush market must gall. Remember that when talk of the attendance becomes relevant. The Giants are light on cartoon characters these days, and could have used the new inventory.
