Madison Bumgarner doesn't realize he struck out and Joe West got giddy, a breakdown
What Happened
During a 2019 Padres-Giants game, Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner lost track of the count while batting against home plate umpire Joe West. West called strike one with only a hand motion and no audible call, and Bumgarner, not looking, assumed it was a ball. That left him a pitch behind the whole at-bat. Thinking he was up 2-0 when it was actually 1-1, he took a huge hack and whiffed. Then, believing the count was 1-2 when it was really 0-2, he took strike three down the middle and didn't even realize he was out until West and the catcher had to clue him in.
Why This Matters
Umpires aren't required to give an audible call on every pitch, but a clear verbal strike matters a lot to a hitter who isn't watching the umpire's hand. That's the whole gag here. Bumgarner counts pitches in his head, falls a strike behind, and burns his real chances on phantom counts. The West angle adds spice because both men had a history of wanting to run the game their way, and the two had clashed before. West smiling, even giggling, is the punchline since he's known as one of baseball's most stone-faced veteran umpires. Bumgarner was a career .175ish hitter who took pride in his swing, which makes blowing an at-bat by simple miscounting more embarrassing. No protest, no controversy, just a future Hall of Fame ump enjoying himself.
With 4.2M views, this one ranks 26th out of 1,583 Jomboy breakdowns, putting it in the top 1.6% of the entire catalog.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Madison Bumgarner.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentfun incident in the Padres Giants game
Joe West and Madison Bumgarner two guys
who like
controlling the game they like being the
leader of the game they've had some
incidents before strike one gets called
but he doesn't audibly call it and he
just does the motion and bumgarner's not
looking at him so I think bum thought
that was a ball he thinks it's 1-0 it's
Owen one now he thinks it's 2-0 so he
swings huge pretty funny 2-0 fastball
count it's one and one but bum thinks
it's 2-0 so he's got a big 2-0 swing
swings right through it you can see him
collect himself like okay real at bat
starts now it's two in one it's actually
one and two takes that pitch down the
middle strikes out doesn't realize he
Strikes Out catcher and Joe West both
look at him like uh Madison
uh that was strike three oh okay and Joe
West is gonna giggle more than I've ever
seen him giggle I don't think I've seen
him smile much and he is absolutely
thrilled this is his favorite moment of
the Season he's gonna put his helmet
back on Matt's gonna get a swing in like
yeah I thought I had one more swing left
and Joe S is just gonna giggle look at
this
like just a giggle machine definitely
his fan
can't control himself all right yeah
look at this giggle fest absolute giggle
fest from Joe West