SEATTLE — In an era where athletes are increasingly strategic when it comes to name, image and likeness opportunities, Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh is taking a different approach with his now-famous nickname, the Big Dumper.
After his Home Run Derby triumph put him in the national spotlight, has he thought about trademarking the distinctive moniker?
“I haven’t,” the switch-hitting catcher and MLB home run leader said during an interview this past Saturday in his team’s clubhouse at T-Mobile Park.
Have you thought about having a business manager work on it?
“I haven’t thought about it, no,” he said.
Don’t you think it would be a good idea, to have a website, a marketing plan? It could be worth millions of dollars.
“I’m just worrying about the season right now,” he said.
Does anything entice you about the concept?
“Not right now,” he said.
In the offseason?
“Sure!”
The nickname comes from his anatomy.
“I’ve always had a big butt,” he said upon winning the Derby the night before last month’s All-Star Game at Atlanta’s Truist Park. “I’m fine with it.”
Raleigh’s history-making moment—he became the first catcher to win the annual slugfest—led to a surge in Google search interest for “Big Dumper.”
He won the Derby using one of his signature left-handed torpedo bats. It had a bulge in the middle of it, was painted bright orange and enhanced by sky blue script lettering that read: Big Dumper. Of course there was also a dump truck on it.
When asked back then if he wanted to produce a line of bats like those, he also said he was “not interested.”
Raleigh appears to be the rare athlete not allured by all the subsidiary money that can be earned away from the sport. At the extreme high end of the equation, Japanese star Shohei Ohtani is expected to rake in $100 million in endorsements in 2025 alone.
Fans seeking officially licensed Big Dumper gear are still in luck, as BreakingT sells a series of merchandise featuring the nickname and other elements of Raleigh’s image and likeness. But the cut of revenue the Major League Baseball Players Association receives for purchases under the license doesn’t go directly to the catcher himself. Instead, proceeds are gathered in a general pool of player revenue-sharing. The same is true for Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Ronald Acuña Jr., or any MLB Player.
Owning the trademark would protect Raleigh from others using Big Dumper for commercial use in clothing lines, apparel and merchandise such as the torpedo bats. Other athletes trademarked phrases or nicknames like Tom Brady (TB12), Robert Griffin III (Unbelievably believable), and Pat Riley (Three-peat). Still others, including Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and LeBron James have simply protected their names.
But that doesn’t seem to appeal to Raleigh right now for one good reason.
Before the season, Raleigh signed a five-year, $105 million extension that ties him to Seattle through the 2030 season. And the Pacific Northwest is where he wants to be. There’s a $20 million vesting option for 2031 based on him playing in at least 100 games during any four seasons of the deal. He’s already played in 110 this season.
He’s a small town family man born in Cullowhee, N.C., population 7,500. He went to Smoky Mountain High School in neighboring Sylva and played college ball at Florida State.
A family affair. When his Seminoles buddy and agent Brett Knief departed the Boras Corporation for Excel Sports Management, Raleigh left Scott Boras with him. Casey Close, Knief and the boys at Excel closed the five-year, plus Mariners deal.
A family affair. Raleigh batted mostly lefty in the Derby, facing his 58-year-old father, Todd, a right-hander. His 15-year-old brother, Todd Jr.—nicknamed “T”—was the catcher. Raleigh blasted 54 homers all over the Braves’ home park in the three rounds, his longest at 471 feet.
He hit 38 of his current 42 home runs before the break. The Big Dumper, trying to break through a rare slump in recent weeks, is now just six away from tying Salvador Perez’s single-season record for a catcher. The evidence is that Raleigh has slowed down just like many hitters in the past after a big slugging performance in the season’s first half.
During Saturday’s game, a 5-4 Seattle loss in 11 innings to Texas, Raleigh struck out five times in five at-bats, not so lovingly called the “platinum sombrero.” He whiffed seven times in a row over the course of three games vs. the Rangers.
In Tuesday night’s Mariners’ 8-3 win at home against the Chicago White Sox, he went 0-for-5 with three more strikeouts. He’s hitting .249 with a .946 OPS and dropping. Consider it perhaps a regression to the mean. Raleigh came into the season with career marks of a .218 batting average, a .740 OPS and 93 home runs to show for his first four years.
He’s 28 and will be 34 when his contract maxes out. Thus, the timing is good for striking while the marketing iron is still hot.
At this point, no one owns the Big Dumper trademark. A company called J & M Equipment Company Inc. once owned it, but has since canceled that subscription. It was a portable dumper to be mounted on the back of a pickup truck.
In a call to J & M’s corporate offices, the company professed not to know anything about it.
The trademark is seemingly available. So, Big Dumper, have at it.
