Videos by OutKick
Madison Bumgarner has rightfully developed a reputation in baseball for having a bit of a temper out on the field.
Earlier this year, he was thrown out of a game after only one inning for getting extremely upset at an umpire taking his time checking for illegal sticky substances:
Madison Bumgarner lost his mind on an umpire and was tossed from the game after pitching one inning pic.twitter.com/jmyUmV7Cbd
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 4, 2022
Back in 2019 during a Dodgers-Giants matchup at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Bumgarner took exception to Max Muncy admiring a long home run into McCovey Cove, leading to Muncy’s infamous and geographically inaccurate retort, “Go get it out of the ocean.”
Bumgarner vs. The Dodgers tends to get a little heated: pic.twitter.com/WSMPwWEEkX
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) June 9, 2019
He also had high profile, repeated run-ins with Yasiel Puig when Puig was a young, admittedly flashy star for the Dodgers.
So it’s no surprise that Bumgarner threw another fit, yet again, during a recent game against the Cincinnati Reds.
Joey Votto reached a milestone against Bumgarner, tallying his 800th career extra base hit with a first inning double. While nowhere near as important as a 500th home run or 3,000th hit, it’s clear that Votto and the Reds were aware of the milestone and wanted the ball to authenticate the achievement.
Bumgarner was not happy about it:
The umpire asked for the baseball after Joey Votto recorded his 800th career extra-base hit.
Madison Bumgarner wasn’t too happy when he was forced to give up the baseball, so he threw the brand new ball they gave him away and asked for a new one. pic.twitter.com/tQC9fvs4Xi
— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) June 6, 2022
While it’s understandable that Bumgarner wouldn’t know that Votto was nearing a relatively arbitrary milestone, it’s yet another entry in the long history of him overreacting to a minor inconvenience.
Throwing the ball back is considered part of baseball’s “unwritten” rules; you do it for the opposing team so that they reciprocate for your teammates.
It’s classic Bumgarner to get upset about something that most pitchers do routinely without complaint.